Written by: Charlotte Barker, Technical Specialist Social Value | Last updated: 21.09.2026
For many organisations, social value first becomes visible through a tender, community programme or specific commitment. But the decisions that shape social value are often much more fundamental to how the business operates.
Who does the organisation employ, and how does it develop its people? Where does it spend money? How does it manage its supply chain? Where does it invest? And how do its products, services and operations affect people and places?
These decisions are rarely labelled “social value”. They happen across different teams, budgets and processes, often in response to different business priorities.
Connecting social value in business therefore isn’t necessarily about creating another programme. The bigger opportunity is to understand where the organisation can make a meaningful contribution and build those priorities into the decisions that already shape how the business operates.
What is social value in business?
Social value describes the wider positive social, economic and environmental outcomes an organisation creates through its activities and decisions. In practice, that might include creating employment and skills opportunities, supporting local and diverse supply chains, improving access and inclusion, investing in communities or contributing to better environmental outcomes.
It is related to, but distinct from, an organisation’s social values.
Values such as fairness, inclusion or responsibility express principles a business may want to uphold. Social value is about how those principles, alongside wider business activity, translate into outcomes for people, communities and places.
For example, inclusion might be an organisational value. When that commitment influences recruitment, progression, procurement or access to products and services, it starts to shape the social value the organisation creates.
This is also why social value shouldn’t sit entirely apart from wider sustainability strategy. Decisions about people, communities and supply chains increasingly intersect with wider sustainability priorities and the information organisations collect to understand their impacts.
Why should social value sit inside business strategy?
Social value is harder to sustain when it depends on isolated initiatives or sits with one individual or team.
A volunteering programme may create worthwhile outcomes. A tender commitment may respond to an important local need. But neither necessarily means social value is influencing how the wider business operates.
Focus on the business levers that can create change
A more strategic approach starts by identifying where social priorities intersect with the organisation’s existing business levers.
For a construction business, that might mean using recruitment and project delivery to create employment and skills opportunities. A large buyer might use its purchasing power to create opportunities for local businesses or social enterprises. A technology company may have greater influence through digital skills, access or inclusion.
Bringing social value into strategy also helps organisations make choices about where to focus. Not every positive activity will be equally relevant to the business or its stakeholders. Connecting social priorities with workforce needs, procurement decisions, investment plans and wider sustainability objectives can help direct effort towards areas where there is both a genuine need and a credible opportunity to contribute.
For me, social value becomes much more strategic when it starts influencing decisions the business is already making. It doesn’t necessarily mean creating a completely separate set of activities. The opportunity is to understand where the organisation can genuinely make a difference, then connect that with the way it recruits, buys, invests and operates.”Charlotte BarkerTechnical Specialist – Social Value
The Local Government Association’s National Procurement Strategy1 provides an established example of this thinking. Its social value maturity levels describe more developed practice as moving beyond individual procurements towards integration with corporate strategy and, ultimately, across departments and decision-making.
More recent practice points in the same direction. The Northern Ireland Department of Finance’s Social Value Strategy 2025–20272 connects social value across areas including procurement, HR and estate management, while linking it with the Department’s wider climate and sustainability activity.
How this looks will differ between organisations. But social value is more likely to translate into action when it connects with the functions, resources and decisions that can actually deliver it.
What should a social value strategy include?
A social value strategy can help turn broad ambition into a clearer approach to delivery. It should set out what the organisation is seeking to achieve, where it can make a meaningful contribution and how those priorities will translate into action across the business.
There isn’t one model that every organisation needs to follow. Some develop a dedicated social value strategy or plan, while others integrate social value priorities into wider sustainability, procurement, people or corporate strategies.
The label matters less than what sits behind it
Whatever the approach is called, it should be clear about which outcomes matter, where the organisation can genuinely contribute and how those priorities connect with business planning and delivery.
That means establishing ownership and appropriate measures, but also connecting priorities with the resources and processes needed to deliver them. The aim shouldn’t be to create another document that sits alongside the business.
Current procurement expectations illustrate the point. Under the UK Government’s revised Social Value Model3, relevant central government procurements commencing from 2027 are expected to translate social value commitments into contractual terms, KPIs and ongoing monitoring.
The context is procurement-specific, but the wider lesson applies: commitments are easier to deliver when ownership, resources and evidence are considered from the outset.
How can organisations embed social value into business decision-making?
Embedding social value doesn’t mean creating a parallel decision-making process. A practical starting point is to look at the decisions the organisation already makes and identify where social value should genuinely influence them.
Procurement and supply chains can consider where purchasing decisions can support relevant social outcomes, responsible employment or opportunities for smaller, local or social enterprise suppliers.
People and workforce decisions can connect recruitment, skills, progression and inclusion with both business needs and opportunities to address barriers experienced by particular groups or communities.
Operations and investment can consider how projects, sites, products and services affect people and places, and where changes to their design or delivery could create additional value.
Governance and planning can give priorities clear ownership, resources and appropriate oversight rather than relying on enthusiastic individuals to keep activity moving.
These connections can also strengthen wider sustainability management. Information already collected across HR, procurement, sustainability and operations may support social value priorities, while social value insight can help organisations understand how broader social commitments translate into activity and outcomes.
The aim is not to attach a social value consideration to every decision. It is to identify the decisions that matter most and focus on the areas where the organisation has a meaningful opportunity to influence outcomes.
That is what moves social value from a collection of positive activities towards a more strategic approach: not necessarily doing more, but making clearer choices about where the business can create value and building those choices into how it operates.
Whether you’re looking to connect existing social value activity, develop a clearer strategy or embed social impact more effectively into wider sustainability and business priorities, Simply Sustainable can help you identify practical, proportionate next steps.
Explore our Social Value and Impact services or get in touch to start the conversation.
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