Five years on from social value becoming mandatory in public procurement, attention is increasingly turning to how social value commitments are translating to outcomes. The intent was clear: public investment in infrastructure should deliver wider social and economic benefit.
The government’s National Infrastructure and Construction Pipeline now includes 734 planned projects worth £718 billion, creating significant scope for projects to respond to local priorities if social value is used well.
With the mandatory 10% social value weighting introduced in 2021, the pipeline should represent a real opportunity to move beyond standardised commitments and design interventions that address the specific needs of the communities affected. Doing so, however, requires the sector to go further than minimum compliance.
Addressing local needs
Research published by the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) in July 2024 found that 77.5% of infrastructure organisations have specific social value policies or commitments. Yet fewer than 40% are incorporating social value into procurement processes or design briefs, and just over 10% have their reporting independently audited. The gap between policy and practice is wide and as one engineering consultancy director put it, “The conversation needs to shift beyond providing apprenticeships to more sophisticated responses to addressing local needs and inequalities.”
There are structural reasons why organisations can default to the minimum: project timelines are tight and social value teams are often lean. But the central challenge facing the sector is no longer whether to take social value seriously — the procurement framework has settled that — but how to translate commitment into interventions that deliver lasting, place‑based benefit.
The ICE research points to one clear answer: social value interventions should be tailored to local needs rather than selected from a generic menu. In one area, unemployment may be the priority. In another, it might be poor air quality, crime, or childhood health. A Local Needs Analysis — an assessment of the economic, social and environmental priorities of the communities a project will affect — grounds that decision in evidence. Liverpool City Region offered a useful test case for what a more locally grounded approach to social value could look like in practice.
Addressing local needs at Liverpool Central Station
Working with Liverpool City Region Combined Authority (LCRCA) to support development of Liverpool Central Station regeneration, we applied that logic. Rather than defaulting to standard commitments, we designed a programme around the specific priorities of the city region: early education, employment access and community safety. Each strand ran in parallel with the technical work of the project.
Among the social value commitments LCRCA set out for the project, the brief for employment support was deliberately open: it stipulated assistance into work, and little more.
At the centre of our programme was a five-week work trial for a group of local people seeking work, aged 20 to 32. Working with local employment services to address specific barriers, we developed a structured placement that guided participants through the full lifecycle of a major infrastructure project — from concept and masterplanning through to sustainability, architecture and project management — giving them a coherent understanding of the sector and the confidence to re-enter professional environments.
The group strengthened their career prospects in ways that a conventional work experience placement would not have offered. Some have secured work directly as a result of the programme while others have actively applied for roles using the placement as evidence of their skills.
This model of a multi-disciplinary work trial, co-designed with local employment services and embedded within a live infrastructure project, goes considerably further than commitments typically made at the procurement stage. LCRCA has indicated it intends to use the approach as a blueprint for future social value programmes while the Department for Work and Pensions has shown interest in the approach as a model for supporting people back into employment.
At AtkinsRéalis, the programme has informed emerging best practice across our organisation, underlining that social value is most effective when it is designed early, delivered alongside technical work, and shaped around the needs of the communities affected.
From commitment to community
Across the industry, the same question is being asked in different ways: how do you move from a procurement commitment to something with a measurable impact on a community? At a time when economic participation remains a pressing concern — with close to one million young people in the UK currently not in education, employment or training (NEET) — our Liverpool pilot is potentially one answer to that question. Early-stage, co-designed and specific to its context. Replicating it will require infrastructure businesses to invest in understanding local needs before reaching for familiar solutions.
As one participant said of their experience, “The programme helped me develop a deeper understanding of how the city we live in is structured, how decisions are made, and the roles played by organisations and individuals in shaping its development… Overall, the programme was engaging, informative, and highly beneficial in building my confidence, knowledge, and understanding of city development. I look forward to jobs prospects in the future.”
Many combined authorities and public bodies already apply social value weightings well above the 10% minimum. The Procurement Act 2023 has raised expectations further. The infrastructure pipeline the government has set out is an opportunity to address the social and economic inequalities in the places where projects land. Whether that opportunity is taken will depend less on policy than on the choices made by the organisations delivering against it.
AtkinsRéalis is a global engineering services and nuclear company employing more than 14,000 people across the UK & Ireland, and is supporting Liverpool City Region Combined Authority on the masterplanning, business case and funding strategy for Liverpool Central Station.
About the authors
Jess Bates is Skills, Employment & Education Lead, and Luke Ellis is Delivery Director – Combined Authorities & City Regions at AtkinsRéalis.