Impact measurement software: social value, impact reporting and what each asks

Software that records the social and environmental effects of an organisation’s work — outcomes, beneficiaries, evidence and, sometimes, a monetised value — so they can be reported to buyers, funders, boards or certification bodies.

Not as such.

The Public Services (Social Value) Act 2012 s.1(3) requires certain public authorities to consider how a services procurement might improve economic, social and environmental well-being.

Suppliers measure impact because buyers score it, not because a statute requires a tool.

For covered (above-threshold) procurements by central government departments, executive agencies and non-departmental public bodies, a minimum 10% social value weighting of the total score, and every social value commitment written into the contract as terms or KPIs.

PPN 026, published on 5 August 2026, applies to procurements whose tender notice is published on or after 1 January 2027.

It reaches covered procurements of £1m or more including VAT, says a minimum 10% weighting should apply, rising to 20% at £5m, and asks for at least one social value KPI beyond the Act’s three at £5m or more.

Neither notice says so in terms.

PPN 026 applies to procurements commenced from 1 January 2027 and lets buyers use the previous edition during the transition; this site does not assert a supersession neither document asserts.

The PPN 002 model runs five government missions, eight delivery outcomes and 17 model award criteria; outcome 4, sustainable procurement practices, is its environmental outcome.

The PPN 026 model is different, with two outcomes and six award criteria.

Materiality judged by an organisation’s most significant impacts on the economy, environment and people.

It is GRI’s test, and the European standards adopted the same definition; UK SRS, like the ISSB standards, uses financial materiality instead.

Social Value International keeps a directory of accredited tools and software: products created by its members or networks, reviewed by SVI and accredited as showing alignment with the Principles of Social Value.

B Lab says B Corp Certification starts on its own free B Impact platform, and that it does not certify or accredit third-party software.

Often, if it keeps the evidence once and maps it to each framework.

The models and definitions differ — PPN 002, PPN 026, GRI and ESRS each have their own — so ask which mappings are built in.

No. The tests on this page are written from the Act, the procurement notes and the frameworks’ own texts, and the software directories are quoted in their owners’ words.