Social value has always had a place in public sector procurement, but expectations have shifted and organisations that haven’t adapted are already feeling the effects.
For a long time, the focus was mainly on the bid – writing strong commitments, demonstrating the right intentions, scoring well and winning the work. That approach worked well for many organisations, but it was never the full picture.
Today, clients and commissioners aren’t just reading your commitments; They’re asking how you evidence them, how you measure them, and how you demonstrate genuine impact. The bar has clearly moved from scoring to scrutiny – and it won’t be moving back. This is a conversation the industry needs to have more openly, and one we’re bringing to you in our upcoming event.
Where Bids Fall Down
The Procurement Act 2023 is increasing scrutiny on whether commitments are actually delivered. Increasingly, organisations are expected to align with PPN 002 and HM Treasury Green Book principles, and the risks associated with inconsistent or unaccredited measures are becoming more significant by the day. Evaluators and auditors are asking harder questions, and governance, accreditation, and transparency are moving from a nice-to-have to an essential requirement.
In response to these shifts, a common set of challenges has started to appear across sectors and contract sizes:
- Overpromising at the bid stage – commitments are made without properly considering the resources and planning required to actually deliver them. Once the contract is won, the gap between what was promised and what’s achievable soon becomes clear.
- Weak or unclear measurement – without a consistent framework in place, evidence becomes patchy or just missing entirely, making it extremely difficult to verify impact when it matters most.
- Disconnected bid and delivery teams – the people who wrote the commitments and the people responsible for delivering them are often having completely different conversations, causing social value to become isolated rather than embedded across the organisation.
- Struggling to evidence real impact – the work has been completed, and the impact has been made, but without the right measurement and reporting in place, it simply can’t be evidenced in a way that holds up to scrutiny.
Unfortunately, these aren’t rare cases – they’re patterns that come up time and again, and as expectations continue to rise, the cost of not addressing them is growing. The good news is that these gaps are fixable but closing them requires an honest conversation about what’s working, what isn’t, and what good social value really looks like in practice.
What We’re Doing About It
That’s exactly why we’re bring social value professionals together on Wednesday 17th June.
Winning on Social Value in Bids: Evidencing, Measuring & Demonstrating Impact is a half-day event at The Spine, Liverpool, designed for professionals working across bidding, social value, and contract delivery who want practical, experience-led insights they can apply directly to their work.
This isn’t an event full of theory. Every session is based on real-world experience, with speakers who have navigated these challenges themselves and have a proven track record of delivery.
What We’ll Be Covering
From Scoring to Scrutiny: The Policy Shift in Social Value – This opening session unpacks what’s driving the shift in how social value is being evaluated, covering the implications of the Procurement Act 2023, the rise of evaluator and audit scrutiny, and why governance, accreditation, and transparency are essential.
Embedding Social Value into Bids – Moving from policy to practice, this session focuses on how to translate priorities into meaningful, measurable commitments – and why incorporating measurement from day one makes a huge difference when it comes to evidencing impact later.
Bridging the Gap Between Bid & Delivery – This session covers one of the most common and costly failures in social value – disconnected bid and delivery teams. We’ll get into the details of where ownership becomes unclear, the risks that creates for delivery, evidence and scrutiny, and practical steps to improve internal alignment and accountability.
What Good Looks Like in Practice – This session brings together a panel of professionals sharing their perspectives from across the social value landscape. Hosted by Heather de Groot (Compliance Chain), who will also be guiding the conversation throughout the day, the panel features Lucy Bridge (Liverpool City Region Combined Authority), Claire Hopwood (Dalkia UK), and Shaun Davidson (SGD Passive Fire Protection), sharing what tracking, evidencing, and reporting social value actually looks like in practice and what separates the organisations getting it right from the rest.
Join Us on 17th June
As social value expectations continue to grow and the landscape becomes more complex, this event is your opportunity to get ahead – not catch up.
Whether you’re writing bids, delivering contracts, leading on social value strategy, or working in business development, you’ll leave with a deeper understanding of what clients and commissioners are really looking for. You’ll also gain practical insights on how to deliver and evidence social value more effectively, and real-world perspectives from professionals who are doing this work every day.
Find out more and secure your place here.
