A social listening budget workbook that funds the review and the exit

What to take away

The workbook is a field list to copy into your own spreadsheet, not a downloadable file: a header block, five cost sections and one locked summary cell.
It must fund named allowances for the DPIA screen, the content-use review, supplier assurance and exit before access is approved.
A worked example with labelled illustrative inputs totals £24,755 net, £4,951 VAT and £29,706 gross for twelve months.
An empty cell stays unresolved. It is not permission to insert an average price.
Stop sign-off when evidence is missing, units conflict or a trigger date has passed.

Treat the template as a field list

There is no file to download. The template is the field list below, copied into a versioned spreadsheet with a locked summary cell.

Row owners attest their own inputs. Finance owns the total.

Header fields that fix the scope

Record the England decision you are informing, the service owner and the twelve-month budget year. Add contract dates, base currency and the exact sources and queries in scope. Note users, expected billable units, history and reporting requirements. List your exclusions.

Five cost sections and their evidence

Section	Rows to include	Evidence to attach
Supplier access	base plan, seats, source charges, usage, history, add-ons	dated price page and a scope-matched quote
Mobilisation	procurement, configuration, query design, integration, training	project plan and approved labour rates
Assurance	privacy, IP, legal, tax and security review	scoped reviewer estimates
Operation	coding, validation, reporting, administration, support, overage	staffing plan and usage scenarios
Exit	export, migration help, deletion evidence, close-down	contract schedule and transition estimate

Price access last, once the source list is settled. Before you accept a price page, check the five tools compared on supplier claims.

Columns for every monetary row

For each line create columns for description, unit, quantity and period. Add original currency and unit rate. Attach the evidence document or URL, evidence date, net amount, VAT and the recoverability decision. Finish with gross cash and owner, then add low case, stress case, trigger and stop action.

Example: twelve months of illustrative inputs

Row	Basis	Net £
Access, two seats	12 months at £1,000	12,000
History add-on	one-off	2,400
Usage contingency	metered scenario	1,800
Query design	5 days at £520	2,600
Training	2 days at £390	780
DPIA screen	1.5 days at £750	1,125
Content-use review	1 day at £850	850
Security review	2 days at £700	1,400
Exit export and deletion evidence	3 days at £600	1,800
Net total		24,755

Every figure above is a labelled illustrative input, not a quoted market rate. Replace each rate and day count with a dated quote or an approved internal rate.

At the standard rate of 20 per cent, VAT on the net total is £4,951. The gross cash requirement is £29,706. GOV.UK lists 20 per cent as the standard VAT rate for most goods and services.

The single locked total

Approved cash budget (GBP, stated 12-month year) = sterling supplier payments + converted foreign-currency payments + internal labour cash provision + adviser and assurance fees + usage contingency + exit provision + VAT cash payment

Include only approved rows for that year. Exclude non-cash benefits, recoverable VAT from the economic-cost view, unrelated social work and unauthorised headroom.

The 2026 Cabinet Office Sourcing Playbook applies whole-life and should-cost disciplines to central government buying. This workbook borrows the cost boundary, not the public-procurement authority.

Where automated classification fills an operation row, the four jobs AI actually does in social listening sets out the gate each one must pass before you fund it.

Funded review work before access is approved

Create named allowances for a DPIA screen, a content-use review and supplier assurance. ICO guidance treats systematic monitoring as a DPIA risk indicator and charges no fee, so budget reviewer days instead.

The NCSC supplier assurance questions frame security enquiries. Fund time to inspect service-specific answers.

Fund export, migration help, deletion evidence and close-down inside this workbook, not in a later business case.

Checkpoint rules at renewal

Reconcile contracted units against the invoice and the usage report.
Record variance by cause against the original row.
Re-test exchange rate, metered volume, analyst time and exit date.
Do not roll an unused allowance forward as proof of need.
Restart renewal approval from the current decision.

Stop sign-off when evidence is missing or units conflict. Recalculate at quote expiry, contract change, renewal or a trigger breach. The contract terms that settle source rights and exit show which exit rows you can hold firm on.

Common questions

What fields must the header contain?

Record the England decision, service owner and twelve-month budget year. Add contract dates, base currency, sources, queries and expected billable units.

How is the approved cash total calculated?

Sum only approved rows, including sterling payments, converted foreign-currency payments, internal labour cash, adviser fees and the exit provision. Add the VAT cash payment. Exclude non-cash benefits and recoverable VAT from the economic-cost view.

Which review and exit work must be funded?

A DPIA screen, a content-use review and supplier assurance, each with named reviewer days. Exit needs export, migration help, deletion evidence and close-down.