Introduction
The purpose of this document is to provide an overview of the benefit of social value and guidance as to how Wealden District Council (the “council”) intends to embed social value into as many contracts as possible.
The document will provide detail on the background of The Public Services (Social Value) Act 2012; The Procurement Act 2023; social value at Wealden; monitoring and measuring strategies and a social value toolkit to help advise suppliers and officers.
Social value should be considered as a way to further support the community, with the help of officers within the council, as well as suppliers in contract with the council. It is not intended to create extra cost to the contract, but to utilise the skills available from suppliers. This could be through suppliers giving skills talks, volunteering with the local community or appointing apprentices for their work with the council. The social value toolkit of examples can be found in section 8 of this policy.
What is Social Value?
Social value is the added benefit that an activity or we as an organisation has on the community, beyond the financial or economic value. It is a way of measuring the benefits that an initiative generates for the community, such as improving the quality of life, promoting social inclusion, reducing inequality, or preserving the environment.
The Public Services (Social Value) Act 2012 requires all public bodies in England and Wales to consider how the services they commission and procure might improve the economic, social, and environmental well-being of the area. It asks public bodies to consider the ways that they could benefit society as part of each decision made.
The Procurement Act 2023, which came into force Monday 24th February 2025 introduces the National Procurement Policy Statement which mandates that contracting authorities prioritise environmental sustainability in their procurement processes. This includes reducing carbon footprints, minimizing waste, and promoting the use of clean energy and green technologies.
Social value requires officers to think about how they achieve outcomes in a more integrated way. Rather than thinking about isolated services or services in the short term, this approach requires officers to consider long-term costs, sustainability and how inclusion of additional social value outcomes can potentially reduce pressures in other areas.
Social value can help ensure as many contracts as possible are having a positive impact on the community. This will also support the council ‘Mission’ to be an enabling and enterprising council working alongside our communities to create a greener, fairer, and kinder district for present and future generations.
Wealden Context
Wealden has a population of around 160,000 people, covering an area of 835km2, over half of which falls within the High Weald Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The five main towns, Crowborough, Uckfield, Heathfield, Hailsham and Polegate, make up most of this, with many villages and hamlets in between.
In the year April 2024 to March 2025, Wealden District Council procured contracts of an approximate value of £52m. Of these, the council has worked with 445 Small to Medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). We recognise that there are significant advantages of engaging with small local businesses, for both the council and the local economy. We are committed to using procurement processes that encourage such businesses to compete for opportunities. As such, we work to remove barriers to working with local authorities and keep the process as streamlined as possible.
Some examples of social value in Wealden District Council contracts include:
The Property Services Repairs and Maintenance contract has a 15-year term and has accrued over 2,550 hours of social value in its first four years. The five suppliers involved in the contract have offered work experience, donations, energy efficiency talks as a few examples and meet regularly to identify appropriate social value to benefit residents within the district.
The supplier for our Grounds Maintenance contract has committed to several environmental social value offers including cleaning of water butts, providing compost bins for retirement living courts, as well as the donation of bird boxes and insect houses.
The Wealden Crematorium Build contract included the donation of benches to be placed along the Cuckoo Trail as part of their local community support promise.
For updated Social Value Register, please see the East Sussex Procurement Hub website under the “Social Value” tab.
Social Value Group
In July 2022, the internal Social Value Group was formed. The group has over 20 members from most departments across the council, communicating with their service area to feedback and identify areas of social value need.
The goal of the group is to help embed social value into as many contracts as possible, ensuring consideration of social value at the start of a project. The group helps to identify new opportunities for social value; monitor and champion realised benefits; and review the targets outlined in this policy.
The group brings in a variety of priorities and perspectives on the needs of the district, both through direct links with the community, as well as with local organisations. This helps the group to consider alternative social value benefits contracts can have, which may not have initially been obvious. The skills, experience and knowledge of the group helps to positively benefit the district.
Aims and Objectives
The aim of this Policy is to outline how the council will continue to embed social value into the procurement process, incorporating the themes of the Council Strategy, 2023-2027, to help achieve the council Vision: Wealden is a place where people and nature thrive together. Social value considers the environmental, social and economic benefits of a contract, which align with Wealden District Council’s priorities:
Climate change and our environment
This is the council’s commitment to protecting the environment and working toward carbon neutrality. Although social value can incorporate environmental benefits (e.g. through suppliers giving energy saving talks to residents and rewilding of green spaces), this priority is mainly met through our Sustainable Procurement Policy commitments.
Community resilience and wellbeing
Focusing on building strong communities and supporting physical and mental wellbeing. This can be met through voluntary days, support and donations to local community groups, and community repairs, for example.
- The Council working directly with local voluntary groups and other customer facing departments can also help identify the current needs of the community and where we can direct our social value.
Local Economy
Ensuring a fair and stable economy, focusing on the advantages of knowledge and skills of residents and strong business sectors.
Social value can be obtained through suppliers providing apprenticeships and work experience opportunities and help develop skills within the district.
Within our Procurement and Contracting Rules, the council is also committed to using procurement processes that encourage local SMEs to compete for opportunities and help to remove barriers.
The adoption of Community Wealth Building principles, which is a people and community led approach to local economic development. This approach focuses on ensuring wealth flow within the community and utilises local SMEs and the voluntary sector, involving local community and other departments in the decision-making process.
Council Commitments
The Council will:
General
- Collaborate with voluntary and community sector including 3VA, to stay up to date with the current needs within the community.
- Work in collaboration with other public sector organisations within the local area, to help maximise social value opportunities, including: other authorities within the East Sussex Procurement Hub – Hastings Borough Council and Rother District Council; as well as other authorities in the area, including East Sussex County Council; and Lewes District and Eastbourne Borough Councils.
- Support local SMEs to bid for work and provide social value proportionate to the project.
- Consider the Social Value Policy in all applicable procurements.
- Regularly update the East Sussex Procurement Hub website with social value suggestions to support officers and suppliers. Also provide a social value ‘theme’ which supports the aims of the council and helps guide suppliers on possible social value offers.
- Regularly review this policy to ensure it is up to date, reflecting relevant legislation and council priorities.
- Support the adoption of the principles of community wealth building, by:
- designing tender questions around local knowledge, e.g., asking what specifically suppliers can contribute to the local area;
- working to bridge the gap between the need of the community and the available resources;
- determining social value which is focused on the identified needs of the area, e.g., to help lessen the impact of the cost-of-living crisis, we can work with relevant suppliers to offer energy saving talks to residents within the Wealden district;
- develop local skills including suppliers offering apprenticeships and work experience opportunities in different sectors and for all ages.
At project initiation stage
- Officers to consider how the proposed procurement could benefit from social value where appropriate, and in line with the priorities of the council as laid out in the Council Strategy.
- Any social value applied to a project should be proportionate to the scale and length of the project and incorporate the skills, resources, and expertise of the project area.
- Procurement Business Partners to encourage consideration of social value at initial project meeting.
At tender and evaluation stage
- Lead officer, with the support of the procurement team to consider appropriate questions in the Technical Questionnaire to identify relevant social value, this can be a question on its own or an additional part of an existing question.
- Where social value is applicable, commit to a minimum 10% of the quality weighting for social value questions. Include an appropriate scoring criterion to ensure strong social value commitments.
- Signpost suppliers to resources to support with the identification of suitable social value, including through internal resources, such as the East Sussex Procurement Hub website.
- Lead officer to determine suitable ways to monitor the fulfilment of the social value offer, with the winning supplier.
At post-tender stage
- Ensure strong contract management with collaboration between the officer and supplier to meet the social value commitments. This includes the procurement team providing training of officers across the council on contract management.
- Social value commitments embedded into contracts, with non-delivery considered a breach of contract.
- Social value commitments to be regularly reviewed in long running contracts to ensure current needs of the community are being considered and not restricted to that identified at tendering stage.
- Promote success and seek continuous improvement. Upon conclusion of a contract, review the social value offered and upheld throughout the length of the contract, and consider how this could be improved upon in future contracts.
- Continue to monitor and measure social value delivered across the council, review within the social value group and consider ways to maximise social value in future projects.
Monitoring and Measuring
As part of the contract management of a project, in accordance with the contract rules and appropriate requirements of the lead officer, social value success will be monitored throughout the contract term. This may be by using a mobilisation plan/register; regular meetings and reviews of Key Performance Indicator’s (KPIs) agreed at contract signing.
In terms of measuring the overall success of social value across the council, it is difficult to commit to a single method of recording this information (e.g., monetary value) as not all social value falls into one category. The council will therefore look to record social value through a combination of time, monetary value, and community impact statements, as relevant, for each social value offer.
Using a combination of methods to measure social value also allows us to see the benefits through a quantitative and qualitative perspective. The community impact statements will help us to highlight the direct impact a project has on people within the district, supporting the mission of the council.
A Social Value Register will be regularly updated and included on the East Sussex Procurement Hub website.
Social Value Toolkit
Some examples of social value opportunities suppliers can offer include:
- Working with community groups (e.g., after school clubs, Scouts, colleges).
- Volunteering within the community (e.g., care homes, foodbanks, clothes banks etc).
- Skill talks / workshops (relevant to field) for individuals in the community, as well as local businesses, including SMEs.
- Improving skills and access to digital technology.
- Recruitment fairs/talks.
- Offering work experience/apprenticeship/voluntary opportunities (for all ages/needs).
- Employing ex-offenders.
- Support and/or donations to school groups, sport groups, local parks etc.
- Support for annual “Wealden Tourism Pass” to encourage residents to invest in the local economy.
- Supporting the local environment including working with groups to litter pick, rewilding, plant trees and wildflowers, bird/bees/bat box installations.
- Supporting cost of living projects.
- Community repairs (benches etc).
- Homelessness referral.
- Targeted support for Dementia Action alliance/dementia talks.
- Agreement to work with 3VA.
- Support for digital inclusion.
- Solar panel/EV charging support.