Social value is the additional value that we create in our communities, over and above our usual day-to-day work. It includes anything that contributes towards the social, economic and environmental wellbeing of our communities. In procurement, this means ensuring that public spending generates additional benefits beyond just the goods or services being procured.
We can create this additional value by volunteering our time in or outside of the workplace, by:
- Sharing our building space and equipment
- Sharing our knowledge and skills
- Helping to make valuable connections between people and organisations.
We can each achieve a lot using only our own resources, but we can achieve so much more by sharing resources and working together in partnership. This additional value, this additional impact in the community through working together, is what we call social value.
At Surrey County Council, we aim to focus these additional benefits on our core mission that no one is left behind and our four priority objectives. We expect our suppliers and contractors to deliver these alongside us (see our social value priority areas 2021 to 2026).
The Surrey County Council four priority objectives are:
- Growing a sustainable economy so everyone can benefit
- Tackling health inequalities
- Enabling a greener future
- Empowered and thriving communities
By sharing resources to achieve shared outcomes, social value in Surrey aims to be:
- Collaborative
- Outcomes-focused
- Meaningful - contributing directly to Surrey, specific needs and priorities
We ask all our partners to join us in considering their own contributions to this work. Find out how you can get involved.
For more information, please read our approach to social value at Surrey County Council in our social value policy and find out what this looks like in practice by browsing our social value case studies.
