Reflections from this year’s Social Value Conference 2024

This year’s Social Value Conference felt like being part of a growing movement, highlighting a powerful shift in how we understand and deliver social value that goes beyond policies or metrics. Sessions tackled everything from the role of leadership in embedding social value to the importance of partnerships for maximising community impact. 

Across public and private sectors, a shared goal resonated: making social value a fundamental part of organisational fabric to build a true Social Value Economy, moving far beyond box-ticking exercises.

A major theme was the shift from traditional corporate social responsibility (CSR) models to a holistic, system-wide approach where social value becomes embedded in core business strategies. 

Rather than focusing solely on compliance, social value should drive decisions that address community needs, environmental sustainability and growth. 

At AMS, we have embedded a central function with the sole purpose of driving Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging (DEIB) across our own business and our client workforces. In addition to this we have a number of purpose-led groups from our award-winning Employee Resource Groups through to our Sustainability Working Group who’s mission is to drive purpose-led initiatives across our business. 

On PSR (Public Sector Resourcing), we’ve embedded a dedicated social value team responsible for managing the PSR Social Value Strategy to ensure our initiatives produce lasting impact for public sector customers and communities.

Another prominent theme was the challenge of balancing large-scale goals with local needs.

Delivering social value on a national level often creates complexities when addressing specific community requirements as noted by speakers who advocated for stronger, locally rooted partnerships. 

These partnerships enable organisations to harness local knowledge and deliver targeted initiatives that genuinely reflect the needs of the communities served. The AMS Diversity & Inclusion Alliance is a great example of crafting an effective partnership with a blend of organisations including those from the VCSE sector to create meaningful outcomes for under-represented individuals, each partner brings expertise across a wide range of DEI demographics and are making a difference in their respective fields. 

Working closely with them on PSR has enabled us to develop effective initiatives like the PSR Guaranteed Interview Scheme which aims to remove the barriers to employment for disabled candidates, military veterans and military spouses/partners. 

One of the biggest takeaways from the conference was the ongoing challenge of contract management and measurement of social value. Organisations often struggle to monitor and evaluate the impact of social value commitments made by suppliers, leading to a gap between promise and delivery. 

The importance of evidence-based frameworks for to measure social value was recognised as important but there is a growing awareness that a “one-size-fits-all” approach may not be enough to ensure meaningful outcomes.  To address this, we’ve implemented Thrive on PSR, a social value measurement tool that enables precise tracking and real-time reporting of social value outcomes. This robust technology, combined with qualitative insights, translates commitments into measurable, impactful results for our communities.

With a new government and the Procurement Act postponed, it’s clear that social value priorities may evolve, underscoring the need for agility and flexibility when it comes to Social Value. 

In short, Social Value is here to stay. This movement is growing, with all sectors increasingly recognising the importance of generating added value through sustainable and socially responsible procurements.