Members Day 2024
Advice NI had its annual members’ day on the 18th June. With thanks to STEP for hosting and Conor McGale from Rose Regeneration facilitating this event focusing on Social Value. With various members in attendance the event proved to be very successful in meeting its objectives.
The event was themed around Social Value and gave an introduction to this topic as well as enhancing knowledge and was the opportunity for members to become more aware of Social value, which refers to the positive impact that a project, initiative, or action has on society and the community. It's about looking beyond just financial profits, but also about considering how something contributes to the well-being and improvement of people's lives.
Why is Social Value suddenly a “thing”? Social Value as been part of legislation in England since 2012 (The Public Services Social Value Act 2012), and Scotland since 2013.The Act requires Public Bodies to think about how they can also secure wider social, economic and environmental benefits in the work they do. This is normally done via procurement & evaluations of funded projects and schemes that they may administer and is now seen as common practice, with Social Value included in official Government appraisal documentation & guidance. It’s not legislation yet in NI despite several attempts to get it through. However, since June 2022, public sector tenders must include a minimum of 10% of the total award criteria to score social value. This will apply to contracts for services and works above the threshold where the Procurement Regulations apply (i.e., services contracts valued above £122,976 and consultation contracts valued above £4,733,252). Where appropriate, Departments can also score for Social Value on contracts outside of these thresholds. Departments can also give greater weight to social value than the 10% minimum. This minimum can increase but is subject to NI Executive approval
Funders are eager to see the impact of organizations that they are supporting. Interested in demonstrating “value for money” on the investment that they have made. Funders want to invest on projects that create maximum social impact in a robust & credible way. For local or central government funders and public bodies who specifically focus on the Treasury’s Green Book which outlines how government departments should make funding decisions, this methodology syncs with that approach
Members were able to network over lunch and engage with Conor one to one as well as Q&A and we look forward to welcoming members at our next members’ day