Writing a social value answer

Start from the question and the outcome

Read three things before you write: the question, the outcome or theme the buyer has chosen, and how it will be scored. In central government the buyer picks an outcome from the Social Value Model and usually asks a version of the model question: within a word limit, set out in a method statement and project plan the specific, measurable and time-bound commitments you will make to deliver the outcome and the award criteria. For outcomes about jobs and skills it also asks how many people will work on the contract, as a baseline.

Answer the outcome the buyer chose, not the one you would prefer. A brilliant environmental plan scores little against a question about skills.

A structure that follows the marking guide

The model's additional award criteria, which apply to every response, translate directly into a structure. Use your own subheadings in this order:

1. Our commitment. One sentence per commitment: what, how many, by when. This is the minimum needed to score anything.
2. How it meets the criteria. Link each commitment to the outcome and the award criteria in the buyer's words.
3. Who will benefit. The group of people, for example care leavers or people out of work locally, how you will find and reach them, and how you will shape the offer for them.
4. Who else we will involve. Staff, suppliers, local partners, schools or charities, and what each will do.
5. The plan. A short timed action plan: milestones by month or quarter.
6. Measuring and reporting. The measure for each commitment (use the buyer's standard metric if there is one), how you will collect the evidence, how often you will report and to whom.
7. Governance. The named person responsible, who it escalates to, and how you will put things right if a target slips.
8. Transparency. Whether you will publish your commitments and progress, for example on your website.

Add one line of evidence that you have done something similar before. It is not what is scored, but it is what makes the plan believable.

Language that scores, and language that does not

Phrases that weaken an answer

• Hedges: where possible, where appropriate, we will consider, we aim to, we will explore, if requested.
• Values instead of actions: passionate, committed, at the heart of, ethos, give back.
• Size as an answer: as an SME we bring social value by our very nature. Being small is context, not a commitment.
• Things the law requires anyway, presented as extra: paying the minimum wage, following health and safety law.

Words that help

• Numbers and units: two placements, 40 hours, 60% of spend, 12 months.
• Dates and triggers: within three months of the start date, every quarter, by practical completion.
• Names and roles: our operations manager, Sarah Jones, is responsible.
• The buyer's own words: the outcome title, the area, the group of people it named.
• Proof: we did this on our 2025 contract with, followed by the result.

The mistakes evaluators see most

A Ministry of Defence briefing on social value, published on GOV.UK, lists the common mistakes to avoid. It is a presentation rather than formal policy, but the list matches what the official guidance implies:

• Business as usual: describing what you already do, rather than what this contract will add.
• “They will not check”: commitments are written into the contract and reported.
• Historical delivery: past achievements on other contracts, offered instead of a plan for this one.
• Donations and volunteering only: worthwhile, but rarely what the outcome asks for.
• No geographical focus, no strategic alignment, no local needs analysis: commitments that ignore where the contract is and what the buyer is trying to achieve.
• No ownership: nobody named as responsible.

Source: Social value in MoD procurement. Two official rules sit behind several of these: social value must be over and above the core deliverables of the contract, and corporate policies are not contract-specific (guide to using the Social Value Model).

Keep it proportionate

Promise what a business of your size can deliver on a contract of this value, and say plainly that you are small, so the evaluator judges your commitments at your scale. Central government scores the quality of the plan rather than the volume (how social value is scored), so one well-planned apprenticeship is a better answer for a ten-person firm than five you cannot supervise.

After you win: delivering and reporting

Under PPN 002, every social value commitment made during the procurement must be reflected in the contract, as contract terms or performance indicators, and local roles created to deliver the contract must be advertised through the government's Find a Job service. Expect to agree a reporting format at the start, and keep the evidence as you go: placement records, invoices showing local spend, timesheets for volunteering, waste transfer notes.