The Procurement Act 2023 – Update for Schools

The Procurement Act 2023 (PA 2023) is set to go live on 24 February 2025. 

Ahead of the long-anticipated commencement date, various pieces of secondary legislation have been brought into force to give effect to the new procurement regime.

The latest regulations – the Procurement Act 2023 (Consequential and Other Amendments Regulations 2025) (PR 2025) – have been laid before parliament and are set to amend both the main act and the Procurement Regulations 2024. These are the last of the implementing provisions before the PA 2023’s go-live date.

What’s in the new regulations

The PR 2025 contain mainly consequential amendments and many of the provisions can be seen as a ‘tidy up exercise’. Updates will be made to the PA 2023’s terminology and references to the old procurement regulations (which the PA 2023 will repeal), in order to ensure uniformity and proper functioning of the new law. Some of the key amendments include:

• Regulation 3(2) updates the contract value threshold amounts set out in Schedule 1 to the PA 2023. Thresholds in the PA 2023 determine whether or not a contract is a public contract and there are different thresholds for the different categories of contract. For example, the threshold for supplies and services contracts has been adjusted from £189,330 to £193,000.

• Regulation 8(12) sets out how certain calculations under the PA 2023 are to be performed by reference to turnover to ascertain whether a contract is ‘exempted’ under the PA 2023. Specifically, this involves assessing a supplier’s turnover over the past three years to determine their eligibility.

• Other amendments in Regulation 8 specify the information and publication requirements, such as providing detail on key performance indicators and contract performance notices.

How will the new regulations affect schools?

Schools should be aware of the amendment to the Schools Forums (England) Regulations 2012. The PR 2025 update the threshold, by which schools must consult the schools forum on their proposed contracts, now referring to the threshold amounts in Schedule 1 PA 2023 rather than the Public Contracts Regulations 2015. For instance, if a school’s proposed contract exceeds £193,000, they must consult the schools forum.

Readers can find a more in-depth explanation of the PR 2025 and the amendments made to the PA 2023 in the Cabinet Office’s explanatory memorandum here.

The Cabinet Office has also issued guidance documents for each of the procurement stages ahead of the main Act’s go-live date here.

We’re here to help

If you have any queries or concerns about the new procurement regime, and its impact on your school’s contract supply systems before the new transition later this month, then please contact us.