Social Value and Public Services Procurement

The UK government aims to increase the role of social enterprise as a vehicle to deliver public services directly to citizens and local communities. This chapter explores small social enterprises’ experience of public service procurement in the UK including the introduction of the Social Value Act 2012. To understand small third sector social enterprises’ experiences of gaining access to public services contracts, face-to-face interviews were conducted with 11 chief executive officers (CEOs) using an interview guide. Empirical evidence obtained suggests that some procurement policies and processes are impacting on these organizations’ developments, growth, partnership arrangements and value creation.