Understanding social value (and why it matters more than ever)

BySarah Colclough

If you’ve worked on a tender or grant application recently, you’ll have seen the question about social value. It’s no longer an optional extra. Funders and commissioners now expect every organisation – from large charities to small local businesses – to show the wider benefit they bring to people, communities, and the environment.

What social value means

Social value is the difference your organisation makes beyond its main service or product. It’s the added impact – the ways your work contributes to stronger communities, fairer opportunities, and a more sustainable planet.

That could mean:

  • Employing local people or supporting apprenticeships
  • Using small or local suppliers
  • Reducing waste or carbon emissions
  • Improving staff wellbeing and inclusion
  • Sharing knowledge or resources with others

It’s about showing that you operate responsibly, and that what you do leaves a positive, measurable mark.

Why it’s so important

There’s been a major shift in expectations over the last few years. Organisations are now judged not only on what they deliver, but how they deliver it.

1. Regulations are tightening.
The Procurement Act 2023, which came into force in early 2025, now legally requires public bodies to consider how contracts can maximise public benefit. In other words, social value isn’t a “nice to have” – it’s part of the law.

2. Procurement has evolved.
The UK public sector spends around £434 billion each year on goods and services, and evaluation no longer focuses purely on price. The shift from the Most Economically Advantageous Tender (MEAT) to the Most Advantageous Tender (MAT) means that social, economic, and environmental outcomes now form a core part of decision-making. In many cases, social value accounts for 10–30% of the total tender score – a weighting that can easily be the difference between winning and losing.

3. People expect more.
Customers and employees alike are holding organisations to higher standards. The 2025 Deloitte Global Gen Z and Millennial Survey found that 80% of younger workers actively seek employers whose values align with their own, and over half say they would leave a job that doesn’t demonstrate a positive societal impact. At the same time, consumers increasingly choose to buy from businesses that operate ethically and sustainably.

4. Climate and sustainability pressures.
Rising energy costs, environmental regulation, and public concern about climate change are forcing organisations to rethink how they work. Addressing sustainability should be both a moral and commercial priority.

For charities and social enterprises

If your organisation already exists to create social impact, you might wonder what more you can say. But funders want to see how you’ll extend that impact – how you collaborate, innovate, and add value beyond your core mission.

That might include:

  • Partnering with local businesses or other VCSEs
  • Offering training, volunteering, or work opportunities for your service users
  • Reducing your environmental footprint
  • Sharing data or learning to influence wider systems change

The goal is to demonstrate that your impact reaches beyond your own service delivery and creates broader community benefit.

For SMEs and local businesses

Social value isn’t just for charities. It’s about how you contribute to the places and people around you.

Examples that make a real difference include:

  • Creating local jobs or apprenticeships
  • Paying the Real Living Wage
  • Supporting local charities or community projects
  • Prioritising diverse and inclusive recruitment
  • Reducing carbon and waste across operations

The key is authenticity. You don’t need a sustainability department – you just need to demonstrate that responsible business is part of how you operate every day.

Embedding it

The organisations that perform best in tenders don’t treat social value as something to write about at the end – they build it into how they think and operate from the start.

Embedding it means:

  • Leadership commitment and accountability
  • Measurable actions and transparent reporting
  • Regular reflection on how business decisions create impact
  • Partnerships that align with community priorities

When social value is built in, not bolted on, it becomes a natural part of your organisation’s story – and that’s what funders and commissioners respond to.

The takeaway

Social value reflects a broader shift in how success is defined. Of course, financial results still matter, but so do people, place, and planet. Organisations that understand this balance – and can evidence it – are the ones that will build trust, attract investment, and win opportunities.

How I can help

I work with charities, social enterprises, and SMEs to turn their social value into something clear, measurable, and easy to communicate.

That might mean helping you identify what social value you’re already delivering, shaping it into commitments that fit funder priorities, or strengthening how you evidence it in tenders and applications.

If you’d like some help joining the dots between what you do, why it matters, and how you evidence it, I’d love to hear from you.