Tell us Nathan, how did you get involved with Social Value?
Before joining Social Value Portal, I spent 13 years at Grant Thornton, where I was a Partner. My focus was renewables, clean technology, and public sector infrastructure projects, such as schools, hospitals, and IT systems – anything the government was procuring.
During my time there, our work in the clean technology sector evolved significantly, expanding into areas like decarbonisation and sustainable cities. Around 2009-10 I authored a report on sustainable cities, exploring how urban areas could decarbonise and integrate these innovations.
But I noticed a gap: in all this great work on infrastructure, energy systems, and green technology, the social dimension of decarbonisation was often overlooked. Big questions like how these projects affected individuals and communities, what benefits they created, or what challenges they posed, weren’t being thoroughly addressed.
By the time I left Grant Thornton, I’d already met Guy Battle, who invited me to a live demonstration of a prototype of the Social Value TOM System™. As soon as I saw it, I said: ‘That’s the answer’.
Not long after, I became Social Value Portal’s second director, at a time when there were only three people in the business.
Can you share how the Social Value TOM System™ began and how you’ve helped to shape it?
The early development of the TOM System was led by one of our first employees, who worked closely with the newly established National Social Value Taskforce to refine the initial prototype.
At that time, I was working with public and private sector clients to help them embed and deliver Social Value in their projects with the TOM System. This hands-on experience gave me plenty of ideas for how to enhance the system further.
So, in 2021, I took over responsibility for our TOM System, Data, and Insights (TDI) team. Over the next few years, I built specialist teams to:
- Evaluate Social Value bids for public sector tenders
- Review and validate Social Value data reported using the TOM System
Since then, my focus has been on developing a long-term vision for the TOM System and making sure it evolves to meet our clients’ changing and increasingly sophisticated Social Value needs.
So, while I can’t claim credit for the original innovation, you could say I’m the person who took that great idea and made it scalable, standardised, and ready to meet the demands of a growing Social Value movement.
The Social Value TOM System™: Themes, Outcomes and Measures
What makes the TOM System different from other Social Value measurement tools? Why has it become the standard?
What sets the TOM System apart is the rigor applied to every aspect of its design. And that’s not just about the valuation methodology and financial proxies – although they are critical.
The difference lies in the broader framework we established from the start:
- Capturing and learning from Social Value data
- Setting clear and consistent evidence standards
- Working closely with customers for effective implementation
With this approach we've built a deep understanding of what works and what doesn’t, which has kept the TOM System both robust and practical.
Another reason it’s become the standard is its simplicity and transparency. The TOM System is fundamentally an easy-to-follow, reliable way to measure and report Social Value, backed by years of experience. This appeals to both our customers and the many Open Access users who continue to trust it.
The final point is the TOM System’s collaborative origins. Because it was developed with the Social Value Taskforce (which includes stakeholders from the private sector, third sector, and local and central government), it truly reflects the needs of practitioners and, ultimately, the communities they serve.
Social Value leaders from Islington Council, Wates and Mars Wrigley explain why they use the Social Value TOM System™
Why is standardisation so important for Social Value measurement?
As Social Value has scaled up and become more mainstream, an internally consistent and standardised system of measurement has become more and more important – for three reasons:
- Accessibility: Standardisation makes Social Value measurement accessible. If a non-expert can’t immediately understand what a Measure is conveying, then that’s a problem, because people are time-poor. Consistent, clear Measures let users can easily interpret and apply the system.
- Comparability: Standardisation lets us make meaningful comparisons. Without a consistent approach, it’s impossible to benchmark Social Value across organisations, sectors, or region – or to define what "good" looks like.
- Parity with financial reporting: Social Value should stand alongside financial reporting as a key part of organisational performance. To gain traction in boardrooms, it needs to be presented in a familiar, structured way. Standardisation elevates Social Value to the level of other key metrics, giving it pathway into strategic conversations.
What were the big priorities in the latest TOM System update?
We had two main priorities:
- Ease of use: Our first goal was to make the TOM System as easy to use as possible without disrupting its core principles. There’s a lot of complexity sitting behind the TOM System – but that should never make it hard to engage with. To this end we’ve streamlined and simplified the entire system and developed clear consistent guidance documents to explain its key principles.
- Social impact: The second was to enhance the social impact component of the most popular Measures: local jobs and local supply chain spend. Previously, these were valued on a purely economic basis. With the 2024 update, we’ve introduced new social dimensions to these measures to better capture their impact on communities.
Does this update help bridge the gap between Social Value measurement with the TOM System, and methodologies like Social Return on Investment (SROI)?
Yes – but it’s definitely not the end of the story.
Some approaches to Social Value will always be more qualitative and more specific to particular projects or cohorts. A broad, scalable system like the TOM System isn’t designed to capture all those qualitative nuances. Instead, it provides a robust and flexible base foundation that can be combined with more specific impact-focused initiatives.
As demand grows for a ‘global TOM System’ (we’re already working on launching in Australia, for instance) we’re getting the opportunity to explore the question of impact in more detail: how to record it, measure it, and systematise it.
Feedback from these international applications will feed back into the UK TOM System, further refining our methodology and reliable data sources.
💡 Explore: How businesses, governments and VCSEs are using the TOM System
What excites you most about the new TOM System?
Over the past several months, we’ve been working closely with our customers to help them transition to the new TOM System and introduce it to new users. The feedback has been fantastic, with strong indications that the updates are meeting the needs of practitioners.
But what excites me most is making a tailored version of the TOM System available for free to our many Open Access users. These users are a key to the wider Social Value movement, and I hope this launch sparks a deeper dialogue with them. Their feedback will help us further refine the TOM System and deepen our collective understanding of Social Value.
How would you advise new users of the TOM System get started?
My advice is to focus on understanding the essential principles of Social Value measurement. You can do this in several ways:
- Use the guides we’ve created for the TOM System
- Participate in workshops and training if you’re working with us directly
The key is to instil foundational principles like additionality, attribution, and avoiding overclaiming. These will make sure your reporting is rigorous, robust, and able to stand up to scrutiny.
The next step in your Social Value journey
The TOM System is loved by hundreds of organisations across numerous sectors – how much impact could you create with it?
👉 Start learning about the TOM System today with one of our experts.
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