Social Value Report Assurance
Assuring your Social Value Report will give your work a mark of quality and credibility. Submit your report to our Report Assurance service and if it meets the SVI report assurance standard the report becomes ‘assured’ and the below statement can be attached to the report.
The report shows a good understanding of, and is consistent with, the Social Value Principles and process. Assurance here does not include verification of stakeholder engagement, data and calculations.
View Assured Reports in the Report Database
Download the Assurance Standard
What is Report Assurance?
Assurance is more than just a rubber-stamping exercise. It is also a learning process designed to help you improve the way you measure impact. During the process, your analysis will be independently checked by our qualified assessors. They will check that a report shows a good understanding of Social Value principles and practice. For an SROI report, this means that principle #3 “value what matters” requires the use of financial proxies. However, any social value/impact report can be tested against the Social Value principles. Assurance is a principles-based assessment. It does not include verification of stakeholder engagement, data, and calculations.
What support can I get to help my report become assured?
- Peer Support: As a member of SVI you are encouraged to gain support from other members through regional meetings, LinkedIn groups, webinars and slack channels.
- Assurance Standard Checklist: The Report Assurance standard is available in a checklist format for you to use as you produce your report. Download it here.
- Report Review Service: Submit any report to Social Value UK and feedback is provided on where the report shows good application of the Social Value Principles and areas in which it needs improving if it is to meet the assurance criteria.
- SVUK mentoring packages: Social Value UK provide a mentoring service that offers intense 1-2-1 coaching. NB: if a report has been produced with help from this mentoring service, it is not possible for it to be part of an individuals application for Advanced Practitioner status.
How much does Report Assurance cost?
- Standard Report Assurance = £900 (£750 + VAT)
- Fast-Track Report Assurance = £1260 (£1050 + VAT)
- Amendment period (optional) = £360 (£300 + VAT)
PLEASE NOTE: The majority of reports are of a standard that means they have to go through a post-assessment amendment period. We recommend that you budget for the extra £360 amendment period fee.
Report assurance has a 10% discount offer available for organisational members
Before you apply
- Have you read the Assurance Standard? Download it here.
- Have you seen our Pre-Report Assurance Outcomes Check Service?
- Have you prepared your supporting documents?
Pre-Report Assurance Outcomes Check
The Pre-Report Assurance Outcomes Check Service provides a critique of the practice that has been undertaken to define the outcomes of your analysis. This should be undertaken before the full analysis and report have been completed.
Learn more about the Pre-Report Assurance Outcomes Check Service here.
If you have already completed your full analysis and report, we ask that you use our Report Review service instead. The Report Review service provides you with summary of the strengths and weaknesses of the report in the application of the Principles of Social Value, and recommendations for improvement.
Required supporting documents
- A complete Word (or similar) version of the report to be assured, including any appendices and with all references to the author removed
- A complete Excel (or similar) version of the impact map used as the basis of the analysis with all references to the author removed
- Evidence of permission to submit the report from the relevant organisations
- A signed copy of the terms and conditions of application available from our website here.
Submit a report for assurance
You can submit a standard application using the button below. (PLEASE NOTE: applications will only be processed during the application rounds as per the Assurance Calendar unless you have organised a Fast Track timeline directly with the Assurance Team).
You can view a calendar of upcoming assurance rounds here.
Fast-Track Applications
Alternatively, you can use the Fast-Track service. This means you can apply at any time of the year. To apply for Fast-Track report assurance, please contact the assurance team to discuss timelines using the button below.
COVID-19 and the application of Principle 1: Involve Stakeholders
Social Value International has been working to respond to the implications for the application of Principle 1: Involve Stakeholders during the current Covid-19 global health pandemic.
The pandemic has seen communities across the globe having to physically distance themselves from one another. This has direct implications for Practitioners of Social Value and SROI analysis who are committed to involving stakeholders in any assessment of the social value that is created or forecast to be created through an activity.
Issues identified include:
- Mixed levels of stakeholder involvement. Adequate levels of stakeholder involvement have taken place in the process of defining outcomes and amounts of change however the analyst still requires data on value and/or causality.
- Biases towards those with internet access. Covid-19 restrictions are limiting stakeholder involvement to those with internet access only.
- Lower response rates. Engagement with stakeholders is limited, response rates are lower than usual due to the conditions created by Covid-19
In collaboration with the SVI Reporting and Assurance Technical Committee, the SVI team has drafted this response, with a particular focus on the implications these limitations could have on reports achieving assurance, and Practitioners gaining accreditation.
If an analysis has no stakeholder engagement at all it cannot be assured. However, it is recognised that these are unprecedented times with difficult working conditions across the world, and stakeholder engagement has new challenges.
Please read the advice for Practitioners in full here.
