Introduction
Social value presents an opportunity for all people and organisations in Surrey to achieve more towards our shared Community Vision for Surrey 2030.
When we make decisions about spending money, or when we design and deliver services, we can each do this in a way that maximises positive social, economic and environmental impact for our community.
The greatest impact is usually achieved through working together and sharing our resources.
This might mean, for example, sharing building space with community groups, purchasing equipment made using recycled materials, providing free business advice to local businesses and charities, or enabling young adults with additional needs to find long-term employment.
The policy below describes what we understand by social value, what value it can add to Surrey and how we go about maximising this opportunity.
What is social value?
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.
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. The four priority objectives are: Growing a sustainable economy so everyone can benefit; Tackling health inequality; Enabling a greener future; and Empowered & 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.
What does it mean for the people and place of Surrey?
Delivering social value in Surrey means maximising our positive impact by achieving:
- more than we can with our own resources; and
- better, more long-lasting outcomes through working together.
The Social Value Model for Surrey ensures that we focus the additional value on what is most important in Surrey right now. Our Social Value Priorities and Outcomes within the model are based on our shared Community Vision for Surrey 2030, which was shaped by people and organisations from across the county, and they also support current organisation strategies in the areas such as public health, the environment and economic development.
Priority 1: Growing a sustainable community
Create the conditions for sustainable economic growth within Surrey, to maintain the county's position as the strongest economy outside of London and ensure all residents can benefit as a result.
Outcomes
- Fair work: Proactively tackle economic inequality through employment opportunities that offer fair wages and good working conditions. Help people get a job, stay in work, and progress in their careers, with good employment opportunities across the country. This includes the creation of high quality jobs, providing fair work and pay practices and mitigating the risks of modern slavery.
- Skills for growth: Align skills provision with businesses needs so that residents are able to access employment opportunities and businesses can thrive. Demonstrate an understanding of skills and development issues and provide opportunities to overcomes them.
- Growing local economy: Take an active role in growing Surrey's economy, through supporting innovation and ensuring Surrey remains an attractive place to live and do business. Develop and support diverse supply chains that include Small and Medium‑sized Enterprises (SME)s and Voluntary, Community Social Enterprise (VCSE)s.
- Removal of barriers to opportunity: Generate employment and training to ensure economic growth is inclusive and something that everyone can benefit from to address inequalities and pockets of deprivation across the county. Create employment opportunities for those who face barriers to entry, increase the representation of disabled people and tackle inequality in the workforce and create contract opportunities.
Read the full version: Priority 1: Growing a sustainable community
Priority 2: Tackling health inequality
Helping residents stay healthy and well is key to reducing inequalities across Surrey. By focusing on prevention, especially physical and mental wellbeing, we can improve outcomes and close gaps affecting adults and children. A healthy workforce benefits both employees and business. Investing in wellbeing supports Surrey’s ambition to leave no one behind and delivers measurable organisational gains.
Outcomes
- Reduced health inequalities: Alignment with Surrey’s Health and Wellbeing Strategy through inclusive, preventative approaches that benefit all employees.
- Improved workforce resilience and productivity: Workplace wellbeing initiatives can reduce staff turnover, increase job satisfaction and productivity, and lower sickness absence and presenteeism.
Read the full version: Priority 2: Tackling health inequality
Priority 3: Enabling a Greener Future
Ensure that Surrey remains an attractive place full of opportunities, offering clean, safe and green communities.
Outcome
Environmentally Sustainable Procurement Practices: Empowering residents, communities, organisations and businesses to reduce emissions and other environmental impacts and deliver environmental and associated benefits.
Read the full version: Priority 3: Enabling a Greener Future
Priority 4: Empowered and thriving communities
Reinvigorate our relationship with residents, characterised by more people participating, engaging and having a role and say in how things are done on matters that impact them and where they live.
Outcome
Compassionate and connected communities: Bring residents together with local government, other public services and broader partners to decide priorities, tackle local issues and grasp opportunities within communities across Surrey. Suppliers can demonstrate approaches to local engagement and operational delivery, especially collaboration in co-design and delivery with communities and anchor partners.
Read the full version: Priority 4: Empowered and thriving communities
Our policy aims
The aim of this policy, and the accompanying guidance, is to set out how Surrey County Council will deliver maximum social, economic and environmental value, not only through its commissioning, procurement and contract management activities but also through enabling wider collaboration and resource sharing between people and organisations across the county.
We will know we are successful when:
- There is measurable evidence of the social, economic and environmental value created through SCC third party contracts.
- "Sharing resources to achieve shared outcomes" becomes normal practice across the county within and between each sector – residents, voluntary, community and faith sector, the business community and the public sector.
How we will achieve this
These six overarching commitments form the basis of our social value strategy:
- We start by understanding what is most important to communities in Surrey right now. We will work on an on-going basis with service teams, communities and partners to target the outcomes in the Social Value Model that best serve their needs.
- We build these outcomes into the design and delivery of all our services. When designing services, or spending any amount of public money, we plan right from the start how we might generate the greatest possible social, economic and environmental impact.
- We work in partnership to maximise impact. When our partners commit to delivering against shared priorities we work together, sharing our own resources, networks and expertise to help achieve the greatest impact.
- We promote and enable resource-sharing across the county. We develop online and offline spaces to facilitate, encourage and enable collaboration and resource sharing between all people and organisations in Surrey. We encourage all suppliers to sign up to and actively engage with the Surrey Community Marketplace.
- We capture and tell the story. We will track all social value delivered through our activities, measuring and reporting on the impact achieved and publicising successes where possible.
- We lead by example. Delivering maximum impact means reviewing not only our service design and spending decisions as above, but also our operations, including for example our wellbeing policies, apprenticeship opportunities, use of our buildings, staff volunteering hours in the community, investment into renewable energy sources, and the way we travel to work.
Our policy commitments
In commissioning, procurement and contract management:
- We will work to deliver social value not just through public services as legislated in the Public Services (Social Value) Act 2012 but through all services, goods and works of any scale.
- The Act requires us to consider social value in delivery of all goods, services and works with a value above the thresholds in the Procurement Act (2023). We already go beyond this by considering social value in all contracts and purchases and we will go further by considering social value in all spend where appropriate.
- In line with government guidance and wherever appropriate, we will reserve procurements below threshold for Surrey-based organisations and/or for SMEs and Voluntary Community Social Enterprise (VCSE) sector.
- We will take an integrated approach to commissioning and procurement, building social value into service design from the very start of any commissioning process.
- Social value commitments will be clearly connected to the outcomes they aim to achieve, and to Surrey’s Social Value Model.
- In contract documents and performance management frameworks, social value outcomes and key performance indicators will be incorporated as core contract outcomes.
- Contract Managers will take ownership of ensuring all social value committed to is delivered.
- Social value in tenders will be evaluated as part of the quality evaluation, in which clear method statements and delivery plans will be expected from bidders.
Across Surrey County Council
- We will build social value into our strategy formation, business planning and budgeting activities.
- All service teams will be trained in how to design and spend for social value, not only commissioners, procurement officers and contract managers.
- The Social Value Model will be reviewed at least annually, drawing on insight from a range of stakeholders including residents, partners and service teams.
- We will facilitate online platforms and offline spaces such as the Surrey Community Marketplace for people and organisations to share ideas, areas of priority, resource needs and resource offers, and to collaborate in fulfilling these.
When reporting on social value
Any activity that generates a measurable social, economic or environmental impact should be captured in social value reporting.
We will prioritise quality over quantity, placing greater emphasis on non-monetary measurement of value, and when using monetary values we will ensure no double counting.
We will provide an annual report to Cabinet detailing the social value delivered through our activities, both in qualitative and quantitative terms.
Guiding principles
In delivering on this policy and the commitments above, our aim is for social value to be:
Easy to understand and Relevant and meaningful: social value should clearly contribute to the outcomes of the Social Value Model and will therefore be of direct benefit to Surrey residents. For suppliers this also means proportionate to the size and type of the contract.
Measurable: Positive changes in communities should always be measurable, in both quantitative and qualitative terms, and where relevant social value can also be presented in financial terms.
Flexible and collaborative: We should demonstrate and promote a strength-based approach to community engagement and responsiveness to communities' changing priorities.
Sustainable: social value should be focused on long term outcomes and on building enduring, productive relationships.
How we will measure success
We will evaluate the impact of social value delivery through:
Measuring inputs and outputs: This might be, for example, through number of volunteer hours invested, number of trees planted, or number of webinars delivered. The Social Value Model contains a range of potential reporting metrics.
Measuring progress against outcomes: We start by defining outcomes and then agree relevant performance indicators which should be included in contracts.
Reporting good news: Capturing case studies and drawing on other qualitative methods to add depth and context to the social value created.