October Recap: Social Value, the Budget and Black Women Leaders

What changed on social value

The law itself hasn't changed. The Public Services (Social Value) Act 2012 still asks public bodies to consider how what they buy can improve the economic, social and environmental wellbeing of an area.

What's new is the model central government uses to score social value when it awards contracts. It's called PPN 026. It was published in August, and the guidance on how to use it came out on 28 October. From 1 January 2027 it applies to in-scope central government procurements worth £1 million or more, including VAT, with a minimum 10% weighting for contracts under £5 million and 20% for those worth £5 million or more.

The model now has two outcomes, good jobs and skills. The previous model's themes included tackling economic inequality and equal opportunity, and those are no longer part of it. Any changes to the Act itself are on hold for now: the government's consultation response says new legislation depends on parliamentary time, and procurement wasn't in the King's Speech in May.

Where that leaves us

When the government consulted on these reforms, a significant number of respondents said a jobs-and-skills focus was too narrow and asked for diversity and inclusion to be part of it. Reading the final model, that request wasn't taken up. I've worked in this space long enough to know that what isn't written into the criteria rarely gets prioritised, so I don't expect commissioners to come looking for Black women-led businesses because of this guidance alone.

There are still details in it that I think we can use:

• Suppliers can score points for increasing the number of SMEs and voluntary, community and social enterprises in their supply chain, and they have to report how many there are. If you run a small business or a social enterprise, that gives the large contractors a reason to want to hear from you.

• Under fair pay, bidders can be assessed on how they monitor and report gender, disability and ethnicity pay gaps, and on their plans to close them. It's one of the very few places ethnicity appears anywhere in the model.

• Buyers are told to keep barriers to entry low for start-ups, SMEs and social enterprises.

• The government says it will publish a list of community programmes that suppliers can support to meet their commitments. I would love to see Black-led organisations on that list, and that means getting organised before it comes out.

Being a subcontractor isn't the same as holding the contract, and I've written before about how getting into the room doesn't automatically give you power in it. It is still a way in, though, and a track record on public work is something you can build on.

The Budget, through the lens of ownership

I read every Budget with one question in mind: what will help us earn, own and pass something on? I believe legacy equals ownership, and the Budget Chancellor John Healey delivered on 28 October has a few things that matter for that.

For founders, there's a new scale-up programme for female founders, and the British Business Bank will double its money for women-led businesses and funds to £200 million. I'm glad to see it. What I'll be watching is which women actually receive it, because the Chancellor didn't mention Black or ethnic minority founders anywhere in his speech. There's also a change to the tax you pay when you sell your business. Founders of qualifying companies will get a new, lower rate of 10% on up to £10 million of lifetime gains. But the tax break most other business owners rely on when they sell will only cover the first £500,000, down from £1 million. Plenty of community businesses build real value without ever being called "high-growth", so who qualifies is going to matter.

If you're running something on the side, the trading allowance is set to rise from £1,000 to £3,000. That's how much you can earn from a new venture before paying tax on it, subject to the rules and eligibility.

On saving, the cash ISA limit stays at £20,000, a Starter ISA for first-time investors is on the way, and a First Time Buyer ISA will replace the Lifetime ISA. This part is personal for me. My daughter pays into her own Junior ISA from money she earns herself, and it made a 16% return last year, because we talk about money at home and then we act on it. Less welcome is that tax on savings and property income goes up by a further two percentage points from April 2027, so if you own property or hold savings outside an ISA, it's worth sitting down with your numbers now.

On pay, the National Living Wage rises 3.9% to £13.21 an hour from April 2027, and the Chancellor said the government "will act soon to make sure women are paid and promoted fairly." I'll be glad when I see what that means in practice. In the meantime, I've coached a Black woman who increased her pay by an extra £30,000, and in my experience fair pay usually follows somebody asking for it.

What I would do this month

1. 01

   Introduce yourself to the large suppliers in your sector

   If you lead a business or social enterprise, look up who holds central government contracts in your area of work and get in touch. From January they'll be counting the small firms and social enterprises they work with, and it helps if you can tell them clearly what you deliver and where.

2. 02

   Start keeping your social value record now

   Jobs created, people trained, money spent locally. It's far easier to evidence when it's already written down before a tender is published than when you're scrambling to pull it together against a deadline.

3. 03

   Use your ISA allowance and talk about it at home

   If you can, use this year's allowance and keep an eye out for the Starter ISA. Then have the conversation at the dinner table, including wills and the things that went wrong as well as the wins. Avoiding those conversations is one of the quieter ways the fear tax gets paid.

For allies and commissioners

If you buy on behalf of a public body, you still choose which outcomes and criteria go in front of bidders, and councils and other bodies outside central government can decide whether to use this model at all. Please use the ethnicity pay gap measure where it's relevant, and count Black women-led businesses when you report on your supply chain. Equal opportunity has dropped out of the national model, and I'd ask you to keep it in yours.

Isaiah 61 has guided this work since 2022, and its call for justice is a big part of why I keep going. There is a lot in October's announcements we can use, and plenty that is still missing. If you want to talk it through, come and join us on Wednesday.

Still just getting started.

G