Jess Payne, Director of Social Value for Compass One, gives her predictions for some of the key social value trends we are likely to see over the next 12 months.
Embedding the new Social Value Model
As part of the new Procurement Act, the government introduced an updated Social Value Model in 2025, aligned with its Five Missions. This has multiple implications for suppliers to public sector organisations, not least the building of social value commitments into contractual KPIs. There will be a need for authentic plans with no hiding behind a tick box philosophy.
In response, we’ve updated our Social Value Mission and Policy to reflect the needs of our clients who are implementing the model. We’re supporting our teams through the changes with knowledge sharing sessions and regularly updated resources to reinforce their expertise.
Place-based social value
The new Social Value Model places far greater emphasis on aligning plans with local missions. Each community has its own challenges, whether that’s high unemployment, health inequality, homelessness or other issues, and our clients with large footprints must demonstrate how they are supporting their communities to address these.
For us, that means adapting our areas of focus to the specific needs of the locations we’re working in. We’re building in social value resources at a local level to support our clients in meeting the new requirements and embedding a framework which ensures everyone within our business understands their role in delivering social value.
Utilising the whole value chain
While companies may be highly focused on their own social value impact, they exist as part of an ecosystem that involves suppliers, partners and clients. It’s increasingly important to consider the benefits different stakeholders can bring and how the whole value chain can best work together to maximise its collective impact.
We’re committed to working with organisations whose values align with our own, so we ask the right questions of potential suppliers and partners to ensure a shared responsibility for maximising impact. We want diversity within our supply chain, so we have a social enterprise project underway to increase our spend in this sector.
Human rights due diligence
The modern slavery legislation was updated in 2025 and it’s woven throughout the new Social Value Model. Organisations need fit-for-purpose human rights policies and codes of conduct, with mechanisms to ensure compliance for their own employees and throughout their supply chain.
As part of Compass Group, we already have robust procedures in place – but we aren’t complacent. We’ll continue testing our policies and ways of working, while providing training, guidance and advice to ensure awareness and implementation of the requirements among all stakeholders.
Flexible measurement and reporting
Social value measurement needs to demonstrate what has changed as a result of an activity or initiative, and it’s vital that any metrics being tracked are meaningful to the recipients. Under the new Social Value Model, government organisations will need service providers to present data that is specific to contract requirements and commitments.
We’ve undertaken substantial work to ensure we can provide tailored information to our clients. Attribution is important, so we work collaboratively with stakeholders to ensure transparency on who is delivering what. We’re also committed to a full mixed method approach, with Social Return on Investment studies forming a key part of our strategy.
