Social Value Act: Introductory guide
This is an introductory guide to the Social Value Act. Our aim is to give practical advice to commissioners and policymakers who are carrying out duties under the Act for the first time (or perhaps needing a refresher). This guide can help you deliver wider policy
commitments with money you are spending.
How do I use this guide?
Use the advice and practical examples in this guide when designing your service and then writing your service specification. You might copy and paste some examples into your documents and use others as a springboard for your own ideas.
We know you’re busy so we have kept this short and simple: it’s not exhaustive. There are plenty of detailed guides already out there and we’ve linked to some of them below.
This guide focuses on your service specification. It does not deal with the procurement process – for that, you should speak to your
Commercial colleagues and refer to Crown Commercial Service
(CCS) policy notes.
Who is this guide for?
This guidance is aimed at those in commissioning, policy-making or operational roles who need to procure a service on behalf of bodies defined as contracting authorities*. Please circulate this guidance to appropriate personnel / teams within your organisation and any other bodies which you are responsible for, including agencies and nondepartmental public bodies (NDPBs). You may also publish it on your intranet.
*under the Public Contracts Regulations 2015.