Posted 12th July 2021
Social Value UK is proud to announce Forever Consulting as a Social Value Pioneer! Ahead of their joining, Social Value UK spoke to Forever Consulting about their social value journey so far.
Tell us a bit about your organisation and what you are trying to achieve…
Forever Consulting provides social and economic research and consulting services across the UK and Ireland. We work with public, private and third sector organisations who are looking to achieve true social value through regeneration, development, procurement and public service. We do this by providing robust, independent and evidence-based advice. We believe that becoming a member of SVUK will strengthen our credibility and help us to identify new partners and clients. We also want to help develop the thinking and practice in this area, based on our own unique insights and experiences.
Why do you think social value is important? In your organisation, your industry or in wider society?
Forever Consulting is owned by a Community Foundation where we say “community is our cause”. Social value sits at the heart of everything we do and all surpluses raised from our consultancy work are reinvested in grass roots community activity. Social value is what we exist to achieve, and we help others achieve it through our consultancy work.
Does your organisation have a background in social value/social accounting/SROI? e.g. have you already completed any reports? Are there any projects that you have started since you joined Social Value UK? Are there any specific projects you are doing at the moment that are related to social value/social accounting/SROI?
For many years, our team have conducted Green Book Appraisals, which place an emphasis on Cost Benefit Analysis. We have also begun to use SRoI extensively over the last five years, recognising the subtetlies between both approaches, where they align and where they don’t. We use SRoI for both appraisals and evaluations, usually for assignments where SRoI is a more appropriate method for considering the value for money of a project or programme. We have conducted many SRoI and CBA studies, most often for public and third sector clients. We also advise on the social value of built environment projects, for developers, infrastructure providers or housing associations. Usually, we are asked to measure the social value that can be achieved and explore how a project could be adapted to achieve even greater value for money.
What are your plans for your SVUK membership?
We want to make use of evidence and resources which may be available, benefit from shared learning and should resources allow, we would like to secure SVUK accreditation for our SRoI work that we do.
Forever Consulting are very pleased to begin our membership to Social Value UK. Social value sits at the heart of everything we do. We are looking forwards to sharing ideas, experiences and learning with other like-minded professionals.
For more information, please contact:
Claire Lawless, Director, via [email protected]