What’s new in the world of social value?

Keeping on top of everything in the world of social value is a full-time job on its own. A quick Google search will bring you thousands of articles about what social value is, best practices for increasing it, and breakdowns of all the latest regulations, legislation, and industry news.

But unless you happen to have a spare 8 hours in your day, it can feel impossible to keep up with. And this got the team here at Impact thinking about how we can help. As social value is our bread and butter, we like to keep our fingers on the pulse. If you’re a long-time reader of our blog, you’ll know we often cover all of the topics above and share our own two cents on how you can evolve your approach. 

Today, we’re taking this a bit further. We’ve compiled three pieces of social value news that have come out in the past month. It’s the stories we think will be the most relevant and impactful to you. And it should (hopefully) save you from having to hunt around for the latest information yourself!

So, with that said, let’s jump in…

A fresh action plan to engage VCSEs in procurement

The 250,000 VCSEs across the UK are in a brilliant position to boost social value in public procurement. Bringing close community relationships, an expert knowledge on local needs, and a passion for improving lives, they’re an invaluable resource for increasing your impact. 

But they also face many challenges just to get their foot in the door. They tend to be smaller organisations with less time and resources to commit to complex and competitive bids. Increasingly digitised processes, a lack of tools to accurately manage social value during contracts, and low understanding on the part of buyers about what the VCSE sector has to offer are other core challenges holding them back.

As a way to encourage central government to tackle this and diversify their supply chains, the Department for Culture, Media, and Sport (DCMS) has released a new action plan.

In it, they offer guidance for commissioners on how to create a more accessible bid process and benefit from the vast knowledge and expertise that VCSEs bring to the table. There’s a lot to it and we recommend you take a look at the full action plan here. In short, though, it involves increasing awareness of the VCSE sector, working on transparency, and improving accessibility.

A new social housing standard

Following a series of focus groups and interviews with housing associations and funders, Sustainability for Housing (SfH) has released a new draft of their Sustainability Reporting Standard for Social Housing (SRS).

The SRS is a common standard for the UK social housing sector, allowing social landlords, housing associations, and funders to more accurately and effectively report on their impact. 160 organisations have already adopted the standard. And this second version will ask a bit more from providers, including:

• A bigger focus on housing quality, including how providers mitigate risk of damp and mould.
• Information surrounding the condition of stock, as well as data on gas safety checks and fire, asbestos, and legionella risk assessments.
• Information on net-zero strategies, retrofit, and environmental disclosures such as SAP and EPC ratings.
• EDI policies and approaches, as well as training and professional development of staff. 

SfH have been consulting on the changes throughout this month (April 2023). They’re asking for feedback from all adopters, endorsers, and interested parties. To find out more about the second version of the standard, and to have your say on the changes, follow this link.

Is the private sector lagging behind on SDG progress?

Since the UN’s SDGs came to be in 2015, we’ve seen a lot of great engagement and progress. But there’s still a long way to go if we’re to meet the ambitious 2030 agenda. And this won’t be possible without significant and sizable contributions from the private sector.

Washington DC-based The Brookings Institution – a nonprofit public policy organisation – shared some key data and their suggestions on increasing private sector engagement in a recent article.

“A vanguard of companies is making public commitments and taking action. Yet, business engagement and impact are far from becoming mainstream. A concerted effort is required to scale the quantity, quality, and accountability of private sector activities that could have a measurable impact on supporting the SDGs.”

According to the 12th UN Global Compact-Accenture CEO Study:

• 98% of chief executives across 18 industries in 128 countries agree that sustainability is core to their role.
• 51% believe they could play a critical role in achieving the goals with increased commitment and action.

However, wanting to do better isn’t always enough. KPMG’s 2022 Survey of Sustainability Reporting found that:

• 74% of the world’s largest 250 companies by revenue are reporting on the SDGs.
• But only 10% are reporting on all 17 goals, and 6% are reporting on their negative and positive impacts.

There’s definitely still some work to be done to increase action and accountability in the private sector. For more insightful data, and Brookings’ suggestions for how we can scale private sector engagement, you can read the full article here.

And there we go!

There are some of the top social value stories we’ve seen over the past few weeks. Hopefully they’ve given you some food for thought, ideas for exploration, or even just motivation to keep on pushing forward with your social value.

If you ever feel like you’re missing something from your approach, we’ll redirect you once more to our blog where we’ve covered a range of topics over the years. Social value is multifaceted, but by considering all angles – and absorbing the news above – there’s no reason your efforts can’t be where you want them to be.

And if you still feel like there’s a gap in your approach, reach out to us. Impact is an intuitive, framework-independent platform that puts social value on autopilot. Decentralise data capture to ensure no insight is missed, get real-time visualisation of progress towards your targets, and generate engaging reports in a few clicks. To find out more, schedule a demo, or get in touch with the team on 0161 532 4752.