The Cabinet Office published PPN 002 in February 2025. It replaced PPN 06/20 and rebuilt the central government Social Value Model around the Government's five missions. It applies to central government departments, their executive agencies and non-departmental public bodies, for above-threshold procurements under the Procurement Act 2023. It became mandatory for procurements started on or after 1 October 2025.
The key rules for bidders:
- A minimum 10% weighting. Social value carries at least 10% of the total score.
- One outcome, in most tenders. The buyer picks an outcome from a menu of eight and scores your method statement against its award criteria. The guidance encourages buyers to focus on one outcome for most contracts.
- Over and above the contract. Social value has to sit beyond the core deliverables. Doing the job well does not count.
- Written into the contract. Every commitment in the winning bid becomes a contract term, a key performance indicator or a performance indicator.
The eight outcomes sit under five missions:
- Kickstart economic growth: fair work; skills for growth; resilient, innovative and flexible supply chains
- Make Britain a clean energy superpower: sustainable procurement practices
- Take back our streets: support the reduction in crime through community cohesion, awareness raising and action
- Break down barriers to opportunity: employment and training for those facing barriers to work; a pipeline of opportunities for the contract workforce
- Build an NHS fit for the future: increasing productivity through physical and mental wellbeing
PPN 026: what changes from January 2027
On 5 August 2026 the Cabinet Office published PPN 026, a new Social Value Model for central government. It applies to procurements started on or after 1 January 2027, counted from the date the tender notice goes out.
- A higher threshold. The model covers contracts worth £1m or more, including VAT.
- Weighting by value. At least 10% for contracts from £1m to under £5m. At least 20% from £5m, plus at least one published social value KPI.
- Two outcomes. Good Jobs and Skills replace the eight outcomes. The wellbeing outcome and the crime reduction outcome are gone.
The Cabinet Office has said detailed guidance on applying the new model will follow in autumn 2026. On the published model, a grassroots sport sponsorship has no outcome of its own to score against in new central government tenders from 2027.
Two points keep the picture in proportion. First, procurements started under PPN 002 before January 2027 stay under PPN 002, and their social value commitments run for the life of the contract. Second, PPN 026 covers central government only. Councils, the NHS, schools, colleges and housing providers sit outside it. They work under the broader duty in the Public Services (Social Value) Act 2012, and many use their own frameworks, such as the National TOMs. Health and wellbeing feature in many of their published social value strategies, so read each buyer's policy before you bid.
Where grassroots sport fits the social value outcomes
Under PPN 002, grassroots sport lines up with two outcomes.
Physical and mental wellbeing
Outcome 8 covers physical and mental wellbeing in the supply chain and in communities in the relevant area, meaning the area where the contract is delivered. Funding kit for local teams in the same area helps people play and stay active. Kit Funder adds a second strand: 5% of every invoice goes to a local mental health charity, added on top, so the team keeps the full kit value.
Community cohesion
Outcome 5 names community cohesion as one route to reducing crime. Read its award criteria closely first. Much of its focus sits on domestic abuse, so a sports sponsorship on its own makes a thin answer here.
The relevance test
The buyer chooses the outcome, not the bidder. If a tender scores Fair Work or Skills for Growth, a sports sponsorship earns no marks, however good. Answer the outcome in front of you.
What counts as evidence
The PPN 002 guide is clear on one point worth reading twice. A corporate social responsibility statement or a general company policy does not score. Marks go to the specific actions you commit to deliver in the performance of this contract.
Strong responses share six features:
- A specific, measurable, time-bound commitment
- A clear link to the selected outcome and award criteria
- A defined group of people who benefit
- A delivery plan with dates, resources and partners
- Measurement and reporting, using the model's standard reporting metrics where they fit
- Governance: who manages delivery and reviews performance
A grassroots sport commitment written this way reads like this:
In each contract year, we will fund new kit for [number] grassroots teams within [distance] of [contract site], matched and delivered through Kit Funder, with a quarterly report on teams funded and kit delivered.
Replace the brackets with figures from your own bid. The buyer then writes your commitment into the contract as a KPI or performance indicator, and central government departments report commitments against the standard metrics to the Cabinet Office each quarter.
Turning a sponsorship into a reportable outcome
A commitment is only as strong as the records behind it.
Kit Funder matches your brand to local teams by geography, sport and values, so funding lands in the area your contract serves. Your name goes on the kit. My Club Group prints and delivers it. You receive an impact report on the teams funded and the communities reached.
The costs are fixed and simple to budget:
- £630 funds match kit for a sixteen-player football team
- £1,124 adds a training kit
- A programme of ten football teams in one region comes to £6,300 in match kit funding
The 5% for a local mental health charity is added on top of each invoice. Kit Funder is not-for-profit, and the platform was developed with the University of Surrey.
Social value, CSR and marketing: three budgets, one sponsorship
A single sponsorship serves three teams inside a business.
- The bid team gets a contract-specific commitment for tenders where wellbeing or community outcomes are in play: under PPN 002, and with council and NHS buyers.
- The CSR or ESG lead gets community investment with records to report against, for an annual report or a B Corp assessment.
- Marketing gets the brand on match-day kit in the communities the business serves, every week of the season.
Two cautions keep the books straight. Attribute each commitment to one contract, so the same spend never appears as new social value in two bids. And sponsorship with a genuine commercial return is treated differently for tax from a donation. Read our guide on whether sports sponsorship is tax deductible, and check with your accountant.
For the wider case, see the benefits of sponsoring a local sports team, or follow our guide on how to sponsor a grassroots sports team.
Your brand, matched to the communities that matter most
Social value rules will keep moving. Teams in the places you work will still need kit next season. Kit Funder matches your brand to grassroots teams by geography, sport and values. My Club Group prints and delivers the kit. You receive a report ready for a bid or a CSR return.
See teams in your area at kitfunder.ai
