Posted 31st October 2023
Social value must be at the heart of UK planning, procurement and employment if chronic low-productivity and growing wellbeing issues are to be addressed.
Three key areas to bolster UK legislation have been identified by Social Value UK (SVUK) members and are set out in a general election manifesto.
During the annual conference for the UK’s member body for social value professionals earlier this month, SVUK’s Advocacy, Marketing and Communications Lead Matthew Mckew outlined Wellbeing at Work, the Social Value Model and Planning Obligations as target areas for change.
The positions are:
- Mandatory, annual SROI (or similar) staff wellbeing reports for organisations employing 50 or more people.
- A reformed social value model, including a shift in focus from outputs to outcomes.
- Upgraded planning obligations, including SROI forecasts and evaluations for medium to large developments.
The UK will hold a general election by January 2025 and SVUK calls on all politicians to realise the potential of understanding, measuring and responding to social value.
Our full manifesto is available here. This will evolve as an SVUK Taskforce works to refine and promote our positions.
Improving wellbeing in the UK must be high on the political agenda, especially after a Charted Institute of Personnel Development report in September revealed the average number of sick days taken per employee has climbed to 7.8 a year – the highest level since tracking began in 2006-7.
How Can You Support Us?
To achieve our manifesto ambitions, SVUK is establishing a taskforce and requesting support from members.
Pledge your support, back our plans by adding yours or your organisations name to our calls. Please email communications (at) socialvalueuk.org to sign.
Financial support will fund running or attending events, as well as one-to-one meetings with political figures across the UK.
Access to industry and political contacts will ensure our message is heard. We need to strengthen our collective voice and welcome collaboration.
Facilities such as meeting rooms and hot-desks will enable us to take our message right across the UK, connecting with important players. Further, we are going to be running road shows that increase awareness of social value and the important, often unseen role it has. We will initially look to build links with local authorities but want to spread our message across the supply chain.
To be involved, please email matthew.mckew at socialvalueuk.org (NOTE: please use @)
Further blogs expanding on the importance of these three subject areas will follow in the coming weeks.