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Last updated: 11 December 2008
Social clauses are requirements within contracts or the procurement process which allow the contract to provide added social value through fulfilling a particular social aim. For example, a social clause in a public contract could prioritise the need to train or give jobs to the long-term unemployed in the community as part of the contracting workforce.
Commissioners are best placed at both the local and national level to decide how to factor broader social concerns into funding arrangements. However, they can find it difficult to factor in the role that social clauses can play, where the clauses should be used in the procurement cycle, and how they are affected by EU rules on tendering.
A project was set up to:
Desk research and a web survey were used to bring together information on the use of social clauses and the project was taken forward by two local authorities who were examining their use of social issues in public procurement within their recycling and re-use contracts. A third local authority looked at the issue of addressing social issues through procurement in general.
A copy of the project report and releated documents can be downloaded via the links below.