A clear message is emerging from the latest phase of Procurement Act 2023 implementation. The next challenge for councils is no longer only understanding the rules. It is making sure the right people across the organisation can apply them properly in day-to-day practice.

That matters because the new regime does not affect procurement teams alone. Payment reporting affects finance. Transparency requirements affect governance, audit trail and publication processes. Below-threshold rules affect routine purchasing activity. Pipeline planning affects senior leaders, commissioners and budget holders. Contract performance duties affect contract managers and service leads.

In other words, this is now a capability issue as much as a compliance issue.

Why this matters now

For many councils, the immediate risk is not a complete lack of awareness. Most public sector teams now know that the Procurement Act 2023 has changed the landscape.

The bigger problem is partial understanding.

A short internal briefing may explain that the rules have changed, but it does not necessarily give officers the confidence to make better decisions under pressure. It does not help contract managers understand how mobilisation should be controlled. It does not help finance colleagues understand the practical implications of payment reporting. It does not help strategic leads understand transparency notices, digital platform requirements or the publication logic now expected under the regime.

That is where many authorities are now exposed.

Why generic awareness training is no longer enough

A generic session for the whole organisation may still have some value, but it will not solve the operational problem councils are increasingly facing.

Different roles now require different levels of commercial and procurement understanding.

Some officers need a clear introduction to what public procurement is, how public money should be spent properly, and why fairness, transparency and governance matter.

Others need practitioner-level confidence on planning procurements, selecting routes to market, structuring evaluations and managing compliance properly.

More senior or strategic colleagues need to understand how transparency, record keeping and the central digital platform fit into the wider governance picture.

Contract and operational leads need to understand what good mobilisation and implementation discipline look like once the contract has been awarded.

Suppliers and bid teams also need support if they are expected to compete more effectively and compliantly for public sector opportunities.

This is why role-based learning matters more than ever. The capability need is not the same across a council, and training should reflect that reality.

What councils should be asking now

The most useful question for local authorities is not whether some Procurement Act training has been delivered.

It is whether the right people have the right level of training for the role they actually perform.

A procurement officer may need more advanced support on procedure design and decision-making.

A commissioner may need a better grounding in procurement planning and risk.

A contract manager may need stronger practical understanding of implementation, performance management and delivery control.

A governance or finance colleague may need to understand the reporting and publication implications of the new regime, even if they never run a procurement themselves.

Councils that do not address those differences may find that knowledge remains too thin in the places where practical errors are most likely to happen.

A more practical route for procurement capability

This is exactly why Prestige Commercial Consulting’s newly launched learning portal is timely.

The portal offers one-year subscription training packs designed around different levels of procurement and commercial responsibility, giving councils a more practical way to build capability across mixed teams.

The current training offer includes:

Foundations Pack, £149 per year

Practitioner Pack, £295 per year

Advanced Pack, £295 per year

Strategic Pack, £395 per year

Expert Pack, £345 per year

Bidder Success Pack, £195 per year

All Access Pack, £995 per year

That structure is helpful because it reflects how procurement capability really works in practice.

Some learners need fundamentals. Some need practitioner competence. Some need more strategic understanding. Some need expert-level knowledge on implementation and delivery. Some supplier-side learners need help understanding how to build a compliant bid and engage with the public sector more effectively.

For councils, that creates a more proportionate and flexible training model than trying to use the same learning product for every officer and every commercial role.

Why this should matter to senior leaders

This should not be seen as a procurement team issue alone.

If councils want the new regime to operate properly, leaders need to treat learning and capability as part of implementation infrastructure. A policy update or procedure note will only go so far if the surrounding teams do not understand how to use it confidently and consistently.

Senior leaders should therefore be asking practical questions.

Where are the current knowledge gaps across procurement, commissioning and contract management?

Which upcoming obligations create the greatest risk for our teams?

Are we relying too heavily on a small number of experienced officers?

Do we have a repeatable training route for new starters, operational colleagues and managers who touch procurement only occasionally?

Those are governance questions as much as they are learning questions.

How councils can access the training

For councils and other organisations looking to build procurement capability more practically, Prestige Commercial Consulting’s learning portal is now live.

Users can register and purchase training subscriptions directly via Stripe at:

https://learn.prestigecommercialconsulting.co.uk/

Authorities that would prefer to discuss options first, or make an enquiry before purchasing, can also use the contact form at:

https://prestigecommercialconsulting.co.uk/contact

That gives organisations a direct route either to buy immediately online or to make contact for further support.

The main takeaway

The Procurement Act 2023 is increasingly exposing a wider capability challenge across local government.

The issue is no longer simply whether councils understand the legislation in theory. It is whether the people involved in procurement, commissioning, governance and contract delivery have the right level of practical knowledge to apply it properly.

Authorities that move towards structured, role-based learning will be in a stronger position to manage compliance, improve decision-making and reduce operational risk. Authorities that rely only on broad awareness updates may find that knowledge remains too shallow where it matters most.

Prestige Commercial Consulting’s learning portal has been launched to support that need, with one-year subscription training packs available to register and purchase online, or through direct enquiry for organisations that want to discuss the right option first.