For the past two years we have been delivering a Barrow Cadbury Trust-funded project to support the practical implementation of the new social value legislation.
During this time we have worked with Birmingham City Council and other public service commissioners to devise meaningful and ‘do-able’ approaches to implementing social value, and produced briefing resources and free workshops to help social enterprises and trading voluntary organisations improve their readiness and ability to utilise this new legislation and compete within its terms.
This two-year project is now ending and today (07/08/14) we are publishing a summary of Key Findings. This is a short report summarising the most important trends and messages in social value implementation, with some observations about the practical support needs social enterprises have in order to better rise to the challenge of social value.
→ Key Findings — read the full report.
→ Key Findings Synopsis — in nine points and three pages!
The future
We are delighted to announce that this does not signal the end of our work on social value. The Barrow Cadbury Trust has generously agreed to fund a further three years’ work and we would like to take this opportunity to thank the Trust for its support.
Over the next three years we will be looking more widely at progress on social value amongst other types of public authorities, looking particularly for good practice that is transferable, and most importantly making clear recommendations for the sector about tools and approaches to evidencing and reporting on social value that work.
We would like to thank all those who contributed to the project, especially Birmingham City Council, all those who have attended workshops and given generously of their time in producing presentations, all those who have followed this work and made use of our reports and briefings, and all those who have taken the time to comment on the work and encourage us in what we have tried to do.
The earlier reports and materials detailed below are all available here on the website:
- Birmingham City Council – Social Value Policy (22nd April 2012)
- Embedding Social Value: Literature Review (Nov 2012)
- Defining social value for Birmingham: A Launch and workshop event for Birmingham City Council (22nd January 2013)
- Social Enterprise and the Public Services (Social Value) Act 2012: A Policy Briefing for Social Enterprises and Third Sector Organisations (May 2013)
- Social Value: Implications of the Public Services (Social Value) Act 2012 for social enterprises and the third sector (May 2013) – a PowerPoint presentation based on the above
- Social Value – One Year On: Implementing the Social Value Act in Public Sector Procurement: Report of a Roundtable Event (15th January 2014)
- Evidencing Social Value: The Elephant in the Room: Report of a Roundtable Event (9th June 2014)
- Other useful resources on social value
- All blog posts tagged ‘social value’