Rail Social Value Framework: How Responsible Business Metrics Are Changing UK Rail Supply Chains
Anmol Sharma
Every day, millions of people in Britain step onto a train. They think about the time, the fare and whether there is a seat. Very few stop to think about the bigger picture: who built the station, who supplies the food on board, who keeps the carriages clean, and which small businesses get a fair chance to win rail work.
Every day, millions of people in Britain step onto a train. They think about the time, the fare and whether there is a seat. Very few stop to think about the bigger picture: who built the station, who supplies the food on board, who keeps the carriages clean, and which small businesses get a fair chance to win rail work.
That bigger picture has a name: social value. And the UK rail industry now has a shared way to measure it, called the Rail Social Value Framework.
In this guide, we explain what the framework is, why its Responsible Business pillar matters so much for supply chains, what the metrics actually measure, and how GoDiverse helps rail organisations and their suppliers turn good intentions into numbers they can trust.
What is the Rail Social Value Framework?
The Rail Social Value Framework is an industry-led structure, facilitated by RSSB, the Rail Safety and Standards Board. It gives everyone in Great British rail a shared way to talk about, measure and report the good that rail does for people and places, beyond simply running trains. The latest edition is the 2026 version.
The framework is deliberately flexible, because organisations are at different stages of their social value journey. It lines up with RSSB's Sustainable Rail Blueprint, so social value sits alongside environmental and economic sustainability instead of being treated as a separate extra. It also follows the principles of the HM Treasury Green Book, which means money-based estimates are always read alongside real stories and feedback from communities.
The framework is built around four pillars:
Rail at the Heart of Communities: investment, partnerships and local engagement that strengthen the places the railway serves.
Inclusive and Accessible Rail: removing barriers so everyone can travel with confidence and independence.
Responsible Business: ethical procurement, fair employment and supply chains that create opportunity.
Railway emissions and the natural environment: practical action to cut carbon and protect nature along the route.
Where did it come from?
The idea is not brand new. In 2018, RSSB set out the Common Social Impact Framework for Rail, because rail had plenty of ways to measure economic and environmental performance but very few for social impact. In 2022, the Rail Social Value Tool (RSVT) followed, helping the industry forecast, monitor and report social value. The 2026 framework now gives the whole sector one clear structure to build on.
Train operators are already using it. Avanti West Coast's 2025/26 Social Impact Report is the first one it has built around the framework's four pillars.
Why social value matters more in rail right now
Several things are pushing social value up the agenda at the same time. If you work in rail, or you want to win rail contracts, these are worth knowing.
1. The law asks public bodies to think about it. The Public Services (Social Value) Act 2012 requires public bodies to consider social value for services contracts.
2. New procurement rules put it into tenders. The Procurement Act 2023 applies to procurements that began on or after 24 February 2025. Under it, PPN 002 sets out the government's Social Value Model for central government departments, executive agencies and non-departmental public bodies. Three points stand out:
Buyers in scope must give social value a minimum 10% weighting in the evaluation.
Social value promises made by suppliers must be written into the contract as terms or KPIs, so they become real obligations.
Buyers must think about the barriers that small businesses and voluntary, community and social enterprises (VCSEs) face.
PPN 002 applies to above-threshold procurements, and in-scope bodies must use it for procurements that began on or after 1 October 2025. The Railway Industry Association also explains how this approach affects rail, including arm's length bodies such as Network Rail.
3. Small business spending is now under the spotlight. PPN 001 requires central government departments to set targets for direct spend with SMEs and VCSEs and to publish their progress. The reason is simple. A report from the British Chambers of Commerce found that only about 20% of public procurement spend went to SMEs in 2024.
4. Rail itself is being reshaped. The Railways Bill, introduced to Parliament on 5 November 2025, will create Great British Railways, which is expected to be operational around 12 months after the Bill becomes law. A single, publicly accountable railway will be expected to show who benefits from its decisions, and who does not.
RSSB's own 2026 to 27 business plan says rail still lacks one unified measure of its social value, and it plans a social impact report built on the framework to fill that gap.
Responsible Business: the pillar that follows the money
Of the four pillars, Responsible Business is the one that looks at how rail organisations behave as businesses. Who do they buy from? How do they treat people? Do their suppliers share their values?
RSSB describes this pillar as embedding ethical practice and social value into procurement and supply chains. Every contract is a choice about who gets work, who gets paid on time and who gets left out. This pillar makes those choices visible.
Responsible Business metrics in plain English
Based on the 2026 framework, the Responsible Business metrics fall into three groups.
Support for local economies and supply chain
This group tracks where the money goes. It looks at total supply chain spend, and how much of it goes to SMEs, to VCSEs and to local businesses. In simple terms: are small, local and community-led organisations getting a fair share of rail spending?
Ethical business
This group looks at how an organisation behaves, including its approach to human rights and fair treatment of people in its own workforce and its supply chain. In the UK, businesses with a turnover of £36 million or more that operate here must publish an annual slavery and human trafficking statement under Section 54 of the Modern Slavery Act 2015. The Home Office explains the rules in its statutory guidance on transparency in supply chains.
Supply chain sustainability
This group checks whether good practice reaches beyond an organisation's own walls. It asks whether sustainability is built into the supply chain, whether suppliers are delivering social value outcomes, and whether supply chain social value policies are in place.
Put together, these metrics answer one big question: is our supply chain fair, open and doing good, or is it just doing business as usual?
Why the data is the hard part
The idea is simple. The data is not.
To report your SME spend, you need to know which of your suppliers are SMEs. To report VCSE spend, you need to know which are VCSEs. To report local spend, you need to know where each supplier is based. Many organisations have long supplier lists that say none of this. Smaller suppliers in the second and third tier of the supply chain are often invisible. Spreadsheets go out of date within months.
The result is a report built on guesswork, or a report with gaps. Neither helps when a tender asks you to prove your social value. RSSB's framework asks organisations to be clear about what they are responsible for and what sits in their supply chain, and to keep their figures credible. Good data is what makes that possible.
A rail example: Avanti West Coast
Avanti West Coast shows what this looks like in practice. In its 2025/26 report, the first built around the framework, it reported a total social value of £470,956,905 across the four pillars. Of that, £10,913,124 came from supply chain and sustainable procurement under the Responsible Business pillar.
The numbers behind that figure tell a clear story:
70% of its supply chain partners are SMEs.
More than 60% of suppliers benefit from payment terms of 30 days or less, which helps smaller businesses plan and stay resilient.
Its social value contribution through procurement grew by 19% on the year before, and by 76% on two years ago.
Avanti also strengthened its work with GoDiverse and its supplier assurance platform to improve visibility and access for VCSEs and diverse suppliers. It ran a supplier event called Pitch Social, where microbusinesses, SMEs, VCSEs and minority-owned businesses pitched for a place in its food and beverage offer. The winner, Half The Story, an award-winning biscuit bakery that creates jobs for people facing barriers to work, has had its products on board Avanti services since May 2026. In 2025, Avanti also won the Private Sector Leadership award at the Social Value Awards.
The lesson is a useful one. The numbers matter, but so do the stories behind them. The framework is designed to balance both.
How GoDiverse helps with Responsible Business metrics
GoDiverse exists to make supply chains more inclusive and easier to measure. When it comes to the Responsible Business pillar, we help in four ways.
1. We help you baseline supplier diversity and segment your supply chain. We analyze your existing supplier data to identify which businesses are SMEs, VCSEs, ethnic minority-owned, women-owned, or other diverse businesses, giving you a clear starting point.
2. We help you find the right suppliers. Our platform connects buyers with SMEs, VCSEs, social enterprises and diverse-owned businesses, including those led by ethnic minority, women, LGBTQ+, disabled and veteran owners. That means buyers can discover suppliers they might never have met through the usual routes.
3. We help you build supplier data you can trust. Instead of scattered spreadsheets, you get supplier information in one place, so you know who your suppliers really are.
4. We help you track and report. With better supplier data, it becomes much easier to report SME spend, VCSE spend, local spend and diverse supplier spend, which are the numbers the Responsible Business metrics ask for.
5. We help small businesses get seen. Supplier onboarding is free, so small and diverse businesses can be visible to the buyers who are looking for them.
To be clear about our role: GoDiverse does not replace the Rail Social Value Framework or the Rail Social Value Tool. We strengthen the supplier evidence that sits behind them, so your Responsible Business story is built on facts.
Five practical steps for rail organisations
Map your supply chain. Find out who your suppliers are, how big they are, where they are based and what type of organisation they are.
Set a baseline. Measure your current SME, VCSE, local and diverse supplier spend, so you know where you are starting from.
Write social value into contracts. Turn promises into KPIs, in line with what PPN 002 now expects from in-scope buyers.
Pay fairly and on time. Short payment terms are one of the simplest ways to help small suppliers.
Tell the full story. Pair your numbers with real examples and feedback from the communities you serve.
For SMEs and VCSEs: keep your business details up to date, be ready to show the social value you already deliver, and make yourself easy to find.
Frequently asked questions
What is the Rail Social Value Framework? It is an industry-led structure, facilitated by RSSB, that gives the GB rail sector a shared way to understand, measure and report social value. It has four pillars, one of which is Responsible Business.
What are Responsible Business metrics? They measure how a rail organisation buys, employs and works with its supply chain. They cover areas such as supply chain spend with SMEs, VCSEs and local businesses, ethical business practice, and supply chain sustainability.
Is the framework compulsory? The framework itself is designed to be flexible. However, procurement rules such as PPN 002 can require social value to be scored in tenders run by in-scope public bodies, so it is always wise to check the requirements of each contract.
How is social value measured? Through a mix of money-based estimates, guided by the Green Book, and qualitative evidence such as case studies and community feedback.
Final thoughts
Social value in rail is moving from a nice-to-have to a core part of how contracts are won, delivered and judged. The Responsible Business pillar sits at the centre of that shift, because it asks a simple question: does your spending create opportunity for the people and places rail serves?
The answer starts with knowing your suppliers. If you want to understand your supply chain better, widen access for SMEs and VCSEs, diverse suppliers and report with confidence, we would love to talk.
Ready to strengthen your Responsible Business metrics? Get in touch with the GoDiverse team today.
