The UK Procurement Act 2023: what it changes for social value and suppliers

Trade, law & sustainability · By the Buyer's Ledger editorial team · Published 2026-10-09

The Elizabeth Tower and the Houses of Parliament at dusk, with a red double-decker bus passing in a motion blur — A bus passes the Houses of Parliament in Westminster, where the Procurement Act 2023 was passed.

The Procurement Act 2023 replaced the EU-derived public procurement regulations in England, Wales and Northern Ireland from 24 February 2025. It simplifies the procedures, makes "most advantageous tender" the award test, puts more weight on transparency and contract management, and gives social value a firmer footing through national policy. This guide summarises what changed and what it means for authorities and for the businesses that sell to them.

The basics: scope and timing

The Procurement Act 2023 received Royal Assent on 26 October 2023. After a delay to the original go-live date, its main provisions came into force on 24 February 2025, together with the Procurement Regulations 2024 that fill in operational detail. It replaced the Public Contracts Regulations 2015, the Utilities Contracts Regulations 2016 and the Concession Contracts Regulations 2016, and brought most defence and security procurement into the same framework.

Two points of scope are easy to miss. First, Scotland has kept its own regime for devolved Scottish authorities, so a supplier selling to both English and Scottish bodies works under two sets of rules. Second, procurements started under the old regulations before 24 February 2025 continue under those regulations to completion, so the two regimes will coexist for years in contract management and in frameworks awarded under the old rules.

Objectives written into the law

Section 12 of the Act requires contracting authorities to have regard to delivering value for money, maximising public benefit, sharing information so that suppliers and others understand the authority's decisions, and acting and being seen to act with integrity. Authorities must also have regard to the barriers that small and medium-sized enterprises face, and consider whether those barriers can be removed or reduced. These are duties to "have regard", not rigid rules, but they frame how authorities are expected to design procurements.

Simpler procedures

The old regime offered a menu of procedures (open, restricted, competitive dialogue, competitive procedure with negotiation, innovation partnership). The Act reduces competitive tendering to two:

Open procedure: a single-stage tender open to any supplier, with no negotiation.
Competitive flexible procedure: a procedure the authority designs itself, which may include stages such as shortlisting, negotiation, dialogue or prototyping, provided it is proportionate and set out in advance in the tender notice and associated documents.

Direct award without competition remains possible only in defined circumstances, such as extreme urgency, the protection of exclusive rights, or where only one supplier can deliver for technical reasons, and authorities must publish a transparency notice before entering into the contract. Frameworks and the new "dynamic markets" (replacing dynamic purchasing systems) provide routes for repeat purchasing.

From MEAT to "most advantageous tender"

Under the old rules, contracts were awarded on the "most economically advantageous tender" (MEAT). The Act uses "most advantageous tender" (section 19). The change of words signals that award criteria need not be narrowly economic, provided they relate to the subject matter of the contract and are proportionate. In practice, price and quality still dominate most evaluations, but the wording supports evaluation of wider benefits, including social value, where they are linked to what is being bought. For how buyers weigh cost beyond the purchase price, see total cost of ownership.

Social value: where it actually comes from

The Act itself does not contain a standalone social value duty. Social value enters through three routes:

The National Procurement Policy Statement, issued under section 13, to which authorities must have regard. The statement published in February 2025 sets national priorities, including driving economic growth, supporting small businesses and voluntary, community and social enterprises, and delivering social and economic value through contracts.
Public Services (Social Value) Act 2012, which continues to require authorities buying services to consider, before procurement starts, how what is procured might improve the economic, social and environmental well-being of the relevant area.
Central government policy notes. For in-scope central government bodies, procurement policy guidance requires social value to be evaluated explicitly in award criteria, using the government's Social Value Model, with a minimum weighting set in that guidance (historically 10% of the total score). The model groups outcomes under themes such as tackling economic inequality, fighting climate change, equal opportunity and well-being, and expects commitments that are relevant to the contract and can be measured.

For suppliers, this means social value is evaluated and then managed: commitments made in a bid become contractual obligations, reported against during delivery. Credible bids describe specific, measurable actions tied to the contract (for instance apprenticeships created on the contract, or emissions reductions in the delivery fleet) rather than general corporate policies.

Transparency across the life of a contract

The Act greatly expands the notices authorities must publish on the central digital platform, from planned procurement and preliminary market engagement through tender, award, contract details, contract changes, performance and termination. Some specific obligations stand out:

Key performance indicators. For public contracts with an estimated value above £5 million, the authority must set at least three KPIs (unless it considers they could not be appropriately assessed) and publish information on supplier performance against them at least once a year.
Contract changes above certain thresholds require a published notice, with a standstill period in some cases.
Payments: larger authorities must publish information about their payment performance.

The practical effect is that supplier performance on public contracts becomes visible to other buyers. A scorecard approach (see supplier evaluation scorecards) is the natural way to prepare for it.

Exclusions and the debarment list

The Act sets out mandatory and discretionary exclusion grounds (for instance certain criminal offences, insolvency, serious breaches of past contracts, or threats to national security) and requires authorities to consider whether a supplier, or an associated person or intended subcontractor, is excludable. It also creates a central debarment list maintained by a Minister of the Crown: suppliers on it can be excluded by all authorities for up to five years. Self-cleaning, meaning evidence that the circumstances have been addressed and are unlikely to recur, is a recognised route out of exclusion.

Prompt payment flows down the chain

Public contracts are treated as including a term requiring the authority to pay undisputed invoices within 30 days, and that 30-day term must be flowed down into subcontracts that are part of delivering the public contract. For smaller businesses working as subcontractors on public projects, this is one of the most tangible changes.

What suppliers should do now

Register on the central digital platform and keep core supplier information (ownership, connected persons, exclusion-related declarations) up to date, since it is reused across tenders.
Watch pipeline and preliminary market engagement notices: under the new regime, early engagement is where requirements are shaped.
Prepare a social value offer per contract type, with measurable commitments you can deliver and report on.
Expect KPI reporting on larger contracts and organise internal data collection before award, not after.
Check your subcontracts on public work include compliant 30-day payment terms.

This guide is a summary for orientation, not legal advice. The authoritative sources are the Act and Regulations on legislation.gov.uk and the guidance published by the Cabinet Office on gov.uk; check them, and the date of any policy note, before relying on a detail.