Posted 12th December 2022
Social Value UK is proud to announce Routes to Work have joined us as Organisational members! Ahead of their joining, Social Value UK spoke to them about their social value journey so far.
“Routes To Work is a charity that exists to help North Lanarkshire’s residents achieve their aims in life by providing sector-leading skills and employability support. In doing so, we contribute to improving the economy of North Lanarkshire, to reducing poverty and to creating a society where everyone has a good quality of life.
We tailor our support to each individual, helping them recognise and develop their unique capabilities. We support our clients in whatever way they need – skills, advice, help to access financial services, health & wellbeing, support networks – to make sure they achieve success in work and life.”
Why do you think social value is important? In your organisation, your industry or in wider society?
Social value is intrinsically linked to the vision of Routes To Work, as we aim to be valued by local people businesses and respected nationally for the scope, quality, and effectiveness of our services, and for continued innovation in skills and employability support. By measuring and managing our social value, we can deliver even more impactful employability services and create a fairer world.
Within the employability field, social value is an incredibly useful concept and approach to ensuring the marginalised individuals we support are able to shape the services they receive. By applying the Social Value International Principles, employability charities can better understand the barriers individuals face, the needs of their local communities and employers, and the wider impact that may be experienced beyond entry into employment. Involving stakeholders, recognising the value of different outcomes, being transparent, and engaging in evidence-based decision-making can ensure employability services are place-based, stakeholder-shaped, and able to create sustainable change for individuals facing challenges entering the labour market.
From a wider societal perspective, considering social value is an important step to addressing and reducing inequalities. As an employability organisation, we hope to lead the way for other employability charities by evidencing and improving the impact our services have on the economy and society.
Does your organisation have a background in social value/social accounting/SROI?
At the heart of our organisation, we strive to make a positive difference to the lives of our clients and contribute to reducing poverty and creating a society where everyone has a good quality of life. To achieve those aims, we have developed a Social Value Evaluation Framework to evidence, celebrate and maximise the positive social value created as a result of our employability and skills services. The development, pilot and embedding of the Framework is a central part of our Knowledge Transfer Partnership with the University of the West of Scotland, supported by a multidisciplinary team of nine Academics from the Schools of Business & Creative Industries and Health & Life Sciences.
In October, we submitted our forecast social value report for assurance from Social Value UK, and we are progressing toward embedding social value throughout our organisation’s decisions, culture and services. With this progress and now our organisational membership to Social Value UK, we can better understand and improve our services to enable the most impactful employability interventions.
What are your plans for your SVUK membership?
We are delighted to join such an impactful and passionate network of organisations and individuals seeking to create positive impact for people and the planet. We intend to utilise the wealth of resources, tools, events and training opportunities offered to organisational members to upskill our staff in social value. By joining such a diverse network of social value practitioners, we plan to share our best practices and learn from other organisations committed to social value across the U.K.
“Routes To Work are delighted to join the Social Value UK network and look forward to utilising the full range of resources and support available in support of our purpose & charitable objectives of reducing poverty and creating a society where everyone has a good quality of life.” – Robin Turner, Chief Executive of Routes To Work
Posted 12th December 2022