What are community benefits?

A community benefit is a contractual commitment, secured through public procurement, that improves a community in a way that goes beyond the main purpose of the contract. Build a school, and the building is the main purpose; the apprenticeships, local jobs and training the contractor commits to alongside it are the community benefits.

The legal definition (Procurement Reform (Scotland) Act 2014)

Community benefit requirements sit in the Procurement Reform (Scotland) Act 2014. In the Act's terms, a community benefit requirement is a contractual requirement imposed by a contracting authority relating to:

• training and recruitment; or
• the availability of sub-contracting opportunities; or
• otherwise intended to improve the economic, social or environmental wellbeing of the authority's area in a way additional to the main purpose of the contract.

The key words are contractual and additional. A community benefit is written into the contract and the supplier is obliged to deliver it — and it is something over and above what the contract is mainly for.

The £4 million threshold (and why many apply it lower)

The Act places a duty to consider community benefit requirements on contracts with an estimated value of £4 million or more. "Consider" is the operative word — the duty is to actively think about whether to include them and to explain the decision, not an absolute requirement to impose them on every large contract.

In practice, many contracting authorities apply community benefits well below £4m, as a matter of policy, because the value to communities doesn't start at the threshold. So if you're a supplier, don't assume a smaller contract is exempt — check what the buyer's policy actually asks for.

The common types — with concrete examples

Community benefits are usually grouped into a few recognisable families. They get most useful when you take them right down to the individual person or opportunity:

• Recruitment and training — a commitment to recruit locally or from groups facing barriers to work. Example: two new electricians hired from the local area for the duration of a building contract.
• Apprenticeships — funded, real apprenticeship places. Example: one bricklaying apprentice taken on and supported through to completion of their qualification.
• Workforce upskilling — training for existing staff or new entrants. Example: ten CSCS cards and a first-aid course funded for site workers.
• Local subcontracting and supply-chain opportunities — opening up work to local and smaller firms. Example: a "meet the buyer" event plus a commitment to award a defined share of subcontracting to SMEs in the region.
• Wider economic, social or environmental wellbeing — anything additional that benefits the area. Example: STEM sessions delivered in three local schools, or a community space landscaped at the contractor's cost.

The point of the granular view is that each of these is a small, individual promise that someone has to actually deliver, evidence and sign off — which is exactly where delivery gets hard at scale.

How this differs from "social value"

People often use "community benefits" and "social value" interchangeably. In a Scottish procurement context they are different mechanisms, and the distinction matters:

• Scotland — community benefits are contractual and delivered. They are a requirement in the contract; the supplier must deliver them and provide evidence. The mechanism is delivery and accountability.
• England — social value is considered and scored at tender. Under the Public Services (Social Value) Act 2012 and PPN 06/20 (the Social Value Model), social value must be explicitly evaluated — with a minimum 10% weighting in central-government procurement — and is commonly monetised using frameworks such as the National TOM framework. The mechanism is scoring at the tender stage.

Both aim at similar outcomes, but Scotland's is a devolved regime with its own law. We unpack the full picture — including community wealth building and sustainable procurement — on the landscape page.