What is Social Value?
Social Value is a way of thinking about how scarce resources are allocated and used. It prompts us to ask if £1 is spent on the delivery of goods, services or works, can that same £1 be used also to produce a wider social, economic or environmental benefit to the community in Suffolk. Read our Social Value and sustainable procurement policy (PDF, 126KB).
Bidding for contracts
When we commission goods, services and works we will consider how we can bring Social Value additional benefits to our communities in the way the services or goods are outlined in the service specification or outline of requirements in our contracts.
We will also ask bidders to submit their Social Value offer with their bid and this will be evaluated and scored alongside price and the quality evaluation criteria.
If we would like you to focus your Social Value offer on a specific benefit we will outline that in the specification and/or the bid evaluation criteria. How much we weight the Social Value evaluation criteria will vary dependent, on what is being tendered and the experience of the market in articulating the Social Value in their bid.
Your Social Value offer
You can use our Social Value summary tool (PDF) to help you map the additionality you offer and how to evidence it.
We asked our commissioners to outline how Social Value could be delivered in Suffolk to benefit our communities. Their priorities are outlined in our Social Value Ask (PDF, 170KB). To support the development of Suffolk Talent our Skills team have articulated their Social Value Skills Ask (Word) of our supply chain and bidders.
For further information regarding how Social Value can be delivered in Suffolk. Find ideas on how to deliver Social Value in Suffolk:
- Suffolk's Hidden Needs a detailed picture of the local need across Suffolk.
- The Suffolk Observatory contains all Suffolk’s vital statistics; it is the one-stop-shop for data, statistics and reports all about Suffolk provided by a variety of organisations.
- Green Suffolk provides business support activities to help reduce your carbon footprint and energy costs
Measuring Social Value
There is a national measurement tool for Social Value, the National TOMs Framework. In our bids we may ask you to map your Social Value offer to the TOMS framework. If your bid is successful this will form the Social Value schedule in your contract outlining your offer.
About Social Value
- NEW Social Value Easy Guide - Step By Step Guide for SMEs & VCSEs
- National TOMS Framework Guide
- Social Enterprise UK identified Suffolk County Council as one of three best practise case studies in their review published in 2019 regarding the way the Public Services (Social Value) Act is being implemented. Front and Centre: Putting Social Value at the heart of Inclusive Growth
- Information and guidance from the National Social Value Taskforce hosted on the Social Value Portal. Suffolk County Council is an active member of the National Social Value Taskforce
- Find guidance and resources about the Social Value Act at GOV.UK
- Read Social Value Act review (PDF, 717KB)
E-learning modules
We're developing some e-learning modules which will become available in March 2021.