Social Value

click here to see the dates when the social value working group meets

Information and updates

10/24 The Cabinet Office has developed a short guide outlining the comprehensive, centrally funded, free learning and development package for contracting authorities. The Local Government Association have produced Procurement and supply chain e:bulletins 

04/24 Launch of an official training product to support the introduction of the new Procurement Act – Transforming Public Procurement Knowledge Drops | GOV.UK. The training is designed to provide a high-level overview of the changes and is aimed at those who are involved in procurement in their day-to-day roles as well as suppliers, including SME and VCSE.  

04/24 The Cabinet Office has developed a short guide outlining the comprehensive, centrally funded learning and development package for contracting authorities. The official Procurement Act learning modules

10/23 Social Value Manager 1.0 White Paper is an initiative to explore, establish, and embrace the emerging job role of social value managers and similar roles at the heart of impact creation and social value delivery of organisations. This White Paper has been co-created, with over 150 organisations and individuals partaking in our research and giving us insight – click here to access the download request

10/23 Procurement Bill received Royal Assent click here to access publications – the new regime now likely to go live in February 2025

3/23 BS 25700:2022 aims to support organisations in understanding and managing the risk of modern slavery as part of legal and non-legal frameworks; click here to download guidance

07/22 Considerate Constructors Scheme  – changes to audit processes click here to view the recent presentation

06/21 – Procurement Policy Action Note PPN 05/21. Click here to access

24/09 new rules –  to deliver social value priorities within future public procured contracts from January 2021. Click here to access the news item

Suppliers use a variety of measures to evidence ‘social value’ – the wider financial and non-financial impacts of projects and schemes, including the wellbeing of individual and communities , social capital and the environment. The use of Themes, Outcomes and Measures (TOMs) is common – click https://socialvalueportal.com/national-toms/ to find out about the TOMs measures

The British Standards Institute (BSI) has published a new guide for businesses and organisations of all sizes on social value. This covers social responsibility, sustainable practices, and sustainable development in line with the UN Sustainable Development goals.

The new guide, named BS 8950:2020, can be accessed here.

BS 8950:2020 focuses on the collection and use of suitable data for making decisions about social value in all types and sizes of activities, organizations and groups, including public and private organizations working alone or with others; and creates a framework for measuring social value, building on and linking to existing principles and frameworks. It aims to:

  • Help organizations to understand their role in preserving and enhancing social value
  • Help with decision making by collecting and using appropriate data
  • Give a framework for measuring activities and makes links with existing frameworks
  • Outline principles to help organizations recognize, account for and report on social value
  • Outline social value in the context of sustainability
  • Help identify the benefits of social value, no matter how little data or maturity an organization has

We incorporate social value principles into our framework in a number of ways including a requirement that each scheme assesses how it contributes to delivering social value.

One of the methods we have chosen is for our schemes to complete the Considerate Constructors Scheme (CCS) Building Social Value Assessment.

CCS have a best practice hub that includes content on social value – to go direct to the hub click here