Since 2023, Hannah Leggatt has been leading the Social Value charge at The Clancy Group, with an incredible £45.3M of Social Value delivered in 2024–25 alone, beating targets.
We recently sat down with Hannah to talk about The Clancy Group’s Social Value journey, the crucial success factors, and what the future holds.
Watch the full conversation below:
Or, keep scrolling to read the interview highlights!
What has The Clancy Group’s Social Value journey been like?
We first started recording Social Value back in 2021, and there was a lot of work done at that time to get activities recorded and improve our overall Social Value as a business.
When I took it over in 2024, there was still a lot to do, and the key thing was explaining what Social Value actually meant. I always reference Simon Sinek: people need to understand the "why," and that is so critical. People didn’t really know what Social Value was and there were a lot of myths around it.
So, one of the first things my apprentice and I decided to do was educate people. We ran sessions from the board level down to the exec team, middle management, and operations.
We also reinvigorated the Social Value Champions program. Each contract within the business had a dedicated Champion responsible for gathering information and working with teams to increase Social Value events and activities.
We ran our first session with the Champions and invited Social Value Portal to help explain what Social Value was, why it was important, and to demystify it. By the end of that session, everyone commented that they finally understood what Social Value was, what we were trying to do as a business, and felt much more confident in helping us achieve it.
We also did sessions with the exec team and board, discussing what Social Value is and the types of activities we could get involved in – but also what activities we wanted to measure.
For the 2024–25 period, we had a list of 23 TOM System Measures, so everyone was aligned. We shared this with the Social Value Champions and the wider business, which meant we could really target what we wanted to achieve.
We set a target to deliver £40 million of Social Value and, hot off the press, we smashed that target and achieved £45.3 million for the 2024–25 period. That’s because we spent the time talking to people and embedding Social Value at the heart of everything we do.
💡 Want to demystify Social Value? Read our in-depth breakdown
What initiatives and programs are delivering Social Value at the Clancy Group?
We use a direct delivery model for labour. A lot of our Social Value comes from employing locally — between 70% and 90% of our workforce on contracts are local hires. This feeds back into the local economy and supports local initiatives, which is a big win for us.
We also work a lot with schools, delivering career talks and supporting young people to encourage them to join our industry. We know there is a huge skills gap in the sector, so anything we can do to support the next generation to see this as a fantastic career is something we’re hugely passionate about.
We’re also involved in local community initiatives. We recently created a serenity garden at a local hospice so patients have somewhere peaceful to sit during treatment. We’ve worked with schools to build gardens where students can grow vegetables. We’ve done litter picks with clients to improve beaches and local environments, for residents and the community.
How did you gain buy-in for Social Value across the business?
The biggest thing was explaining the "why" to people — getting them to understand what Social Value actually is, what it brings to the business, and what benefit it offers. At the top level, the buy-in was already there. The Clancy Group’s mission is to deliver and build better, greener infrastructure, but also improve the areas and communities in which we work, so Social Value is central to that.
Over the last year and a half, this has really accelerated. Everyone recognises the importance of Social Value, and it is now up there with environment and sustainability.
Once we laid out a clear plan for the 2024–25 period and got the Social Value champions in place, it became much easier. People were already doing activities that counted as Social Value without even realising it — volunteering in schools, supporting careers fairs, creating community gardens.
The support from the exec team and board have been fantastic. We also have the "Clancy Cares" initiative under our wellbeing umbrella. Over the last 12 months, we introduced the Clancy Cares Flower, where each petal represents an area of the business – and at the centre is Social Value.
In a recent management meeting, one of the operations directors said that one of the biggest wins and success stories this year has been around Social Value. Everyone knows what it’s about and wants to contribute. That demonstrated the business’s commitment to delivering Social Value.
💡 Building a Social Value strategy? Our Head of Strategic Advisory shares top tips
How does the Clancy Group measure Social Value in a robust, credible way?
That’s where Social Value Portal comes in!
It was important to have a reliable way to capture all the great work being done. Currently, every month the Social Value Champions collate data from contracts, which is sent to my team and uploaded to the platform. Everything gets evidenced and recorded.
Previously, we tried to do this annually, but it just wasn’t going to work – people move on, and it’s hard to remember activities from three weeks ago, let alone three months ago. So we made the decision to do it every month.
The reason we wanted to work with Social Value Portal was the validation and verification element. That is critical, because it’s not just my me and my team saying “we’ve delivered £45.3 million of Social Value” – it’s rubber stamped, audited, and verified. I can with confidence report to turn around and say to my exec team, the board, and our CEO, that we’ve achieved this, and that can then be shared.
It makes so much sense for us as a business, because if someone ever wants to challenge us, says “where’s the evidence?”, we can provide it.
💡 Learn more about the Social Value TOM System™
What advice would you give to other organisations on getting started with Social Value?
It would be, just do it - what are you waiting for?
But also, keep it simple. When things are overcomplicated, people are reluctant to get involved because they see it as extra work. In reality, many people are already doing activities that count as Social Value without realising it.
Once people do realise that and understand what Social Value is, they say “Well, it’s things I’m already doing, so actually I’m going to do more!” This makes it easier to get buy-in from senior leaders too, because it isn’t a massive additional cost or workload.
Also, make sure you’re validating your activities so you have evidence available if you’re ever challenged.
For us as a business, Social Value is at the core of everything we do. I feel a responsibility to deliver it, but the business is also bought in. It’s amazing to see what we’ve achieved, and it’s also great for the business overall.
💡 Looking to get started? Download our Social Value 101 guide
What has it been like working with Social Value Portal?
It’s been fantastic. I’ll be honest, I don’t think we could have done it without you. The guidance, support, and help have been fantastic, especially when we were first starting out and getting everything was uploaded and in place to be validated – but also the support with coming training and demystifying Social Value.
It’s been great working together, and I look forward to continuing that partnership in the future.
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