How Apprenticeships Can Strengthen Your Social Value Procurement Strategy

Investing in people and skills can help employers turn social value commtiments into measurable outcomes, and here's how.

Social value is becoming an increasingly important part of public sector procurement. For organisations bidding for major government contracts, demonstrating the wider impact they create will no longer be a supporting detail; it will form a more significant part of the procurement process.

The Government has announced that, from January 2027, new measures will give greater weight to local jobs, skills, apprenticeships and opportunities for young people. Under the new approach, local social value will account for 20% of the score when awarding central government contracts worth £5 million or more.

Read the government announcement here.

For employers, the question is clear: how can you demonstrate the social value your organisation creates?

Apprenticeships can be a powerful part of the answer. At GLP Training, the apprenticeship programmes we have delivered have generated more than £750 million in economic impact, showing that investment in skills can create value far beyond the qualification itself.

What does social value mean in procurement?

Social value looks beyond the product or service being purchased. It considers the wider economic, social and environmental benefits that a contract can create for people, organisations and communities.

For employers, this could include creating local jobs, developing workforce skills, providing apprenticeships and opening new career pathways. However, making a commitment is only part of the story. Organisations must also be able to demonstrate what changed as a result.

With the new procurement measures placing greater emphasis on local impact, an organisation’s approach to people and skills could play a much bigger role in how it evidences social value.

Apprenticeships support social value by...

Apprenticeships combine employment with structured learning, enabling people to develop new knowledge, skills and behaviours while applying them directly in the workplace. This gives employers clear, practical outcomes that can be measured over time.

A well-designed apprenticeship strategy can help organisations:

create new employment and apprenticeship opportunities
develop the skills of existing employees
provide clear and inclusive routes for career progression
create opportunities for young people and new entrants
address local and organisational skills gaps
develop future managers and leaders
invest meaningfully in people and communities

The impact can extend much further than the programme itself. Individuals gain recognised skills and new career opportunities, employers strengthen workforce capability, and communities benefit from greater access to employment and development.

More than £750 milliion in economic impact

At GLP Training, we believe the value of apprenticeships should be understood through more than starts and qualifications alone. The programmes we have delivered have generated more than £750 million in economic impact.

This reflects the wider difference that skills investment can make: supporting career progression, improving workforce capability, addressing skills shortages and creating sustainable employment opportunities.

Creating an apprenticeship opportunity is one measure of success. Understanding the difference that opportunity creates is another. As social value becomes more influential in procurement decisions, employers will need a clear picture of both.

Social value is not only about recruiting apprentices...

Apprenticeships are not limited to young people entering their first role. They can support employees at every stage of their career, from helping someone enter a new industry to developing an experienced employee into a technical, management or leadership position.

This is important when considering social value. Creating opportunity does not stop at recruitment. An employee who gains new skills, achieves a recognised qualification and progresses into a more senior role represents a clear and tangible outcome.

Across a workforce, these outcomes can demonstrate a much wider commitment to skills, progression and social mobility.

A strong apprenticeship strategy gives employers clear measures to track and report. These could include:

apprenticeship opportunities created
qualifications achieved and programmes completed
progression into new or more senior roles
new skills developed across the workforce
employees receiving structured development
opportunities created for local people or priority groups

Employers can then move beyond reporting activity and consider the wider outcome: what changed for the individual, what changed for the organisation, and what economic or social value did the investment create?

This connects the commitments made during procurement with the outcomes delivered throughout a contract. It also reinforces why apprenticeships should not be treated as an isolated training initiative. The strongest programmes begin with the organisation’s goals, the skills it needs and the people it wants to develop.

Social value needs leadership

Social value is not simply about creating a programme or meeting a procurement requirement. Leaders need to understand what it means for their organisation, their people and the communities in which they operate.

GLP Training’s Sustainable Leadership Programme explores themes including sustainability, social value and corporate responsibility, helping leaders consider how these priorities can translate into meaningful action.

This thinking is becoming increasingly relevant to procurement. Social value should not sit separately from workforce strategy, sustainability or wider organisational objectives. The strongest approaches connect them, bringing together recruitment, apprenticeships, skills development, progression and leadership to create lasting impact.

Building an apprenticeship strategy around your organisation

There is no single apprenticeship strategy that will work for every employer. A construction business developing future supervisors will have different needs from a facilities management organisation building leadership capability across several contracts.

That is why the starting point should not be the qualification; it should be the organisation.

At GLP Training, we work with employers to understand their workforce challenges, skills needs and organisational priorities. We can then build apprenticeship programmes around the roles, people and progression opportunities that matter most, from identifying suitable standards and developing cohorts to supporting learners throughout their programme.

Our experience also extends beyond programme delivery. Alongside measuring more than £750 million in economic impact through apprenticeships, we have supported leaders to explore sustainability, social value and corporate responsibility through our Sustainable Leadership Programme.

For employers exploring apprenticeships and social value, the starting point is simple: understand the outcomes you want to create, then build your skills strategy around them.

Preparing for the 2027 procurement changes

The increased focus on social value gives employers an opportunity to think differently about workforce development. Apprenticeships should not exist simply to satisfy a tender requirement. Done well, they can address skills gaps, create meaningful career opportunities and develop future leaders while strengthening the organisation as a whole.

For businesses bidding for major government contracts, being able to demonstrate this impact is likely to become increasingly important. Those that begin building the evidence now will have far more to show when the next tender arrives.

Speak to GLP Training about building an apprenticeship and skills programme around your workforce needs, social value commitments and organisational priorities today.

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