Last reviewed: 23 June 2026
The simplest way to hold it in your head: the well-being goals are the destination, socially responsible procurement is the duty that points public spending at them, and community benefits are the concrete things actually delivered on the ground.
The destination
The seven well-being goals
Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015
The duty / framework
Socially responsible procurement
Social Partnership and Public Procurement (Wales) Act 2023, Part 3
The deliverable layer
Community benefits
Jobs, apprenticeships, fair work, local supply-chain opportunities, well-being outcomes
Socially responsible procurement (the duty)
Part 3 of the Social Partnership and Public Procurement (Wales) Act 2023 places socially responsible procurement duties on a range of public bodies. In broad terms it requires them to consider socially responsible public procurement, set objectives against the well-being goals, publish a procurement strategy and maintain a contract register. It also provides for social public works clauses — including in subcontracts — and contract-management duties.
Commencement is staged. Under the Commencement No. 4 Order 2025, key socially responsible procurement duties come into force from 25 March 2026 — including setting objectives for major construction and outsourced-services contracts, applying social public works clauses in subcontracts, and governance and oversight powers. The Act also provides for annual socially responsible procurement reports and a contracts register (the annual-reporting regulations flow from section 39 of the Act); the first annual-reporting date is still to be confirmed.
Sources: SPPP Act overview ↗, SRP statutory guidance ↗, commencement statement ↗.
The seven well-being goals (the destination)
The Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015 sets a well-being duty and seven well-being goals. The public bodies caught by the 2023 Act’s social partnership provisions are those in scope of that well-being duty, and socially responsible procurement objectives are set against these goals — which is why they matter for community benefits.
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1. A prosperous Wales
An innovative, productive and low carbon society which recognises the limits of the global environment and therefore uses resources efficiently and proportionately (including acting on climate change); and which develops a skilled and well-educated population in an economy which generates wealth and provides employment opportunities, allowing people to take advantage of the wealth generated through securing fair work.
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2. A resilient Wales
A nation which maintains and enhances a biodiverse natural environment with healthy functioning ecosystems that support social, economic and ecological resilience and the capacity to adapt to change (for example climate change).
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3. A healthier Wales
A society in which people’s physical and mental well-being is maximised and in which choices and behaviours that benefit future health are understood.
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4. A more equal Wales
A society that enables people to fulfil their potential no matter what their background or circumstances (including their socio-economic background and circumstances).
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5. A Wales of cohesive communities
Attractive, viable, safe and well-connected communities.
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6. A Wales of vibrant culture and thriving Welsh language
A society that promotes and protects culture, heritage and the Welsh language, and which encourages people to participate in the arts, and sports and recreation.
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7. A globally responsible Wales
A nation which, when doing anything to improve the economic, social, environmental and cultural well-being of Wales, takes account of whether doing such a thing may make a positive contribution to global well-being.
Look closely at the first goal: it now turns on “securing fair work.” That is the change the Social Partnership and Public Procurement (Wales) Act 2023 made — it amended “A Prosperous Wales,” replacing “decent work” with fair work, threading fair work directly through the goal that procurement objectives are measured against.
Social partnership & fair work
Part 2 of the 2023 Act introduced social partnership duties (commenced 1 April 2024) and the move to “fair work” in the “A Prosperous Wales” goal above. Fair work — fair pay, security and voice at work — runs through the Welsh model and is a common theme in community benefit commitments.
Social value (for contrast)
The Public Services (Social Value) Act 2012 applies in England and Wales and creates a duty to consider well-being in procurement. It is the lighter-touch, England-and-Wales model. Wales’s 2023 Act is stronger: active duties, objectives, reporting and a contracts register, anchored to the well-being goals.
Community wealth building (the wider goal)
Community wealth building and inclusive growth describe the broader ambition of keeping more of the value of public spending circulating in local economies. Community benefits are one practical lever toward that ambition — not the same thing, but pulling in the same direction.
