Rethinking the relationship between impact, value and the people we serve.
Everything ought to begin by adding value to somebody else. That belief hasn’t changed for me. But over the years, the way social value is regarded and applied has transformed almost completely, to the point that, in many contexts, it doesn’t seem to mean very much anymore.
Creating social impact and delivering social value have always been central to my work. They are often used interchangeably, but in my experience there is a marked distinction:
Impact is the positive change and value is how much that change mattered to the people who experienced it.
We can measure impact, but what about value?
Although regulation and procurement requirements around social value have increased, the way they are defined and measured has not necessarily brought us closer to understanding whether value has actually been created.
In the UK, the direction of travel is particularly interesting. The Social Value Model used by central government has changed considerably over the past few years. Earlier versions covered a much broader range of social, economic and environmental outcomes. The current model, introduced through Procurement Policy Note 026 in August 2026 and applying to new in-scope procurements from January 2027, has been narrowed to focus on good jobs and skills, including opportunities for people facing barriers to employment.
But if something is included in a procurement framework, awarded points in a tender, or disclosed in a sustainability report, it tells us what has been required, promised or reported. It doesn’t tell us whether the people affected actually experienced it as valuable.
And that is the question I am interested in.
Take jobs and apprenticeships, for example. A project may create a certain number of jobs, apprenticeships or training opportunities and therefore demonstrate a positive social impact. But do we know whether those opportunities were actually valuable to the community? Did they lead to better livelihoods, greater confidence, new possibilities or improved wellbeing? Did they meet something the community itself had identified as important?
And, perhaps most importantly, did anybody ask?
Some industries, such as construction, have consultation processes that are required before major projects can be approved. But even where consultation happens, it can still be limited by the questions being asked, the regulatory framework and what organisations have already decided constitutes value.
So yes, there may well have been a positive impact, but do we know whether value was created?
Who decides what is valuable?
This becomes even more complicated because much of this thinking and regulation applies primarily to public procurement. For the private sector, creating social value remains largely voluntary and is often treated as part of wider ESG reporting.
So why does any of this matter?
It comes down to values, certainly, and to the reasons why your business exists. But it also comes down to risk, resilience and longevity. In essence, it matters if you want your business to remain relevant in the long term.
Beyond requirements, promises and reporting, social value must be about reconnecting with what matters to the people and communities you serve. It is a way of keeping alert and paying attention to what is changing, what people need, what they value today and what they might value next.
And so, it is also about remaining innovative and commercially viable. Because you are either in conversation with the people you serve and listening, or they are talking to someone else. Perhaps your competitors, perhaps a new organisation or business that has understood something you haven’t. Perhaps something entirely new that will eventually replace the space in which you are successful today.
After all, social value is about understanding what people perceive as valuable and what contributes to their wellbeing, making realistic commitments, involving people in the process and delivering on your word, consistently and continuously.
In an ideal world, this is what social value would look like. And then, yes, you can record it, measure it and report it.
Putting the people back in social value
In reality, I believe businesses need to approach social value in much the same way they approach understanding their customers’ desires, needs and wants.
- First, get absolute clarity about the type of impact (or positive change) you want to create.
- Then, go and listen. Instead of deciding in isolation what social value should look like, go into the communities you serve, ask the questions, have the conversations and listen.
- Then, define your contribution. With the above, your business will be in a much better position to identify where your capabilities and capacity can create value.
Remember that it is never about having all the answers as it is very much a group effort. Reach out to other businesses and on-the-ground organisations undertaking a similar journey. Keep listening and learning, be honest and transparent and importantly, keep trying.
In the end, creating and delivering social value consistently will help build a business that people can trust: a business with greater resilience and lower risk, that remains relevant because it understands the world around it well enough to adapt.
I don’t think social value as a measure will be overhauled in a way that does justice to the concept any time soon, but I do believe that the idea itself remains incredibly useful.
If we stop treating it as a box to tick, a number to report or an output to procure, and start treating it as an ongoing conversation about what matters to people, it can help us build the resilient businesses and communities our world desperately needs.
