Two developments that signal where procurement and social value are heading in mid-2026
The first is PeoplePlus being named Supplier of the Year at the UK National GO Awards 2025/26, having also been shortlisted for Excellence in Social Value. It is a useful strategic marker for organisations in our network. The award is judged by senior public sector procurement leaders, the people who decide how public money is spent, and it was won in a field of national frameworks and established commercial suppliers. What the judges rewarded was delivery: the record of getting social value done, rather than the promise of it.
The rest of the category is worth a look. The finalists ranged from national frameworks such as Pagabo and Public Sector Resourcing by AMS to a national catering and facilities supplier, university and college partnerships and a local authority. PeoplePlus won Supplier of the Year, the GO Awards' top category, open to every kind of supplier and judged on overall performance rather than on a single theme such as social value. That is the buying community naming the suppliers it rates most highly across the whole of public procurement, on partnership, quality and outcomes.
Social value and commercial delivery are no longer being weighed separately. The organisations catching buyers' attention are the ones that treat them as the same thing, evidencing the difference their work makes as part of delivering well, not alongside it. That shift is the real story of this year's awards, and it is the one worth watching whatever sector you operate in.
The second is the changing political landscape. Andy Burnham, having returned to Parliament through the Makerfield by-election, is on course to become Prime Minister later this month. Expected to be confirmed as Labour leader unopposed once nominations close on 16 July, he built his reputation as Mayor of Greater Manchester on devolution and on driving up social value weighting in public procurement. If his advocacy for social value as a growth lever holds in government, the current weighting, between 10 and 40 per cent under the updated Social Value Model that has been mandatory since October 2025, is more likely to rise than fall.
Consider these together and the direction is clear: social value is becoming both more valuable and more closely scrutinised. That combination turns unproven social value into lost bids, a risk Emma Grigson, our Director of Partnerships and Social Value Solutions, has unpicked. A paragraph scores well, the contract is awarded, and years later nobody can say what changed for the people it was meant to help. Heavier weighting only delivers real change if it is matched by a focus on how commitments are delivered, not only how they are written.
The promise and the proof
That gap between the promise and the proof is the whole reason the Social Recruitment Advocacy Group exists. More than 200 organisations are now in the network, from Sodexo, Laing O'Rourke and Mitie to Currys, Ikea and Lidl. These members use the Charter Mark framework to embed responsible, inclusive recruitment in how they operate.
In addition to Charter progression, many draw on bid support that turns commitments into evidence, such as M Group Highways' recent 100 per cent score on the social value element of a critical bid.
Omni Facilities Management and Smart Solutions are among those using the Social Recruitment Framework to ringfence roles for people overcoming barriers to employment and bring them into work.
An increasing number choose to partner with PeoplePlus to manage their social value delivery on complex contracts, such as G4S at Sizewell C, a contract we support, where the team's social value work recently won the Corporate Social Responsibility award at the British Security Awards, recognising over 2,500 hours of volunteering and support for nearly 3,000 local people.
Wherever you are on that journey, the direction of travel is clear. If you have been weighing up SRAG membership, signing the Social Recruitment Covenant, or working out who in your organisation should lead on social value, this is the moment to start. Buyers are rewarding proof, and proof is built long before the bid. The organisations that start now, for the right reasons, are the ones who will have something to show, good company and great experiences while they build it.
Pictured above, left to right: Jonny Boyden, Liz Squire, Laura Savage, Emma Grigson and Rachel Richards, from the PeoplePlus Social Value Solutions team.
