Julian Blake writes for Pioneers Post on the importance of social value in public services

Julian, a Partner in Stone King’s Charity & Social Enterprise Team, co-authored the article with Mat Ilic from Catch22 and Ed Wallis from Locality after the trio spoke to the House of Lords Public Sector Services Committee.

The Lords has been exploring how public services can be bolder in ‘levelling up’ communities around the UK.

Julian has specialised in social enterprise, charity, responsible business and Public Service Reform and Innovation for over 30 years.

In the article he says it’s important to recognise that social value isn’t something new, but rather something charities and social enterprises have been practising for many years.

“Social value was not invented by the Public Services (Social Value) Act 2012,” he says. “As with many cases where the status quo catches up with the progressive, the bright light dims, as the established system absorbs the novelty.

“The problem for (not with) social value is intangibility, to which a general reaction is to try and translate it into something familiar. How does it monetize? Or be measured? But the intangibility is, properly understood, real world complexity.

This meaning is well-captured, at the macro-level, by Professor Mariana Mazzucato in The Value of Everything in which she advocates public policy led by ‘public value’. Explaining its meaning she asks: ‘What is the value of universal free state education?’. She answers (to paraphrase): ‘We know the cost precisely, from Treasury figures and we equally know the value is immense, multi-dimensional, exponential and immeasurable.’

“Social value, currently, is mainly seen as ‘added value’ – for example, an apprenticeship added to a construction contract; 15 per cent of a tender score; a selection from a list of possible offers, each with a generalised monetary value. Added value is good, but limited,” explains Blake.

“It misses the inherent social value in realising the core purpose of a public service: to meet a personal need; thereby to support a community; thereby to contribute to socio-economic advance.

“The 2012 Act successfully introduced ‘social value’ into common currency. This has led to every local authority having a ‘social value policy’, some of which are excellent, and now to government adopting the phrase.

“The Social Value Portal has become the source-book, through impressively detailed work that has gone into its National Social Value Measurement Framework, comprising ‘Themes, Outcomes and Measures’. But this product slots too easily into a conventional procurement process and the entrenched failings of UK public procurement too easily take over.

“Procurement of a service contract is only one commissioning tool,” argues Blake. “Commissioning of public services is a multi-faceted, complex, professional discipline.

“Commissioning can reach for multi-sector, multi-stakeholder community partnerships, driven by the purpose of optimising services. In public services social value is not a 15 per cent element; it is the 100 per cent objective. It needs a whole new commissioning methodology built around it.

“Social value imperatives should be the pre-requisite of any organisation being a provider of Public Services: is purpose central to the provider? Are the individuals engaged in the service dedicated, energetic and well-managed? Is pricing based on fair, reasonable surplus, not extractive profit? Is there a collaborative spirit and an essential focus on the best interests of service recipients?”

The Pioneers Post article can be read in full here.