Public procurement is easy to dismiss as technical and dull – rules, contracts, and compliance. But the reality is that £341 billion of public money is spent through procurement every year.
That money doesn’t just buy services: it pays wages, shapes local economies, and determines whether communities thrive or struggle.
For those of us concerned with fairness, good work, poverty and inequality, procurement is anything but boring. It is one of the most powerful tools government has to change lives.
Why procurement matters
Procurement is how councils, health bodies, schools, and government departments purchase goods and services. Because of its scale, it can either reinforce inequality – through low pay, insecure contracts, and exclusion of smaller providers – or it can be used to create opportunity, spreading good jobs and building stronger local economies.
The everyday economy – from cleaning to care, housing support to grounds maintenance – is where many of the lowest-paid workers are concentrated. Procurement decisions determine whether these jobs come with a Real Living Wage, training, and security, or whether they perpetuate the race to the bottom that drives poverty, discrimination and inequality.
A moment of opportunity
The Procurement Act 2023 came into force earlier this year, alongside a new National Procurement Policy Statement.
The government has since launched a consultation – Public Procurement: Growing British industry, jobs and skills – which closed earlier this month.
The proposals include: targets for spend with small businesses and social enterprises; a statutory Public Interest Test to decide whether services should be outsourced or delivered in-house; flexibility to award contracts for people-focused services without open competition; requirement for social value to count for at least 10% in major contracts and new standardised metrics and KPIs to hold contractors to account.
All of this could be transformative – if implemented boldly.
Our hopes and concerns
At BetterforUs, we wholeheartedly support the direction of reform. But our experience shows that ambition matters.
Too often, laws that look good on paper are applied so cautiously that there are little changes in practice, or laws are passed without effective means of enforcement, rendering them meaningless. The jury is out on the new Procurement Act.
In our response to the Government produced jointly with the Equalities Trust and the Structural Inequalities Alliance, we recommend that the Government should be bolder to use the power of procurement to bring effective change to our local communities and to reduce discrimination, poverty and inequality.
Our recommendations include:
- Real Living Wage and Good Work should be conditions of every public contract, not optional extras.
- Public Value Services – such as care, housing, employment support, and supported employment cleaning or grounds maintenance – should be given greater flexibility outside of competition law, allowing authorities to prioritise quality and inclusion over lowest cost.
- spend targets for SMEs and social enterprises should be linked to fair pay and conditions, otherwise inequality will simply be entrenched in new forms.
- a new tribunal system or ombudsman system should be established so that poor practice can effectively be challenged by smaller organisations.
Handled with courage, procurement reform can lift people out of poverty, strengthen local economies and rebuild trust in government and public services.
Handled cautiously, it will simply repackage old problems with new language and the race to the bottom will continue apace leaving communities isolated, fragmented and drawn apart.
A call to action
Procurement is not just the business of government officials. Civil society, social enterprises, unions, and communities must call out for change.
We need to make the case that every contract should deliver public value – not just services, but good jobs, fair wages, and stronger communities.
Now is the moment for government to be bold. Procurement for public good: the opportunity is here. It should be taken.
You can read the full response jointly signed by BetterforUs, the Equality Trust and the Strategic Equality Alliance here
If you're interested in supporting the BetterforUs campaign and finding out how you can add your voice to change, contact Better@aspirecommunityworks.com.