Islington Borough Council's Affordable Workspace programme has delivered an astonishing £1.24 million of Social Value - but they aren't stopping there.
We spoke to Caroline Wilson, the council's Director of Inclusive Economy and Jobs, about Social Value in action, her top tips for starting out in Social Value, and what's next for Islington Council.
It's really about the added value that we bring into our local communities.
Islington has a reputation of 'streets of gold' - a very rich community. And there are people who live in Islington who are very wealthy, but we also have some of the highest levels of child and pensioner poverty.
So it's really incumbent on us as an organisation to make sure that we deliver extra for those communities. That looks like jobs, schools engagement, going into our community and voluntary sector organisations and helping them with practical things like website design and professional volunteering.
Those are some of the practical things that we expect.
When I started in Islington, we were procuring affordable workspace. We receive it at peppercorn rent from the developers as part of our planning obligations and then we pass that peppercorn rent on to operators.
It was very important for us that we were able to assess the different tenders that we would get, and the Social Value TOM System™ really helped us articulate what the difference was between different operators. It really enabled us to compare apples with apples in a very Social Value based tendering system.
The affordable workspace procurements are about 80% Social Value, so it was incredibly important that we had a nationally recognised system to, to articulate the differences between the different bids.
It's a real political priority to spend as much as we possibly can with small and medium enterprises, and black and global majority owned businesses as well. We want to make sure that our supply chain is as diverse as possible.
Smaller businesses often say 'We don't have the capacity for Social Value' or 'We don't know how to write it up'.
My starting point is: you already deliver lots of Social Value. I'm confident that an SME is going to be using a local accountant, they're going to be using local sandwich makers. That Social Value is really critical in the Islington supply chain. I'm also really confident that they're doing things around schools, that they'll be sponsoring prizes or sports days.
So my encouragement always is, don't go looking for new things. Really mind your own business and talk to all of your staff about what they do in terms of volunteering in Islington or the local area. It's not a question of developing something new and spending more money. They will have things within them that that they can articulate as Social Value for Islington.
It was very important for us that we were able to assess the different tenders that we would get and the TOM System really helped us articulate what the difference was between different operators. It really enabled us to compare apples with apples in a very Social Value based tendering system.
Caroline Wilson, Director of Inclusive Economy and Jobs, Islington Council
Social Value is is a really high political priority for the council at the moment. We see the need, as we enter into a different fiscal environment, to challenge the value of each of our contracts. So the politicians and the committees are really looking at how we make sure that we deliver Social Value across all of our contracts.
The next stage for Islington in terms of our development is how we engage communities in that discussion. We've taken a very economic view so far on Social Value, which is really about jobs, supply chain, skills, development, apprenticeships.
The next piece for me is to sure that our community and voluntary sector deeply benefit from the Social Value that we're able to achieve. That means being in dialogue with them on a regular basis. So shaping that process has to be a continual dialogue with the community and the voluntary sector.
We had a fantastic experience recently on our parking technology, where the winning contractor came offered us a package of free parking for people who needed it within the borough. And so in dialogue with some of our amazing community and voluntary sector partners, we were able to pass that on to the food bank operators, which means that whenever their volunteers go out to deliver food bank parcels, they're able to get free parking.
That's the sort of thing I think we really need to see in the next generation of Social Value for Islington.
Interested in how Islington Council generates real change? Check out our spotlight on their Affordable Workspace Programme.