Social Value

I was able to attend a brilliant thematic group at Southend Association of Voluntary Services to hear about how Southend Borough Council is planning to develop and implement a social value strategy across their procurement team.

This means, in theory, that local charities stand a better chance of ‘winning’ competitive tenders over large national charities (who don’t have a local presence in Southend).

The Social Value Act 2012 came into force in January 2013, making local authorities and other public bodies to consider the social good that could come from a procurement exercise; it is not enough to think only of price and quality.  Public bodies now have to judge whether services they procure will improve the economic, social and environmental wellbeing of their area.

This has been great in theory, but as charities in Southend have discovered, it hasn’t particularly worked well in practice.   This has been mirrored nationally.  In early 2017, the House of Lords select committee on charities recommended that the government took steps to promote commissioning based on impact and social value rather than simply on the lowest cost (see here).

Now Southend Borough Council are getting themselves in order and are setting out a (hopefully) robust Social Value policy and strategy which should lead to positive changes in procurement teams.  Last year, the Council spent 34% of its planned spend on goods and services (£50million) on businesses in Southend, rather than commissioning businesses outside of the Borough.  That means that money from the Borough is being spent in the Borough – which is good for local people.

Encouragingly, Southend Council have also engaged with local voluntary and community groups as well as local businesses to develop the strategy.  This is a really positive step, and one which I hope Southend Borough Council will continue.  The local voluntary and community sector have a wealth of knowledge and experience.  In many cases, they are the experts, especially when working with the ‘hard to reach’.

The draft Social Value Policy was presented to the Council Cabinet yesterday (19th June) – fingers crossed it has been approved!  (You can read the draft policy here).

However, charities will still have to sufficiently display the difference that they make to environmental, social and economic wellbeing in the Borough during the tendering process.

In the next few months I am going to be working with my regular clients so that they are able to record and track their contributions to the local area which will help to prepare them for future tender opportunities.  If you would like to discuss your charity’s Social Value, just fill out the contact form here and I’ll be in touch!