Research category
Commercially viable responses to social and community challenges.
The 2026–29 fund can stabilise crises and avert escalation, but only if councils protect accessible routes, funded follow-up and transparent choices between urgent support and longer-term resilience.
Social value procurement will not create durable local value if the organisations closest to communities are locked out of contract design, delivery economics and performance management.
From January 2027, covered central-government procurements will attach greater commercial weight to social value. The policy’s practical test is whether commissioners and suppliers can convert scored commitments into sustained employment, skills and accessible local economic opportunity.
PPN 002 gives social value a firmer place in central government procurement. Whether that produces credible local economic value will depend on market design, delivery capability and post-award management.
The £175 million Community Wealth Fund rightly reaches neighbourhoods that conventional bidding can exclude. Its decisive test is whether a funded inception phase builds legitimate decision-making, delivery capability and sustainable stewardship before substantial commitments are made.
