We are pleased towelcome Enterprise North West to the Social Value UK movement.
Below follows a catch up with Brian O’Neil (Director of Development & Enterprise) and why the Northern Ireland-based social enterprise have decided to join SVUK.
Tell us about your organisation:
Enterprise North West is passionate about encouraging economic resilience in Derry City and beyond. We strive to help our clients achieve this through stimulating enterprise and innovation.
Enterprise North West focus on growing the local economy by providing the information, advice and support that local business owners and social enterprises need.
Enterprise North West are passionate about contributing to the local economy through our range of services for businesses and social enterprises to create community wealth.
Why have you joined SVUK? What do you hope to achieve and what training or tools we offer are you most excited by?
We have decided to join SVUK as they are recognised as the market leaders in terms of social value in the UK. We want to be able to support organisations and social enterprises across the island of Ireland to measure the true impact of the services they provide in their communities.
How deep is your current knowledge of social value practice?
Whilst Enterprise North West have worked in the social enterprise sector for over 25 years we have always focused on business development with financial return as the key focus. Our current knowledge of social value is limited but we are keen to develop this knowledge further.
You have joined a global social value movement, what does this mean to you? How important do you think it is that organisations make decisions informed by their social impacts?
Enterprise North West are fully committed to supporting local organisations measure the full impact of their services to allow them to demonstrate this to their own social stakeholders. This type of reporting is now becoming more important in terms of supporting community wealth building parties in local communities.
We cannot wait to see our new member embark on their social value journey. If you’d like to start yours, become a member today and consider attending our online or in-person SROI training. The Social Return on Investment framework is an internationally-celebrated method for identifying positive and negative outcomes of organisations’ decisions.
We are thrilled to announce Raytheon UK have joined the Social Value UK movement. We caught up Corporate Social Responsibility manager Joseph Drugan to find out more about the company and the reasons behind becoming a member.
Tell us about your organisation…
Raytheon UK is a landed company of US-based Raytheon – an aerospace and defence company -providing advanced systems and services for commercial, military and government customers worldwide. As a prime contractor and major supplier to the UK across Space, Cyber, Maritime, Air and Land, our vision is to create a safer, more connected world through delivering game-changing technologies that secure our futures. At the heart of this vision are our 2,000+ highly skilled employees, who are located across the country at our regional facilities which include Broughton, Glenrothes, Harlow, Livingston, Manchester and Gloucester.
Why have you joined SVUK? What do you hope to achieve and what training or tools we offer are you most excited by?
SVUK is an ideal fit for our company because we are committed to delivering a genuine, positive social impact throughout all our projects and contracts. We do this right from the planning stage (to ensure commercial and environmental decisions are made with social value considerations) through to the delivery of our contracts (ensuring that we deliver on our commitment to unlock real social value for our communities). By joining SVUK, we look forward to furthering our knowledge, and sharing and developing best social value practice. It’s important to us that we play our part in the defence sector’s ability to make a positive impact across our communities in all four nations of the UK.
How deep is your current knowledge of social value practice?
Social Value is integral to our projects and solutions, and is integrated in our design process from initial concept right through to the end-solution or end-product. We see huge potential to drive positive change through the delivery of our contracts and are focused on:
Reducing our environmental impact and contributing to environmental sustainability schemes in the UK
Reducing the UK Skills gap in key sectors such as Cyber Security, providing quality STEM education support across the UK, focusing on equity for pupils of all backgrounds and abilities to access pathways to industry.
Supporting UK Veterans both in career transition and wider holistic support.
Fostering and maintaining a positive working culture for all with a focus on accessibility, diversity and inclusion to ensure that everyone is given full support to deliver their best work.
Developing and diversifying our supply chain and bringing them on our Social Value journey.
Have you produced social value reports before and if so, how do you feel SVUK can advance these?
We are delighted to be currently producing Raytheon UK’s first external Social Value report. Although we have always monitored our social value activity internally, this formal report is a positive step forward to full transparency and accountability. We look forward to SVUK’s support by providing industry specific guidance on our report, and helping with accrediting the report where possible.
You have joined a global social value movement, what does this mean to you? How important do you think it is that organisations make decisions informed by their social impacts?
For an organisation such as ours, we can only truly deliver meaningful social value if all business decisions are made through the lens of social value.
Have you previously taken steps to improve wellbeing in your organisation? Do you feel your SVUK membership can improve this?
We believe that everyone should be supported to deliver their best work at Raytheon and have developed an employee wellbeing programme, which offers industry leading enhanced maternity and paternity packages, and a flexible working scheme to help our employees reach a healthy work/life balance that is desirable for all.
We operate our wellbeing approach under 5 pillars: Social, Mental, Financial, Physical and Professional Wellbeing. We believe wellbeing encompasses all of these areas:
Social
Social wellbeing is built upon the relationships people hold, both in work and out of work. We offer a range of information on how to achieve a sense of belonging through webinars, links to CSR, how to connect to our Employee Resource Groups and make the most of our volunteering opportunities (we offer 5 paid days per year per employee).
Mental
Mental wellbeing is supported by our network of Mental Health Ambassadors, who are located across the organisation at all levels. We have also recently recruited another group to double our number of ambassadors. We signpost employees to external support across the UK, our Employee Assistance Programme platform also links to an external platform which hosts support for employees.
Financial
Financial wellbeing focuses on resources to support employees around money management, where to go for debt management support, links on how to assess what government support they may be entitled to. We recently hosted moneycharity.org.uk who delivered seminars on money management and pension information. Employees also have access to financial resources via their pension.
Physical
Physical wellbeing is supported in the workplace via Environmental Health & Safety practices and in-house occupational health if required. We focus our resources on how to stay active working from home, how to set up workspaces from home, how to be active at your desk, but also offer information on how to eat healthy.
Wellbeing
Professional wellbeing focuses on career management, outlining resources available to employees, this links in to learning and development.
What steps have you taken to drive equality and social mobility? Do you feel your SVUK membership can improve this?
As an organisation, we have been externally assessed as having a fantastic inclusive culture, but we seek to continually access, develop, and improve our culture. Enabling our employees and those joining the company, to be the best version of themselves is our top priority. Therefore, we welcome any opportunities to learn and integrate practices which will improve our employee’s experience and continue to open up pathways into our industry for people from all walks of life.
…..
We are thrilled to say Raytheon UK have already had a member of staff attend one of our Social Return on Investment training courses.
Members of Social Value UK receive a discounted rate for these globally-recognised courses – held online and in-person. Why not become a member of Social Value UK today?
Janina Neumann Design is a graphic design business that helps organisations to scale social impact through brand identity design, branding, and social value reporting.
Ahead of this announcement, spent some time with Janina to learn more about her experience with the assessment process…
Why did you embark on the SVI Professional Pathway?
I embarked on the SVI Professional Pathway because I wanted to get a better understanding of how to measure change within people’s lives and to support Janina Neumann Design’s mission of “Design for social change”.
What elements of the assessment were particularly useful to your learning?
Identifying stakeholders and outcomes have been one of the most useful elements. I found it very valuable to learn how the Principles of Social Value ensure that more voices are heard in decision-making processes. It was also important for me to find a framework that would highlight all meaningful outcomes, even the unintended negative outcomes of a project.
How do you plan to utilise your newly acquired Level 1 Associate practitioner skills?
With my Level 1 Associate Practitioner skills, I look forward to supporting clients with assessing their social value when making policy, delivery, and investment decisions. The additional skills will also help me bring a different perspective to designing social value reports and pitch decks.
Do you intend to develop your social value practice further?
Having already completed Social Value UK’s ‘Social value and SROI Practitioner training’, I would like to become a Level 2 Accredited Practitioner in the future.
Congratulations on joining our social value practice community. What does it mean to you to be part of a global network? How can you contribute to the social value movement and what issues/areas do you intend to address?
Being a part of a global network is exciting as I am keen to learn about the different environments that social return on investment is applied in. It is great to be able to work with a globally recognised framework that has defined social value and its principles so that it can work across different cultures.
“I’m thrilled to have become a Level 1 Associate Practitioner with Social Value International. This will continue to help me deliver Janina Neumann Design’s mission of design for social change.”
Anglian Building Products have joined Social Value UK as organisational members. Anglian Building Products, the large projects division of Anglian Windows Ltd, specialises in the supply and installation of windows, doors and external wall insulation. Operating across England, Scotland and Wales, we serve both the public and private sectors, our clients include social landlords, military, education, developers and main contractors. Early on in their social value journey, Anglian Building Products hope to benefit from membership by getting ideas on how they can identify and measure social value so they can ensure their projects are maximising value.
“It’s a great step forward for us becoming a member of Social Value UK. ABP work predominantly within the social housing sector and we are keen to learn how we can maximise our social value impact.”
Paul Gavin, Managing Director, Anglian Building Products
Anglian Building Products
Sabina Rospedzihowska, Marketing Manager, Anglian Building Products
E: ABP@Angliangroup.com
Social Value UK
Christina Berry-Moorcroft, Communications and Campaigns Officer, Social Value UK
Anglian Building Products, the large projects division of Anglian Windows Ltd, specialises in the supply and installation of windows, doors and external wall insulation. Operating across England, Scotland and Wales, we serve both the public and private sectors, our clients include social landlords, military, education, developers and main contractors. With over 40 years in the industry, we fully understand client’s needs and our strong project management skills, together with our passion for customer service, ensures that projects are delivered on time and to budget.
About Social Value UK
Social Value UK is the national network for anyone interested in social value and social impact. We work with our members to increase the accounting, measuring and maximising of social value from the perspective of those affected by an organisation’s activities, through our Social Value Principles. We believe in a world where a broader definition of value will change decision making and ultimately decrease inequality and environmental degradation. To achieve our mission, Social Value UK provides training and assurance services, as well as hosting regular meetings and events, creating new tools and resources, and running campaigns. Through supporting and working with our members, and as a National Member Network of Social Value International, we are creating an international movement for change.
Behind Closed Doors (BCD) have joined Social Value UK as organisational members. BCD supports people affected by domestic violence and abuse to enable them to live safely, free from fear and harm, make informed choices and manage their own lives. BCD staff and volunteers support people to identify their experiences and problems, develop and implement their own plans, develop life skills, and build stronger familial and support networks.
BCD systematically monitor all of their work to learn how to improve the support they offer, using data and stakeholder feedback to identify gaps in services and develop new projects. Monitoring, recording and evaluating the impact of their services was embedded from the outset. Collating evidence of change, both statistical and narrative, has demonstrated the positive effect of their interventions but it is only recently that they have considered what ‘value’ these changes reflect. Tudor Trust funded them to research and produce their first Social Return on Investment Report for 2015-16 in January 2017. This report highlighted a £7.32 return on every £1.00 invested and perhaps more importantly, provided an exciting opportunity to really explore exactly what they do, how they do it and what it is about their services that clients and colleagues need and value. We have recently produced an in-depth case study on the social value work by BCD, you can download it and learn more here.
By joining Social Value UK, BCD hope to share and gain knowledge and learning. They also hope to collaborate with other like-minded organisations and gain the confidence to reflect on their own internal value and belief system.
“Elvis Presley once said ‘Values are like fingerprints. Nobody’s are the same, but you leave them all over everything you do.’ Joining Social Value UK is an exciting opportunity to be part of a network which recognises value, not just pounds; people, not just numbers; change, not just snapshots in time and legacy, not just impact.”
Behind Closed Doors works with both women and men throughout the Leeds district whose lives have been, or are affected by domestic abuse and violence. Behind Closed Doors has a dedicated and professional team who will aim to assist anyone who is, or has, suffered from domestic abuse.
About Social Value UK
Social Value UK is the national network for anyone interested in social value and social impact. We work with our members to increase the accounting, measuring and maximising of social value from the perspective of those affected by an organisation’s activities, through our Social Value Principles. We believe in a world where a broader definition of value will change decision making and ultimately decrease inequality and environmental degradation. To achieve our mission, Social Value UK provides training and assurance services, as well as hosting regular meetings and events, creating new tools and resources, and running campaigns. Through supporting and working with our members, and as a National Member Network of Social Value International, we are creating an international movement for change.
SAMETRICA (Incorporated as Social Asset Measurements Inc.) and Social Value International announce the renewal of SAMETRICA’s software compliance certification from Social Value International. SAMETRICA is a Software-as-a-Service platform founded in 2011 that enables enterprises to demonstrate the value of their social spend. Based out of Toronto, Canada, SAMETRICA meets the needs of large-scale clients, working with public sector clients including at all levels.
SAMETRICA was the first to complete compliance testing of its product with Social Value International (formerly The SROI Network) in 2013. This third party compliance testing ensures that SAMETRICA enables a user to capture the information required to complete a Social Value analysis in line with the framework for accounting for value (Value Map) which is used to facilitate the application of the Principles of Social Value.
The accreditation process seeks to assess whether or not software demonstrates a satisfactory understanding of, and is consistent with, the Principles of Social Value. Software is reviewed by Social Value UK on behalf of Social Value International and must demonstrate compliance with the Social Value Software assessment criteria in order to be certified. The Social Value Software assessment criteria document can be downloaded from the website here and a full list of software can be found here.
Press Contacts
Social Value UK
Christina Berry-Moorcroft, Membership and Communications Coordinator, Social Value UK
Social Value UK is the national network for anyone interested in social value and social impact. We work with our members to increase the accounting, measuring and maximising of social value from the perspective of those affected by an organisation’s activities, through our Social Value Principles. We believe in a world where a broader definition of value will change decision making and ultimately decrease inequality and environmental degradation. To achieve our mission, Social Value UK provides training and assurance services, as well as hosting regular meetings and events, creating new tools and resources, and running campaigns. Through supporting and working with our members, and as a National Member Network of Social Value International, we are creating an international movement for change.
What effect does the management of your workplace have on you, your colleagues and on all the other people in the building–including contractors’ staff you may never see? What positive contribution does your workplace make to the local community and the planet? What does your workplace say about your company’s values and ethics? So is your workplace a fair place to work?
Newest Social Value UK organisational member the Ethical Property Foundation is a registered UK charity dedicated to promoting its vision that buildings should be managed for the benefit of people and planet, not just profit.The Foundation’s accreditation the fairplace Award® has been developed in partnership with the property industry, civil society and CSR profession. It is a rigorous transformational process which evidences an organisation’s commitment to people in the workplace, the community outside its front doors and the environment, in a single comprehensive measure of excellence. Each Award lasts 3 years, assessed by top property professionals and providing recommendations for improvement.
The fairplace Award® is also a great business improvement tool, because it brings together colleagues from across the business, gathering evidence and sharing ideas. Current award-holders include the workplaces of RICS, Sodexo, RBS, EMCOR UK and leading aid charity CAFOD.
“ It’s a tranformatonal process, Fairplace is the opposite of a box ticking exercise – to gain the award you need to look carefully at actual on the ground practices, not just policies. We have all learned a lot at RBS. We’d recommend any business to go for fairplace.”
Mike Lynch, Sustainable Workplaces department at RBS
Now for the good news. The Ethical Property Foundation is offering a 25% reduction on fairplace Award® licence fees to all current Social Value UK member and associates who apply for their work place before 1 July 2018.
The Ethical Property Foundation is delighted to be part of Social Value UK and wants to hear from you – kindred spirits who already understand the power and potential of social value for your business. The fairplace process helps you capture how you create this in your workplace – and indeed by encouraging your suppliers to apply for fairplace too, you can ensure they are also offering their people a fair place to work. More good news is that all fairplace income is ploughed back into the Foundation’s charitable work: supplying free property education and advice to local small voluntary groups. To date the Ethical Property Foundation has supported 3500+ organisations and is currently sole referral partner to the Charity Commission for land & property advice.
The Foundation works specifically to empower charities and community groups to make the most of the property they occupy and manage, and to improve the environmental and social performance of the commercial property sector. The Foundation is part of the wider Ethical Property Family which includes the Ethical Property Company and Ethical Property Europe. The Ethical Property family is committed to making the best use of property for society and the environment. We work to define what Ethical Property means, to demonstrate it in action and inspire others to put it into practice.
About Social Value UK
Social Value UK is the national network for anyone interested in social value and social impact. We work with our members to increase the accounting, measuring and maximising of social value from the perspective of those affected by an organisation’s activities, through our Social Value Principles. We believe in a world where a broader definition of value will change decision making and ultimately decrease inequality and environmental degradation. To achieve our mission, Social Value UK provides training and assurance services, as well as hosting regular meetings and events, creating new tools and resources, and running campaigns. Through supporting and working with our members, and as a National Member Network of Social Value International, we are creating an international movement for change.
Boo Coaching and Consulting have joined Social Value UK as organisational members. Boo Coaching & Consulting Limited is a world class organisation providing internationally recognised executive coaching and learning solutions. Founded in 2012, with a vision to deliver enjoyable and professional programmes, Boo has developed a reputation for delivering solutions tailored to its customers needs whilst living its values. With a wealth of expertise, Boo provides challenging, enjoyable and transformational development for learners on subjects including strengths based approaches, building confidence, leadership development, wellbeing, coaching and mentoring skills.
Boo produced their first Impact Report in January 2017 based on available information about their Social Impact in 2016. After receiving overwhelmingly positive feedback from those who participate in their coaching programmes and from their 1:1 coaching clients, they were able to gain an understanding of the kind of impact they have. As a growing business based in Bolton, they wanted to extend this positive impact further in to their local community. The report reflects the connections they have made within the local business and voluntary sector community, as well as some of the fundraising work they have done to support Cardiac Smart, their charity of the year.
By joining Social Value UK Boo hope to gain technical support in conducting SROI analysis, to learn from other members, and to be part of a network of like minded, values based organisations.
Boo’s vision is to inspire great leaders to become amazing. By taking a holistic approach to leadership which is strengths based and has a major focus on wellbeing, they feel they generate social value through their core business. North West Ambulance Service are one of Boo’s long standing customers and they are about to conduct an SROI analysis of their impact on this particular organisation. This will help them to be clearer about measuring their social value and will be a platform for extending this measurement to all of their work. In doing so they hope to create culture change and maximise their social value.
By joining Social Value UK Boo hope to gain technical support in conducting SROI analysis, to learn from other members, and to be part of a network of like minded, values based organisations. Karen Smith of Boo said “We are really pleased to become a member of Social Value UK. We are looking forward to accessing the support that is available and are excited to network with other businesses who like us, are driven by their values.”
About Boo Coaching and Consulting
Boo Coaching & Consulting Limited is a world class organisation providing internationally recognised executive coaching and learning solutions. Founded in 2012, with a vision to deliver enjoyable and professional programmes, Boo has developed a reputation for delivering solutions tailored to its customers needs whilst living its values. With a wealth of expertise, Boo provides challenging, enjoyable and transformational development for learners on subjects including strengths based approaches, building confidence, leadership development, wellbeing, coaching and mentoring skills.
About Social Value UK
Social Value UK is the national network for anyone interested in social value and social impact. We work with our members to increase the accounting, measuring and maximising of social value from the perspective of those affected by an organisation’s activities, through our Social Value Principles. We believe in a world where a broader definition of value will change decision making and ultimately decrease inequality and environmental degradation. To achieve our mission, Social Value UK provides training and assurance services, as well as hosting regular meetings and events, creating new tools and resources, and running campaigns. Through supporting and working with our members, and as a National Member Network of Social Value International, we are creating an international movement for change.
Today Ben Carpenter, Operations Manager, Social Value UK shares updates from Social Value Matters 2017.
On the 10th-11th April Social Value International (SVI) teamed up with Turkish member Koç University Social Impact Forum (KUSIF) to deliver their annual conference; “Social Value Matters” in Istanbul. This year the conference title Social Value Matters (SVM17) carried the tag line “More Than Ever”. The backdrop being a world with rising inequality and a collective feeling that we must all act now and quickly to reverse this trend. The conference had a distinct emphasis on Maximising Social Value and Amplifying Stakeholder Voices; empowering the views of the vulnerable – the very people that many of us are providing service or products for. How can we make sure that we are maximising the value we create for these people? I was delighted to see that these themes ran deeply through all the sessions I attended.
This was the third SVI conference I have attended and each one leaves me feeling motivated and inspired. They bring together talented professionals from diverse spheres – united in their desire to see social impact information being used to inform decision making and make the world a better place. SVM17 was no exception; over 250 delegates came from over 25 countries representing the public sector, private sector, academia and civil society. Cross cutting these sectors there were investors, delivery organisations and advisors. Throw in the stunning setting of Koç University overlooking the banks of the Bosphorus and it’s a heady mix.
“It’s great to have so many people from all over the world working together to improve the way in which managing impact can reduce inequality.”
Jeremy Nicholls, CEO Social Value UK and Social Value International
The format of Social Value Matters was extremely participatory – there were no lectures or ‘expert panels’, instead there was always several workshop options, interactive in their delivery and the majority of the conference consisted of small roundtable discussions. Plenary sessions were kept to a minimum with high quality keynote speeches to start both days and then delegates taking to the stage with an open mic session to reflect and summarise at the close of each day (with a live jazz sound-track too!). You can check out some conference highlights and the conversations attendees were having on social media on this STORIFY.
What I personally learned from the conference?
The one thing that struck me was that, we should all (regularly) take a step back and ask ourselves why we are collecting this information about social value in the first place? The answer is surely: “So that we can maximise the social value we create”. So, rather than focussing on the measurement of impact as an exercise in itself – and getting caught up in the complexities of ‘empirical evidence’ or ‘formative evaluation’ – we should focus on collecting the information we need to improve our products and services. Or, in the case of investors/governance; “Is that organisation collecting the information it needs to improve it’s products or services?”
I have written before about an emerging shift from impact measurement to maximising impact. This conference reaffirmed that it is definitely time to stop nit-picking about methodologies or metrics. More important is creating an organisational culture of listening to stakeholders and responding which means designing services or products to meet their preferences. This involves all of the complex and geeky things we love to discuss and are necessary to practice (such as stakeholder involvement, valuation techniques, counterfactual, materiality) but doing it proportionately and with a clear raison d’etre: to maximise the social value of our activities.
As our conversations shift more towards ‘managing impact’ and ‘maximising value’ there are more references to subjects such as ‘design thinking’, ‘social innovation’ and ‘customer profiling techniques’. These are exciting topics and practices – arguably more exciting than ‘measurement’ and ‘accounting’ (but ssshh don’t tell the accountants I said that!). The truth is, accountability and maximising value are two sides of the same coin; if you are being accountable to your stakeholders then you are relentlessly innovating to provide the best services for them. I can’t wait to bring in more experts from these fields to help develop our movement!
What happens next, ACTIONS?
SVI will soon be publishing some write-ups of all workshops and roundtables, many of which have some clear actions for the community moving forward.
We will be analysing feedback from the conference that will give us a NPS and some qualitative data on what impact the conference has had on attendees!
SVI will be launching a campaign for maximising value, which was also a need highlighted by SVI’s annual survey
The turkish chapter of Social Value International was officially launched at the conference and we expect more national networks to emerge or continue to grow. If you would like to join a national network or form one please contact SVI.
We hope all attendees and also people who couldn’t attend can stay in touch using Social Value International social media.
Join the movement, by becoming a member today, and see you next year!
Power to Change has joined Social Value UK as an organisational member. Power to Change is an independent trust, whose funding is used to strengthen community businesses across England. At a time when many parts of the UK face cuts, neglect and social problems, they are helping local people come together to take control, and make sure their local areas survive and stay vibrant. Power to Change use their Big Lottery endowment to strengthen community businesses across England.
Power to Change has a vision of better places created through community business. The Research Institute seeks to support this vision by commissioning high-quality research, promoting rigorous analysis and stimulating critical scrutiny and debate. In doing so they aim to shape both policy and practice. Power to Change has also developed Twine, a simple platform designed to help local businesses thrive. Using smart technology, it helps you understand and measure your impact on yourlocal community. Find out more: www.twine-together.com
“If we don’t get social valuation right, we won’t be able to tackle the tough problems we face in the UK. This is particularly important as we devolve power from the centre and move away from long-established assumptions about how public goods are allocated. Our role is crucial in establishing fairness and holding all commissioners and funders to account.”
Gen Maitland Hudson, Head of Evaluation and Impact Assessment, was a keynote speaker at Social Value Matters 2017, speaking on ‘Love, Carnations and Operational Data’. About Power to Change Power to Change is an independent trust, whose funding is used to strengthen community businesses across England. At a time when many parts of the UK face cuts, neglect and social problems, we are helping local people come together to take control, and make sure their local areas survive and stay vibrant. About Social Value UK Social Value UK is the national network for anyone interested in social value and social impact. We work with our members to increase the accounting, measuring and maximising of social value from the perspective of those affected by an organisation’s activities, through our Social Value Principles. We believe in a world where a broader definition of value will change decision making and ultimately decrease inequality and environmental degradation. To achieve our mission, Social Value UK provides training and assurance services, as well as hosting regular meetings and events, creating new tools and resources, and running campaigns. Through supporting and working with our members, and as a National Member Network of Social Value International, we are creating an international movement for change.
This is a guest blog by organisational members HACT on social value and procurement. This is part of the Member Exchange Series. Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
HACT launches toolkit
Housing associations have long been committed to improving the communities they work in, providing opportunities for residents in the form of employment, training, skills and broader health and wellbeing activity. As community investment budgets are increasingly scrutinised, housing providers will look to core activities to drive social value. Procurement is central to this, but established models – heavily reliant on apprenticeships – are unsuitable for all contracts, nor are housing associations satisfied that the social value promised at tender stage is monitored or measured to validate delivery. Likewise, contractors committed to delivering social value are often uncertain what housing providers wanted – how is ‘social value’ defined, and what outcomes are of most interest?
To address this, the Social Value and Procurement toolkit was created by HACT, supported by Trowers & Hamlins LLP and echelon Consultancy Ltd. To ensure the final guidance responded to challenges and answered critical questions, we convened a working group of housing providers and supply chain organisations (Affinity Sutton, North Hertfordshire Homes, Riverside, Thrive, Wandle, Mulalley, AkzoNobel, United Living, Wates and the Northern Housing Consortium). This vanguard supported and shaped the development of the toolkit, ensuring it was relevant, practical and easily applicable.
The toolkit provides end-to-end guidance for both housing providers and contractors on how to most effectively and efficiently generate social value through the procurement process, alongside legal guidance and a plethora of practical tools, from example wording for tenders and contracts to templates and checklists.
What next?
With the toolkit now published, what’s next? There are four areas we’ll be focusing on:
First, and testament to the toolkit’s usefulness, beyond the original supporters a good number of further organisations have adopted it: Catalyst, Circle (now part of Clarion Group), Fusion 21, Genesis, Liverpool Mutual homes, mhs Homes, Places for People, Viridian, Keepmoat and Mitie.
Second, HACT is delighted to have these organisations on board and we are continuing to promote the role of procurement in generating social value. HACT staff have taken part in a number of events recently, and we were delighted to be invited to speak with members of Social Value UK at the 2016 Social Value Members Exchange. Additionally, HACT has hosted a series of well attended masterclasses for contractors and housing providers, which will continue in 2017.
Third, although much of the previous engagement on social value and procurement has been around repairs and maintenance, following publication there has been significant interest in applying the toolkit to a wider range of goods and services. Further, a number of exciting discussions are underway, exploring opportunities for implementing the toolkit beyond housing. These avenues of further work offer great potential to begin firmly embedding social value across a range of housing and non-housing procurements.
Lastly, over the next year HACT will continue working with organisations, individually and collectively, promoting the importance of effectively delivering social value through procurement, providing packages of support to unlock the full potential for social value generation.
