By Paul Vicario in our Social Value team

With social value accounting for up to 20% of a quality submission in Greater Manchester (and in some cases up to 30%), contractors will increasingly be looking to supply chain to help share the responsibility.

Social Value is termed as a ‘broader understanding of value’ according to Social Value UK. Winning work is no longer just about how much it will cost to deliver said work, it looks at the impact an organisations actions have on people, the community, the economy and the environment.

Often, supply chain may not have the benefits of a dedicated social value team or department and will have to react to a contractors proposals quite possibly without even understanding why or what is being asked of them. Knowledge of social value therefore, is important for your business. Even more so, it’s the right thing to do.

Top Tips for Supply Chain

Below are some tips that will position you positively when it comes to social value talks with a contractor;

• Develop your knowledge of Social Value – Understanding legislation, approaches to social value and policy is a useful basis when navigating this topic.
• Understand what your organisations approach to Social Value is – What do you want to achieve, Why do you want to achieve it and How can you achieve it?
• Understand your Locality – A local needs analysis will help you identify gaps in employment, skills, education wellbeing and many more topics. It will allow you to find local partners to work with and shows you have researched the area.
• Understand the Contractors approach to Social Value – Researching the contractors approach to social value will help you to align priorities.
• Work together – Developing an honest and open dialogue with contractors around how you can contribute to social value targets will build trust and strengthen relationships.

The Business Growth Hub have a team of Social Value Specialists who can support you with the above, through 1-to-1 advice and group workshops. So whether you are beginning your journey, or looking to broaden your understanding of the subject, reach out to us to see how we can help.

“The Knowledge gained will be so valuable to us when approaching corporates”. – Mel Scholefield on our ‘Introduction to Social Value Workshop (Henshaws).

“It made me look at what we do in a new light” – Justin Nolan on our ‘Introduction to Social Value Workshop (The Blair Project).