What do we mean by Social Value?

Social Value involves looking beyond the price of each individual contract and looking at the collective benefit to a community.

We ask ourselves, ‘If £1 is spent on the delivery of services, can that same £1 be used, to also produce a wider benefit to the community?’

OVH follow the Public Services Social Value Action 2013 and aim to maximise the impact we have in our communities, wider society and on the environment. OVH follow this definition in the broadest sense to maximise the impact we have in our communities, wider society and on the environment.

Social Value can be in the form of:

• Customer and Community Engagement Activities
• Charitable and Community Events
• Sponsorships and Donations
• Volunteering
• Training and Development
• Enterprise Advisor and Local School Encounters
• Employment, Apprenticeships & Work Placements
• Environmental Impacts i.e. protection, reducing co2

Why do we do it?

There are several reasons why we contribute to Social Value which in turn adds value to society and has positive impacts on future generations. Here are some of the reasons:

• Supports our Groups Purpose “Create Opportunities and Change Lives”
• Maximises of Value for Money to client and customers
• Partnership working
• Positive impact to Sovini’s reputation and external growth
• Creating employment and opportunities (apprenticeships, work experience placements, training etc.)
• Empowering communities
• Regulatory Compliance
• Supporting and investing in our communities we operate within
• Make a difference to people’s lives and environments
• Contributing to better quality of life
• Helps customers including vulnerable customers
• Supports reducing poverty
• Supports local community, environment and our Sector

How does One Vision Housing measure Social Value?

We use the HACT (Housing Associations Charitable Trust) UK Social Value Bank which is a social value tool that measures and demonstrates the positive impact our services have on people. We have adopted this methodology since 2014 and each year we are provided with a verification and certification of our social value contributions.

Social Value generated in 2022/2023

This certification process has shown that we have generated over £28 million pound of social value for the 2022/23 year.

Full details of each activity which contributed to the figure above can be found by following the link below.

The next publication for social value generated in 2023/24 will be available later this year.