Cheshire and Merseyside Integrated Care System (ICS) is a newly formed health partnership with 28 members and a large range of stakeholders to coordinate. Aligning Social Value delivery and reporting across the ICS posed an enormous challenge, especially for a newly-formed body.

Social Value Portal was able to smoothly onboard nine of the ICS's members onto our platform, enabling the organisation to manage the delivery and tracking of its Social Value.

Read on to learn how we did it.

It is our mission to be able to clearly evidence an efficient means of delivering Social Value as well as communicating the positive impact that our actions are having on residents in the area.

Dave Sweeney, Associate Director for Partnerships and Sustainability, Cheshire & Merseyside Integrated Care Board (ICB)

Keeping lines of communication open

Cheshire and Merseyside ICS is the first of the new ICS partnerships to work with Social Value Portal for help delivering its Social Value strategy. The collaboration involved streamlining the ICS's processes and creating a tailored set of the Measures within the Social Value TOM System™ aligned to the ICS and its members’ priorities.

First, however, Social Value Portal met with the relevant stakeholders to gather key information early in the process. The team held briefing sessions designed specifically for Cheshire and Merseyside ICS’s sub-members, so that we could learn more about their needs. Progress was communicated back to other groups within the partnership, keeping everybody aligned at each stage.

These briefings informed the TOM System Measures selected for the ICS. This new reporting framework in turn reduced duplication and workload by providing detailed reporting methods for all stakeholders, and opened up opportunities for suppliers.

The ICS is now able to work collaboratively – rather than as individual organisations – to report on Social Value, with a common set of KPIs and key metrics. As the ICS grows, the teams will work together to continuously develop best practices with the ongoing support of Social Value Portal.

A consistent, scalable Social Value solution 

Each member of the ICS is able to access one consistent, scalable solution through Social Value Portal. All stakeholders can now determine what Social Value has been created, track delivery, and identify opportunities to further enhance Social Value contributions to local communities.

Social Value Portal moreover provided training for each sub-member on best practice when embedding Social Value into the procurement process. This training was accompanied by expert guidance on managing, measuring, and reporting direct Social Value outputs in line with the agreed framework.

Social Value Portal has enabled the newly-formed ICS to:

• Streamline processes and save valuable time
• Upskill its teams around Social Value
• Increase buy-in across the organisation

As the first ICS to sign with Social Value Portal, we are in a strong position to demonstrate how it is possible to work collaboratively and expediently, delivering on the overarching Social Value policy that all 28 members are working with.

Dave Sweeney, Associate Director for Partnerships and Sustainability, Cheshire & Merseyside Integrated Care Board (ICB)