Social value benchmarking report released by SCAPE and Social Value Portal

Our latest social value benchmarking report has now been launched, in partnership with social value measurement consultancy, Social Value Portal.

Released annually, the report sets a precedent for how the construction industry should be tackling social and economic value on its projects.

This year’s report found that the construction industry achieved £1.08bn of social and local economic value in 2021, through significant investment in local communities. In comparison, last year’s report found that the delivery of social and local economic value was £949m for 2020, highlighting a 14 per cent increase in 12 months.

Almost 20 per cent of total spend on projects was invested in social value initiatives, valuing £1.8bn. The North West far outperformed other regions in terms of social value delivery and was second highest after Scotland on local economic delivery. The South West had the lowest social and local economic value investment. However, geographical location and total number of projects will have impacted these figures.

Within the report, we have included three case study examples from our framework partners who delivered a variety of social value activities ranging from employing ex-offenders, and delivering a 100% spend with SMEs, to donating staff hours to local charities. All activities have been measured using the National TOMs (Themes, Outcomes and Measures) standardised framework, which provides a minimum reporting standard for measuring social value.

Nathan Goode, Chief Strategy Officer at Social Value Portal, added; “It may be a little early to talk about trends as such, but seeing year on year progress in social and local economic value delivered by the construction industry is a great start.

“As the largest industry in the UK, employing over three million people and responsible for a large proportion of the UK’s carbon emissions, it is imperative that the sector leads the way in improving society, both in terms of tackling the climate emergency as well as improving the lives of the people who reside in the communities in which they operate.

“The strongest argument for committing to social value generation could be financial: we all want a better world and a better future and delivering more social and local economic value will lead to a more prosperous future. I look forward to seeing further improvement in next year’s report.”