If you work in Social Value, often the reality is - you’re expected to deliver meaningful outcomes for communities, without the budget, authority, or internal backing to match. This can make navigating procurement, suppliers, reporting, and internal politics, all at once, feel like you’re doing it alone.
So we spoke to two experts who are in it daily with clients across the UK:
- Amy Hazlehurst, Public Sector, Strategic Account Manager working closely with local authorities across the UK
- Claire Houston-Holland, Private Sector, Strategic Account Manager working closely with private sector organisations
Their job is to help organisations deliver real Social Value and make it work purposefully and commercially. Here’s what they see, where organisations struggle, and what actually moves the needle.
1. In the public sector, resources and ownership are often lacking
In many cases, Social Value is taken seriously in principle, but not always in practice. It can be written into strategies and procurement frameworks, but when it comes to delivery, budget is unclear, ownership is fragmented, and reporting is inconsistent. That often leaves one person trying to hold everything together while also making the case for more support.
What makes that harder is that without a clear view of what Social Value is already achieving, it becomes much more difficult to justify additional resource internally.
What Amy is seeing across the public sector
Amy works directly with local government and councils, navigating this every day.
The same issues come up repeatedly: “Where's the evidence of what's actually been delivered?" and "we're not sure if what we’re doing is compliant”.
There’s also a deeper issue - no one is really owning the end-to-end process. So Social Value may be committed at tender stage, but to be truly compliant with regulation changes, the inconsistency in managing delivery is an increasing challenge. Reactive, and inconsistent at best.
If you can’t clearly evidence what's been delivered, it’s very hard to make the case internally for more support.
Amy Hazlehurst, Strategic Account Manager, Social Value Portal
What works
The organisations making progress are the ones that stop treating Social Value as an add-on and instead use Social Value strategically to deliver against their council objectives:
Because once you can show the value clearly, it becomes much easier to unlock internal support. Amy’s advice is simple: If you want Social Value to be taken seriously, you need to be able to evidence it properly and connect it to outcomes that have already been committed by leaders and elected members for their residents.
You need to connect it to what leadership actually cares about, whether that’s strategy, finance, or local delivery.
Amy Hazlehurst, Strategic Account Manager, Social Value Portal
2. In the private sector, purpose and commercial objectives can clash
This is where most Social Value practitioners feel stuck. You’re trying to drive real impact in environments that are dictated by margins, delivery targets and risk.
What Claire sees across the private sector
Claire, who manages some of the longest-standing client relationships in Social Value Portal, sees this tension constantly.
There are always two groups:
- Those who care deeply about impact
- And those who need to see the commercial case
However, if you don’t bring both with you, progress stalls and communities frequently get left behind.
What works
You need to meet people where they are; for some, it’s about creating real community outcomes, inspiring impact stories and long-term change.
Whilst for others, the language used to implement Social Value should centre around bid winning, staff retention, attracting top talent and delivering against strategic KPIs.
Our role is to show that Social Value is commercial and strategic. It wins bids, supports businesses, and creates long-term value.
Claire Houston-Holland, Strategic Account Manager, Social Value Portal
3. Across both sectors, the work isn’t always visible
A huge amount of work goes into delivering meaningful Social Value, but regularly it’s under-reported, under-communicated, and undervalued.
Across organisations, the same frustration comes up: “We’re doing the work, but it’s not landing internally.” Because when it’s not visible, it doesn’t get prioritised.
What works
Claire’s advice outlines the importance of building trust, and this starts with listening: Understanding what different stakeholders care about, and tailoring how you communicate, knowing when to push and when to hold back
At the same time, you need to elevate your role. This includes: sharing and showcasing outcomes, creating bold and impactful content, and networking with Social Value champions and local delivery partners.
The more visible and credible you are, the more influence you’ll be able to make, and the more Social Value you can truly deliver.
You have to elevate your role. The more visible your work is, the more seriously Social Value is taken.
Claire Houston-Holland, Strategic Account Manager, Social Value Portal
The big picture
From Amy’s public sector work and Claire’s client relationships, a few patterns emerge:
- Organisations want robust, clearer reporting
- Data visibility is a growing priority
- A need for external validation to build credibility and confidence
- Social Value is becoming more normalised, important and strategic
When it works best, Social Value is structured, measurable and aligned to company strategy and values.
We’ve seen this in strategic programmes where working from the top down has driven outcomes like 72% local spend for Rotherham, showing what’s possible when it’s done properly. For more inspiration and success stories, read here.
In a perfect world, there would already be budget, structure, and support in place to help you deliver more for your communities. But that’s not always the case.
So your role as a Social Value practitioner becomes something more; you’re not just delivering activity, you’re driving societal change whilst building the case to influence internally and make Social Value a core part of the agenda.
And that takes structure, evidence, and the ability to make your work important and significant. The earlier we establish these guidelines, the sooner we can create a society that benefits broader communities and our bottom line.
Need further support?
If you’re looking to strengthen your approach, build internal buy-in, and deliver Social Value in a way that’s transformative, our capability building through the Social Value Academy and strategic consultancy support is designed to help you do exactly that.
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