Procurement in a Nutshell – More procurement reforms on the horizon?
18th July, 2025
The Government has recently published Public Procurement: Growing British industry, jobs and skills: consultation on further reforms to public procurement, a consultation on further reforms to the public procurement regime.
It seeks feedback on proposals designed to build on the reforms introduced by the Procurement Act 2023 (PA 2023). Following the consultation, which closes on 6 September 2025, the Government intends to enact legislation to amend the PA 2023 and implement the proposals outlined below.
Consultation proposals
- Supporting small businesses (SMEs) and social enterprises (VCSEs) by requiring large contracting authorities (with a spend of over £100 million per annum) to publish a three-year target for direct spend with SMEs and VCSEs and to report on this annually.
- Requiring contracting authorities to make a standard assessment before procuring a major contract of over £5 million to determine whether a service should be delivered in-house or outsourced.
- Requiring contracting authorities to set at least one award criterion in major procurements of over £5 million that relates to the quality of the supplier’s contribution to jobs, opportunities or skills. A minimum weighting of 10% of the scores available should be applied to social value award criteria.
- Requiring contracting authorities to use standard social value criteria and metrics (to be co-designed with the public sector and suppliers) when procuring public contracts.
In the Government’s view, these proposals will strengthen the UK’s economic resilience and support local businesses.
What does this mean?
The proposals offer a clearer and more consistent framework for incorporating social value criteria into a procurement. The introduction of:
- Mandatory social value award criteria, with a minimum 10% weighting;
- Standardised social value metrics; and
- Structured assessments on in-house vs outsourced delivery
This means contracting authorities will have quantifiable expectations, reducing subjectivity and inconsistency across procurements.
However, these reforms also introduce additional administrative and operational pressures, particularly for larger authorities who would be required to implement new assessment processes and monitor and publish spend data.
Given that the procurement regime has only recently been overhauled by the PA 2023, these further changes would require contracting authorities to again update resources and training to remain compliant and effective.
On the other hand, for SMEs and VCSEs, the proposals offer greater visibility and opportunity. A more structured and transparent procurement process, with consistent social value criteria and clearer evaluation weightings, will allow suppliers to compete on a more level playing field and better tailor their bids.
For further information please contact Tim Care or Melanie Pears in our Public Sector Team.
Please note that this briefing is designed to be informative, not advisory and represents our understanding of English law and practice as at the date indicated. We would always recommend that you should seek specific guidance on any particular legal issue.
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