Social Value Model: What is it and how to score full marks in bid responses
How does the Social Value Model work? What does good Social Value look like?
Social Value is the public sector’s way of ensuring its suppliers are companies who behave responsibly and sustainably.
The UK Government wants to ensure public money is spent with companies delivering their products and services without damaging the environment. For example, exploiting or mistreating their staff; or harming the communities they operate in. It does this by including social value questions in tenders.
The Social Value Model is the framework which helps public sector buyers choose which questions to ask to help differentiate between suppliers based on how they behave towards society.
The model came into force on 1st Jan 2021 and contained five themes, eight outcomes and 27 different criteria (the social value ‘questions’ that procurers can ask). All UK central government procurers should use it. If you’ve ever wondered why you see lots of the same questions in different tenders, the Social Value Model is why.
Social Value Model on a Page
We’re a bit geeky about the Social Value model. We use it all the time, so we’ve produced this handy ‘social value model’ reference guide to help us. If you want your own copy, you can download it here
That’s what the social value model is, but what does it mean? And what kinds of things are procurers looking to see in your answers?
The key is understanding how your business delivers its products or services. How do you impact people and the planet? And what do you do to mitigate the adverse effects of your activities?
To score full marks, you need to show not only what you will do to achieve the outcomes they’re looking for but also that you understand the challenges (i.e. what the outcomes mean). This is a critical step that a lot of suppliers miss. For example, they fill the first half page of their answer talking about what a socially responsible company they are. A much better use would be to show that you understand the issue.
“You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view, until you climb inside of his skin and walk around in it.”
To help you, we will explore each of the eight outcomes. But, of course, it depends on the context – i.e., the contract or services they’re procuring - so this is just a guide.
Social value is all about humans. The only way to understand it is by using a bit of imagination and more than a sprinkling of empathy.
Put yourself in the mind of the people impacted. Then look at it through the lens of your delivery of the contract.
HOW THE MODEL IS BEING USED
The Cabinet Office issued some pretty explicit guidance on how to use the model so, in theory, procurers should all be using it in the same way. Except this is real life so obviously it isn't working like that. To be fair, like everyone, the public sector is also on a steep learning curve when it comes to social value, but there are massive variations in how social value questions are appearing.
1. Help the economy, individuals and communities recover from Covid-19
The Social Value Model hasn't been updated since it was first issued in Dec 2020 and although Covid Recovery is still one of the five themes it is very unusual to see it referenced in tender requirements any more. However according to ONS figures published in March 2023 at least 1.9 million people in the UK are still experiencing the symptoms of Long Covid, with 79% (1.5 million) reporting that their symptoms were adversely affecting their day-to-day activities and 20% reporting that their ability to undertake their day-to-day activities has been "limited a lot".
What that means for you as a supplier is that Covid hasn't gone away. It may well be something you need to consider - especially if you're asked about wellbeing (see point 7 for more). What are you as a company doing for staff who might be suffering or have caring responsibilities for someone who is? How could employment opportunities be adjusted to help people suffering from long covid? If you want to know how long covid affects people and to get an idea of what their lives are like (it could happen to anyone) – read the story of a nurse in Belfast here.
2. Create new businesses, jobs and skills
This one is a priority. You will see this in most tenders that ask for social value. What you need to think about here is how spending money with your company will benefit the rest of the economy?
Many companies struggle because they say, ‘we’re not creating any new jobs. We’re going to use existing staff,’ but there’s always something you can do. Approach this by helping your business secure a future talent pipeline and a skilled workforce.
Think about things like:
How will opportunities in the supply chain be advertised? How can smaller businesses bid for them?
How will you advertise those roles if you need to create new jobs? How might you target people furthest from the labour market – particularly in critical groups such as 16-24-year-olds and the over 50s.
How will you support the professional development of staff and upskill your workforce? What can you do to help people without the skills you need to employ them, get those skills and then get employed by you?
How do people get into your industry?
3. Increase supply chain resilience and capacity
This one is about the supply chain you will use to deliver the contract, so you need to know what the supply chain looks like and who those companies are. It would help if you showed that you understand the market. Finally, discussing how you will open up opportunities and make the supply chain accessible to new suppliers would be best.
They also want to know how you treat your suppliers, and just saying ‘we’re Prompt Payment Code signatories won’t be enough.
How do you ensure your suppliers get paid within your dedicated terms? How do they contact you if there’s a problem with payment? How effective is your response?
What kinds of agreements do you have with them? How balanced and fair are those contracts?
Do you see them as partners, or do you see them as simply suppliers? (hint: Suppliers are key stakeholders for any business, so if it’s the latter, you probably have some work to do).
They want to see how diverse the supply chain is. So you will score points for having variety there; smaller firms, social enterprises and third sector organisations. Also, companies can help deliver products and services in new and innovative ways.
A quick point about cyber security. They’ve put it in here (it had to go somewhere), so this is where you’re likely to see questions about cyber security if that’s a vital issue for the contract.
4. Effective stewardship of the environment
This one’s relatively straightforward – it’s about environmental management. Consider the environmental impact of the delivery of the contract and what you are doing to mitigate that. Things to consider include:
Waste management, energy efficiency and staff travel.
Who your energy provider is and whether or not you use renewable energy.
What about transport. Do you use electric vehicles?
How do you encourage staff to conserve energy and manage climate change?
Suppose you are selling a product rather than a service. What happens to products at the end of their life? Can it be recycled?
If the contract is worth over £5 million, you will also be asked for a Carbon Reduction plan.
5. Reduce the disability employment gap
The UK Government’s goal is to see one million more disabled people in work between 2017 and 2027. In addition, it has committed to reducing the gap between the employment rates of disabled and non-disabled people (known as the disability employment gap).
According to the latest figures, 1 in 5 of the UK population are disabled. The disabled employment rate was 52.7%, compared to 81.0% for non-disabled people.
Disabled workers move out of work at nearly twice the rate (8.8%) of non-disabled workers (4.9%), and workless disabled people move into position at almost one-third of the speed (11.0%) of workless non-disabled people (26.9%)
The disability employment gap is wider for disabled men; older (aged 50 to 64) disabled people; disabled people with no qualifications; disabled people of White ethnicity; and disabled people living in Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales, North West, and North East.
The Government wants to know what you will do to help address that. It’s not just about being disability confident either: you need to show how that impacts the contract. Things to ask yourself include:
How accessible are your job adverts/places of work?
What reasonable adjustments do you make to enable people with disabilities to interview?
Where do you advertise opportunities? Is there anything you could do to help your adverts reach specific groups?
How many people with disabilities do you have in the workforce?
6. Tackle workforce inequality
This is where modern slavery sits (like cyber security, they had to put it somewhere). This is also where they want to know what you are doing to ensure equal opportunity and address inequity.
It’s imperative to understand that not everyone starts from the same point. The best way we’ve seen it described is this infamous image. If you give everyone the same size box, the shortest person still can’t see over the fence. The fact is that some people don’t need a box at all, and some people will need two.
Think about how you ensure equality of opportunity and that everyone has the same chance to get a job at your company and progress. This is where you talk about diversity and inclusion; fair pay, and how you help people in your workforce progress, especially those from the most disadvantaged or minority groups. It’s also about whether you recruit graduates, put salaries on your job adverts and how and where you advertise your roles (hint: LinkedIn won’t cut it).
7. Improve health & wellbeing
This one is about what you do to look after your staff and customers if you want to know more about how to do that we’ve written an article to help you.
The State knows there is a clear link between work and public health, so it doesn’t want to spend money with companies that don’t look after their staff. The Government defines ‘Good work’ as “having a safe and secure job with good working hours and conditions, supportive management and opportunities for training and development.” So, you need to think about how you will look after the contract workforce. What will you do to create a positive organisational culture and make staff feel physically and psychologically safe?
You won’t see this one asked in all tenders. However, it is likely to be important in contracts where staff are likely to be low-paid and experience stress and difficult working conditions.
“Hint: Employee Assistance Programmes and Wellbeing Champions aren’t going to differentiate you. What will; show that you care about your staff and put their needs front and centre of your business.”
8. Improve community integration
This is our FAVOURITE outcome. But it is the one suppliers struggle with; it’s also less common to see this in tenders (mainly because procurers don’t understand it either).
We love it because it’s where the most transformational benefits will be felt. Trust us: the business benefits when you start engaging meaningfully with stakeholders.
What they are asking here is:
How will you engage with different parts of the community, service users and the people most impacted by the contract you're delivering?
How will these people have a voice and be able to influence the way you're delivering the contract? What will you do to engage with local community groups?
How can you support community initiatives that are relevant to the contract?
This is where school talks, volunteering, and other community engagement come in. It's also about the design of the products or services and how you involve key stakeholders.
It's doubtful you're going to be asked to deliver all these outcomes simultaneously.
It's about choosing the most appropriate to your business and focusing on those. We hope this overview has been helpful. If you'd like help thinking about shaping an individual bid, please get in touch.
How we can help
At Samtaler, we understand the importance of your social value commitment. You’re here because you care about your business’s impact on society and want to be better. We want you to succeed, and we know from experience that achieving social value requires skill, strategy, and support.
To find out how we can help send an email to hello@samtaler.co.uk
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