English councils are being urged to use their £127bn annual procurement spend to deliver wider economic, social, and environmental benefits, despite ongoing fiscal pressures.
A new Localis report, titled ‘New values, new landscape: public contracts for social prosperity – 2025 update’, argues that there is ‘large scope’ for local authorities to redirect expenditure to benefit the communities they serve.
The report found that despite progress following the introduction in February of the Procurement Act framework, central frameworks such as NISTA, the National Procurement Plan, and the Industrial Strategy Council can ‘risk disempowering localities’.
It also concluded that the ability of councils to implement complex procurement strategies was hampered by fiscal constraints, cultural inertia and risk aversion.
The report recommends monitoring ‘most advantageous tender’ provisions, hybrid delivery models, social value KPIs, the durability of insourcing initiatives, and local-national strategy alignment to ensure spending delivers real community impact.
Report author and senior Localis researcher, Callin McLinden, said: ‘With the Procurement Act now in force, creating a single, more flexible framework, and major devolution and planning reforms reshaping how places govern, the opportunity and stakes have both shifted significantly since our previous “New Values” report.
‘This update shows how councils can lock in social, economic and environmental value into every major contract while still retaining democratic control through hybrid delivery models, including through the use of LATCos as controlled entities, rather than defaulting to the tired outsourcing binary of the previous regime.’
Justin Galliford, CEO of Norse Group, said: ‘We’re pleased to support the publication of ‘New values, new landscape’, which continues an important conversation about the role of procurement in driving social prosperity and aims to help councils maximise the positive impact of their spend.
‘As a LATCo, Norse Group has always prioritised values-driven service delivery, ensuring that our work delivers meaningful benefits for people, places, and local economies, beyond the services themselves. Social value has many dimensions, and across the sector there is a growing recognition that collaboration, innovation, and community outcomes must remain central to how public services are designed and delivered for the future.’
To read more about the upcoming Autumn Budget check out the latest in our Autumn Budget Insights series: The local government balancing act by Jonathan Werran, chief executive of Localis.
If you're interested in finding out more about partnering with LATCos, attend the LATCo Conference & Exhibition next March 4th in Birmingham. Speakers, agenda and ticket information is available here.
