STAR Procurement operates on behalf of a variety of councils in the North-West to procure goods and services, with a strong commitment to Social Value. Social Value Portal works with STAR Procurement to help them report on the Social Value of their suppliers - together, we ensure that suppliers deliver the best value for their communities.

In 2020, Stockport Council asked STAR Procurement to procure solutions to address homelessness in their community. After the tendering process, STAR brought on Depaul UK to begin work on two contracts.

Depaul UK is a youth homelessness charity with over 30 years of experience working across the country. As part of their contract, they set up a support service for young care leavers, and also a hostel for people who are homeless in the area. Depaul UK not only takes people off the streets, but supports and nurtures them into work or further education.

Life changing support inside and outside the organisation

Since beginning their contract, Depaul UK has created an extraordinary £300,000 in Social Value against a target of £169,000 - 177.4% of their committed delivery to date.

This figure includes £147,000 through local employment – 10% over their target – and translates to three local full time staff.

Steps to success

The ‘Steps to Success’ initiative has likewise created an impressive amount of Social Value. The programme invites individuals that Depaul UK works with to attend weekly skills sessions at their centre. These two-hour sessions provide skills to help attendees become ‘work ready’.

By the time attendees graduate from the scheme, they are equipped with a range of skills to help them start their career, and a clear vision for where they want to be in the future.

Steps to Success alone has so far delivered £103,000 of Social Value.

Social Value Portal is really useful for us. Although we monitor what we do, we don’t measure it in financial terms. Having the ability to do so has been really interesting and wasn’t something we had experience of doing before we began to work with STAR.

Simone Newham, UK Regional Director, Depaul UK

This Social Value translates into life changing opportunities for many.

Tom, one of the participants, left the care system at 18 and needed support from the state after a difficult upbringing. Tom found that he had no knowledge of the basics of day-to-day adult life, such as paying bills and budgeting, and he had no one to ask. By the time he turned 19, Tom was sleeping in a hostel and burdened by thousands of pounds of debt.

Depaul UK stepped up to help him into accommodation. With their help, Tom was finally debt free ten months later.

Basically, I can pretty much say this in one sentence. My experience with the care system: not the best. My experience with Depaul: helped me a lot more than the care system did. The people that actually work at Depaul, they know what they’re doing. They help you out. They always want the best for anyone that stays there, I know that.

Tom, Depaul UK participant