The social value conversation has changed significantly over the years. But what I keep hearing from companies isn’t that they don’t care about social value – it’s that they’re truly invested, but they struggle to put it into practice in a consistent, credible way that holds up to scrutiny. That’s where many teams find themselves stuck, and it’s precisely why we’re expanding our digital solutions to offer bespoke consultancy support for organisations at every stage of their social value journey, regardless of whether you’re using our platform or not.
In this article, I’ll walk through where the problems tend to show up in social value projects, and most importantly, what we’re doing about it to provide a resolution.
Where Social Value Tends to Stall
In my experience, the gap between intent and delivery usually becomes clearer in one of these three places.
- At the tender stage – Teams work reactively putting together social value submissions without the evidence or structure to make them achievable, credible, or sometimes even relevant to the client, local needs, or project. Social value is now weighted at 10% or more in many public sector procurement exercises, leaving real competitive advantage on the table.
- At the start of a project – Social value commitments are set, often in response to a bid requirement or a board directive, but without a clear strategy behind them. This turns into unclear ownership, disconnected targets from delivery, and intentions not translating into actions.
- At the delivery stage – Commitments have been made and work is in progress, however, there’re no processes in place for tracking progress, verifying impact, or reporting back confidently. This translates into inconsistent data, incomplete audit trails, and when it comes to results, the story falls flat.
This reflects how quickly the regulatory and procurement landscape has shifted. The Public Services (Social Value) Act 2012, Social Value Model (PPN 002) and the Procurement Act 2023 have raised the bar significantly, and many organisations haven’t had the right support or the resources to keep up the pace.
Support That Meets You at Any Stage
Our new consultancy solutions are built around what stage organisations are at in real time, not where we’d like them to be. Whether you’re starting from the very beginning or simply looking to strengthen what you already have, we offer tailored, expert support whilst achieving value for money.
Here’re some examples of what that looks like in practice:
- Social Value Strategy Workshop – Aimed at teams that need to bring clarity to their approach, we help align goals, priorities, and stakeholder requirements into a consistent, deliverable strategy. Essentially, we support you to turn your organisational goals into meaningful, measurable social value activity that is achievable for you.
- Tender Support – For those at the start of the procurement stage, we help you prepare and evaluate tenders before submission, including forecasting and planning your commitments, ensuring they are specific to the needs of the client as well as the local area, whilst being credible, evidence-backed and auditable.
- Independent Verification – For organisations that need external assurance on their social value claims, we provide independent verification that gives your key stakeholders assurance that reported impact is accurate, transparent, and fully defensible, whether it is for internal governance, client reporting, or regulatory reviews.
- Bespoke Proxy Value Creation – For organisations whose activities don’t align to standard national proxy values, we can create assured and accredited proxy values tailored to your specific initiatives, so your reporting effectively reflects the real impact you’re delivering.
Technology Works Better with the Right Foundations
Our accredited software provides organisations with everything they need to forecast, track, measure, evidence, and report social value. However, without a clear strategy and process, your data may still be inconsistent.
When the right foundations are in place, that changes. Targets become meaningful as well as achievable, data becomes credible, reports become audit-ready, and the software helps make complex processes simple.
I’ve always believed that better results come from improved tools and clearer thinking, that’s the reason behind this move. We want to be a trusted partner to the organisations we work with, helping them to think through the why, the how and the so what, making sure they get the most out of our software, including value for money.
Are You Ready to Take the Next Step?
Whether you’re at the start of your social value journey, preparing for an important tender, or looking to independently verify the impact you’re already delivering, our consultancy services are designed to help.
If any of this sounds familiar, get in touch today with our team and request a quote.
Beth supports users to optimise solutions, ensuring the success of clients’ projects. She actively listens to industry feedback, contributing to the ongoing development of software solutions.
