Social value: Why it matters and the path to success

It is already woven into every new procurement with a minimum 10% weighting and goes hand in hand with net zero targets designed to minimise the impact of anchor institutions on the environment. 

In the face of increasingly urgent climate concerns, rising costs and spiralling demands on public services, Arden & GEM and the Social Value Network are facilitating information sharing across the country to help fast-track learning and innovation that will enable ICBs to accelerate social value, sustainability and economic regeneration. In our most recent webinar, ‘Understanding the importance of social value in the public sector’ we brought together NHS, local authority and voluntary sector leaders to share their expertise. 

Why co-production matters 

We heard from Cheshire East Council about the importance of co-production in developing social value. True co-production can be uncomfortable for organisations as it requires a different approach, creating equity across sectors and delivering mutually beneficial outcomes for all. But getting the right people ‘in the room’ is essential in understanding and delivering better outcomes for our communities based on what they need, and how and where they need it. This requires meaningful engagement, taking time to reach people in their own communities and providing ways to communicate and collaborate that meet a variety of needs. 

Harnessing support from the voluntary sector 

The voluntary, community, faith and social enterprise sector (VCFSE) already plays a significant role in delivering social value in our communities – it’s in their DNA. There is a huge amount of energy within communities, and anchor institutions can deliver more impact, more quickly by harnessing the existing work already being led by VSFSEs who are, by definition, already part of their community. The Chief Executive of Wellbeing Enterprises (a social enterprise connecting VCSFEs with commissioning organisations) argued that devolving decisions to communities is crucial. As we prioritise social value, we need to give VCFSEs the opportunity to deliver on the ground.  

Working together to accelerate change 

NHS England took us through the tools and guidance available to help ICBs develop their social value strategy and embed net zero commitments into procurement, which provides a clear framework on which to base some of this work. As this webinar showed, there are already some great examples of social value being embedded within different systems and a lot of learning to share. 

Watch the webinar 

The 'Understanding the importance of social value in the public sector' webinar is available to view here: https://youtu.be/yIP4JeNwL0U