A Guide to Social Value at LPP
A place based approach to drive benefits into local communities, to maximise value for the public pound, and to facilitate sustainability in procurement.
The Sustainability and Social Value team has developed a holistic social value solution which provides a wraparound service to drive social value proficiency across London's ICBs.
Our methodology has been developed through testing with members in order to create a robust and user-friendly process that is responsive to the changing needs of the NHS. Our methodology is designed to maximise value for money and ensures reliable social value outcomes.
NHS LPP works in partnership with ICBs to implement our solution by develop their social value strategies, embedding robust practices into their procurement processes and enabling them to evidence their social value outcomes.
Our ‘once-for-London’ ethos enables economies of scale and allows different segments of the NHS in London to evidence how it is working as a system, and through new partnership arrangements, to generate public value more broadly and across organisational boundaries.
Our Social Value Methodology
Our methodology is designed to facilitate the best social value outcomes for the NHS and for communities. It is based on key principles to deliver best value and accessibility for both procurement teams and bidders. The process is designed to enable social value realisation at all stages of the tendering life cycle, including pre-tender engagement, tender design, the evaluation process and contract management.
NHS LPP takes a mixed approach to social value, considering the quantitative and qualitative elements of social value offers. We utilise the quantitative aspect to ensure measurable social value commitments are made, while our qualitative Delivery Plan requirements ensure that assurance is provided as to the capacity of the bidding organisation to deliver the commitments it has made.
The NHS London TOMs
The SSV team conducted ICB-level analysis to understand the drivers for inequalities within each geographical area to underpin of the social and economic outcomes we wanted to design. We combined this research with the Social Value Model to create the bespoke NHS London TOMs framework toaddress the needs and priorities of London and it's local communities.
The Social Value Monitoring Tool
NHS LPP administer and provide a social value monitoring tool on behalf of our members. The tool provides a platform for hosting the social value aspect of tenders and evaluations, as well as managing and monitoring social value deliverables during contact delivery.
The Social Value Toolkit
NHS LPP has produced guidance and template products to support buyers to incorporate social value into their procurement processes. These can be accessed via the NHS LPP website in the Member Resources section.
NHS LPP members can access the full NHS LPP self-service social value toolkit and support including:
- Evaluation templates and guidance
- Social value tender documentation
- Qualitative and quantitative scoring tools
- NHS London TOMs
Supplemental wraparound support is available at an additional cost with end-to-end management of the social value tender process, including:
- Pre-procurement and early market engagement
- Tendering, clarifications and evaluation
- Supplier award and ongoing contract management
The Social Value Curriculum
NHS LPP’s SSV team has developed the Social Value Curriculum, which is designed for anyone involved in procurement, contract management and sustainability across the NHS in London, to enhance their understanding of social value. Thecurriculum’s objective is to support the assessment and delivery of social value in tenders and contracts using our social value methodology.
Social Value User Group Webinars
NHS LPP provides a monthly opportunity to meet with colleagues across the NHS in London to hear updates, share good practice and ask questions about all things social value. The webinars focus on a topic each month, as well as providing a space for collaborative learning across trusts and user feedback into our products.
Social Value Reports
NHS LPP’s pan-London reporting approach provides a holistic viewpoint of the NHS across London, with the ability to drill down to ICB and trust level. The ability to analyse data within and across the system in geographic and thematic ways provides a bespoke and collective evidence basis to drive social value improvement and a range of policy outcomes.
The SSV team provide quarterly reports to members detailing their social value progress at trust, ICB and pan-London levels.
Our social value approach has been commended by NHS Confederation:
Unlocking the NHS’s social and economic potential | NHS Confederation
Our pan-London Social Value Toolkit was also awarded the HCSA Sustainability/Social Value Excellence Award 2024.
For our members, NHS LPP will:
- Administer the Social Value Monitoring Tool
- Provide the NHS London TOMs and regularly review them to ensure they target social value priorities across London
- Provide and regularly review the Social Value Toolkit to enable procurement teams to deliver social value in their tenders
- Provide training for procurement professionals and suppliers
- Share best practice and social value insights
- Support members by offering expert knowledge on social value in procurement
- Track and monitor social value realisation
- Report and promote the total ‘social return’ on investment
For question and inquiries, contact: socialvalue@lpp.nhs.uk
