How is the National TOMs Framework currently being used?

Social value measurement is becoming increasingly standardised.

Endorsed by the Local Government Association, the National TOMs’ adoption is spreading rapidly throughout the local government sector. A TOMs-based approach has also been adopted by the NHS Sustainable Development Unit and Central Government is working on a new approach to delivering social value, which is based on very similar principles.

Why use the TOMs framework?

Beginner: The National TOMs can be used by organisations – both private and public sector – who are starting out on their journey to embed social value into their business processes; through procurement, management or strategy. It provides an easy-to-use solution that is immediately available and may be applied to any project or activity.

Advanced: For organisations that are more advanced on their journey, the vision is the integration of the TOMs reporting standards into any existing measurement approaches as a minimum. This comes with the added benefit of adding Measures that do not exist in any current reporting toolkit.

The TOMs Framework provides the national standard for social value offering:

• Consistent approaches to measuring and reporting social value across businesses, sectors and localities
• Continuous improvements throughout your maturity journey
• Robust and transparent solutions for assessing and awarding tenders, with robust data sources to support
• Comparisons of business performance to sector and industry benchmarks, and an understanding of what good looks like

The National TOMs reduces the uncertainty surrounding social value measurement for businesses. By making informed decisions based on robust quantitative assessments, businesses will find it simpler to embed social value into their corporate strategies.

A key benefit of a TOMs-based social value measurement system is that its series of standalone Measures can be extended or reduced without compromising the integrity of the framework, providing users with a consistent approach to measurement.

The framework closely aligns to the HM Treasury Green Book principles as well as the requirements of the Public Services (Social Value) Act 2012.

Each edition of the National TOMs Framework is agreed and endorsed by the National Social Value Taskforce.

The five themes of the Framework

How can I use the National TOMs?

The National TOMs Framework has been designed to help organisations in four principal business activities. They are not exclusive to public sector organisations and may be used by public, private or third sector providers.

1. Measurement and valuation
2. Procurement and bid management
3. Bid submissions
4. Contract management

The National TOMs Framework can be used through our online portal and you can try it out for free.

Putting a value on ‘Social Value’

The National TOMs includes a set of ‘proxy values’ that allows users to assess the financial impact that any Measure will make. Of course, we recognise that social value is not all about ‘money’, however, this is an important metric to help understand the scale and breadth of impact that a measure can make.

And importantly, it allows procuring bodies to compare tenders in a way that is proportional and relevant to the bid, and to better justify a procurement decision.

More than just measurement

Traditionally, measurement consists of measuring delivery and maintaining a record of past performance. The National TOMs Framework, however, goes much deeper than this so you can measure not only what has already been done, but also to deliver the change that organisations want to see.

In this respect, the National TOMs is an agent for change: Each outcome and measure has been developed to reflect a need and to allow businesses to support fulfilling that need, ultimately, to benefit the communities they serve.

Keeping the National TOMs ‘Live’

The National TOMs Framework is not a static tool and has to evolve to reflect changing needs and pressures in society. The Framework is updated on an annual basis. Any organisation can make representations for additional Outcomes and Measures to be included and these will be debated and analysed by a research advisory board, before final endorsement from the National Social Value Taskforce.

What evidence is used to support the National TOMs methodology?

The TOMs proxies are developed from adaptations of benefit analysis techniques as outlined in the HM Treasury Green Book and other relevant public sector and impact assessment guidance documents.

To ensure transparency, the sources for each proxy are made publicly available and detailed in the guidance available with the Framework.

Sources include:

• the HM Treasury Green Book and supplementary guidance
• the Greater Manchester Combined Authority Unit Cost Database
• Office of National Statistics data
• Data published by other ministerial departments (including the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy, Department for Transport, Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs, Department for Education, Department for Work & Pensions, and Ministry of Justice)
• Other research and data from sectoral or third sector organisations (for example, the Living Wage Foundation)

The framework can be aligned to the UN Sustainability Development Goals (SDGs), or a number of other methods of sustainability reporting.

Licensing and use of the TOMs

The National TOMs Framework is covered by a Creative Commons license which means it cannot be used for financial gain. The issuance of the National TOMs by Social Value Portal in this format is an expression of our social value. The National TOMs is our proprietary framework that cannot be commercialised or made available in any other platform except for the Portal.

Read more on licensing here.