How to calculate your social value and why it matters

Accurate and meaningful measuring and reporting of social value has never been more important for the construction sector.

The Procurement Act 2023, which came into effect in February 2025, requires contracting public authorities to give social value a central role in their procurement. To win future projects, construction companies need to evidence how they have incorporated social value into their operations. Having the tools to measure and report social value is now vital for successful tenders and contract negotiations.

Compliance Chain provides tailored social value management software specifically designed by contractors for contractors to accurately record, measure, report, and calculate social value.

Using Compliance Chain as Your Social Value Calculator

You can look at Compliance Chain’s social value management software as a powerful social value calculator — helping you quantify the value your projects generate. By aligning with core themes, our platform enables you to calculate your social value add, measure performance against key objectives, and track progress over time. Whether you’re reporting internally or to stakeholders, it gives you the clarity and confidence to demonstrate impact with accuracy.

Below are some key points on how we measure social value:

• Our social value management solution provides a monetary figure for social value activity using ‘proxy values’.
• A proxy value is assigned to each social value activity, such as boosting local employment, engaging with local suppliers, voluntary work undertaken or donations given to local charities or community groups.

We capture a wide range of social value metrics that include 100+ proxy values spread across 5 themes. Below are the core themes, along with an example to demonstrate how a typical proxy value fits within each theme:

• Responsible business – The amount spent with suppliers located within a 30 mile radius of your main site
• Employability – Local full-time employees (within 30 miles of your main premises) hired or retained for the contract duration
• Wellbeing – The number of hours allocated to community outreach and networking
• Environmental – The car miles driven in staff vehicles with low or no carbon emissions as part of a green transport programme
• Improvement – Innovative measures taken to promote local skills and employment on a contract.

The key advantages of calculating social value with Compliance Chain

Compliance Chain’s social value management software is an easy-to-use solution that provides a range of benefits that enables you to calculate your social value initiatives:

• Calculating social value is simplified through concise reporting, tracking and measuring of social value goals
• No more confusing spreadsheets – just clear, impactful visuals that highlight your project timelines and positive contributions and build trust with your stakeholders.
• Our software helps you to win tenders by demonstrating strong social value contributions through the Case Study Builder tool. The case study function allows you to:
  • Summarise and present past projects quickly, in a professional format
  • Create customisable, bespoke reports
  • Transform your social value data into powerful case studies that can be used in engaging and impactful presentations.
• See our software in action here

Client testimonials

Our clients regularly share how they benefit from the Compliance Chain social value management software:

“The Compliance Chain portal is efficient and easy to use. It allows the structured recording of real social value delivery which develops into a comprehensive timeline of the social value journey of each project.” Vanessa Barlow, Social Value Manager, Seddon.

SpellerMetcalfe, a family-run construction company, has streamlined its social value tracking with Compliance Chain. This has resulted in increased efficiency, improved accountability and enhanced transparency. Hear what they have to say at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xbnGh6APbo4.

For more stories on how our clients benefit from our social value management software, visit www.compliancechain.com/testimonials.  

Start calculating your social value today

Simplify the capture and reporting of your social value add across your projects with our  social value management software.

Present figures for tenders that can be backed up, justified and used by to show your clients the impact your projects have on your local community, and how your commitment to social value compares with your competitors. If you require more information about Compliance Chain social value management software, please get in touch.