Since we last spoke at Social Value Conference 2024, we caught up with Su Pickerill again to discuss how Social Value is evolving, where standards are improving, and why the next phase of Social Value must be local, preventive and built on long-term partnerships.
There are probably too many of us, including ourselves, still tackling symptoms, and we need to get back to root causes.
Su Pickerill, Head of Social Value, Wates Group
There have been several changes in terms of legislation, with the Procurement Act coming into force, and the emphasis on Social Value is continuing to build momentum, which is fantastic. We are continuing to see the public sector really getting behind it, and that ripple effect coming through.
We have seen some good changes in the layering of the legislative landscape, which is really good to see because I think that does drive activity and get people thinking about things in a way that they've not done before.
The other thing I have observed this year is that more organisations seem to be employing their first Social Value person, partly driven by tendering in terms of the public sector. But also, more companies are waking up to the fact that this isn't something that can just be done as a part-time bit of someone else’s job, as an add-on. It actually needs some real determined and dedicated effort - and that is really good for business.
At Wates Group, we are coming towards the end of five years of our Creating Opportunities strategy. Reflecting back on the impact that has had, it looks like it has delivered £1 billion worth of impact, which is exciting. Through creating opportunities for people who are furthest from the workforce, through engaging with young people and inspiring them about future careers, and through supporting and scaling social enterprise through spend, but also through capacity building with our Assets programme.
As we look to transition, we are taking more of a local focus in terms of Social Value. That is another trend that I have seen, with more of that localism agenda. And that is the way that we plan to go as well, because we need to have deeper relationships in fewer localities where we can really have a long-term impact and build those relationships, so that we can really work together in partnership with other local partners to understand the difference that we want to make, and give it the time and effort to see that through.
We have been doing some really innovative work with Evolve, who are a social enterprise partner of ours that we have been working with for some time, looking at initiatives in prison and looking particularly at cognitive function and brain health training.
It is the first innovative European pilot that we have done in custody, looking at how we can improve brain health as one aspect of the multiple parts of the puzzle that could contribute to reducing reoffending. I am really excited about just watching to see what the outcomes of that project might be.
We are also partnering in terms of looking at the regeneration of community assets, really also focusing on NEETs and what we can do to support young people who are at risk of becoming not in employment, education or training, and starting to work with them a bit younger. We are looking at the opportunities, working in partnership with schools and with other partners, to really try and change opportunities, change trajectories, and support those young people at a point where we can really make a difference in their lives.
We need to have deeper relationships in fewer localities where we can really have a long-term impact.
Su Pickerill, Head of Social Value, Wates Group
One of the things that you really need as a Social Value practitioner, even now, with the thousands of people that are at this conference, is resilience - because you do face barriers and bumps in the road at best. We do need to keep pushing forward.
And I think these conferences are really important because you are with like-minded people. It reminds you that it's not just you who is pushing forward. That there are other people in this momentum, that the groundswell is growing, that together we will be able to break through and change the world and do all these positive things that we are all setting out to do.
But also, none of us can do it on our own. We need to work in partnership with others. And I think the Social Value Conference helps to remind us, helps to create those networking opportunities, to actually meet other partners, to put those things into practice, and really just to be encouraged.
I think there is a lot to be said for encouraging people who are working in this space to just keep going, keep fighting, keep pushing forward, keep dreaming big, and just keep talking to each other so that we can achieve even more amazing things together.
There is always room for more innovation. The need in our society is huge and the opportunities to work together are enormous.
There are so many different elements of the Social Value agenda that it's really important to work out where we, as a particular organisation or a particular individual, and where we can have the greatest impact. And despite the agenda being so massive, even with everybody doing everything they can, there is still a lot of need, and that need is growing.
So we need to ensure that we are working together. The challenge is huge, and it's not going away any time soon. We need to just keep innovating, keep collaborating, and finding new ways that we can tackle things.
I am starting to see a really encouraging trend of looking back more to preventative work. I feel like some of that public sector support for prevention work drifted away. But we are now starting to see a recognition of its importance. The impact of being able to invest in prevention rather than trying to tackle the outcomes of it not being there.
If you look at knife crime, for example, one outcome is youth support being taken away and youth centres closing. And we have started to see those negative impacts. There is need to get back to preventative work and early intervention. I think that there are probably too many of us, including ourselves, still tackling symptoms, and we need to get back to root causes. But I am seeing a shift towards trying to get back to tackling roots, to prevent things happening that are avoidable.
The challenges are significant. There is a huge amount of work to do, and we all need to keep pushing forward to tackle these complex issues.
This isn't something that can just be done as a part-time bit of someone else’s job, as an add-on. It actually needs some real determined and dedicated effort.
Su Pickerill, Head of Social Value, Wates Group
I was working in youth work when the youth centres started closing. And as a youth worker at the time, I remember saying, "We don't understand the impacts that this is going to trigger."
I think now we have seen the impact. We knew that there would be an impact, but I think it has been way worse than any of us anticipated. You see it in youth work, you see it in health, you see examples such as Northamptonshire Police being able to identify by the age of five who is going to become a prolific offender.
Actually, if you are working with those families, with those toddlers, and starting to put the support in at that stage, that is massively commercially beneficial. Even just on a financial level, let alone in terms of wasted opportunities and wasted individual potential, compared with trying to engage when a young person is already involved with the justice system or in prison, it has got to be about prevention and early intervention.
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