Sureserve Started the Day Right….. With Social Value

Sureserve invited key clients and suppliers to a breakfast meeting ahead of a busy day at Homes UK to discuss Social Value and how we can improve the impact and reporting around it.  

Jay Ham, Head of ESG at Sureserve, kicked off with a history of the Social Value strategy over the last decade and how it has grown to be a measured and expected part of our work in communities as well as the sustainable impact we bring to the community.  
 
Jay discussed our approach at Sureserve and how we invested in digital support via Thrive to enable a needs analysis of the communities we will work in and shared an example of the detailed insight we can deliver to maximise the impact of the Social Value work we bring with our contracts. Thrive works to pull the key metrics around challenges in the area and a provides a ranking to help understand impact of action.  

Sureserve then pulls from client manager and account manager knowledge to build a plan that best serves the community. We can calculate the emissions, utilise our apprenticeship schemes, and deliver works that compliment the contracted projects. Key to everything we do is to deliver through local teams to impact in the communities we work in and can work to include local suppliers. Thrive can also produce detailed reports linked to agreed KPIs.

Pippa Pang, Head of Social Value and Marketing at Sureserve Compliance Electrical shared a case study of partnership with a key client Peabody. Pippa shared how in last 4 years she has learnt that collaboration is key. It needs to be more than a buzzword. Social Value is a supportive environment, and we need to work across client, contractor and supplier to deliver value that delivers for the people in the community.  
 
The case study talked about the Darwin court food hub which is serving 210 Peabody residents from local communities. It has grown over the years and now supports more than food having recently added a baby products bank. Pippa believes working with the communities' contractors can support clients to navigate to get the best results for the community. During covid Darwin delivered 400 lunches every day through the community. Supported with fridges and volunteers from the staff.  

Corin Menuge shared their viewpoint of the strong partnership and how it builds trust in the community and creates a safe place. It has created a hub to enable discussion around other challenging needs like domestic abuse or mental health support. 

Now scaling the model across other communities Corin talked about the collaboration, how what started as a funding relationship has grown into a partnership around the community. ‘It's beyond food now, the hub connects people and reduces isolation.’ It can be hard to serve and connect with the community with an offering as a housing association, and this safe place became more than food. Resources are available in a discreet and safe way to support many challenges faced in the community. Corin said he was grateful for the ongoing support and Pippa ended by saying being the connector as the contractor is important. The contract manager really helped build the relationship too.  
 

Pippa’s top tip - Don't reinvent the wheel or add extra cost, work as a connected piece to serve the residents and community.  
 
Ian Childs, Client Director at Sureserve Compliance South and Chairman of the Sureserve Foundation spoke next. Ian shared the background and history of the foundation and reminded us that ‘eat or heat’ is still a very real problem. 

The Sureserve Foundation provides advice and grants to support where it is needed most. Winter warmer and summer cooler packs are an example of the support it can provide, alongside community kitchen projects, energy top up cards and education materials. Ian reinforced that the Foundation is an independent charity and that success is to spend the money we raise and then raise more.  

Ian shared experience of supporting the creation of warm community spaces to socialise and reduce isolation as well as provide that safe warm place to spend time.  
 
Sureserve Foundation engages with clients, suppliers and residents. Ian shared several examples of support from this past year including Code 1 project in Harringay which supported efficient cooking as a community which then turned in to cooking parties for the elderly residents who enjoyed the social engagement as well as sharing a meal together. Ian finished with a final ask to keep supporting so we can deliver more projects. Donate here: The Sureserve Foundation - JustGiving

The discussion was opened to the floor and covered a wide range of topics including that collaboration needs to be wider than housing, include the NHS and other interdisciplinary groups to work holistically and care for our communities. 
 
All agreed that it was key to take it community by community, looking for where there might be a need. Ian mentioned that as Sureserve visits over 1.5 million homes each year, we have the opportunity to be acting as the awareness lever while we are in those homes. Another breakfast guest mentioned while social value has been happening for over 20 years, it is key we really track the metrics even when it is a challenge to measure as our systems aren't joined up. We need solutions and perhaps a standardised approach in our industry to help simplify and add more value.  
 
The key point from this discussion was that interdisciplinary is really key, and that in some HA’s suppliers being part of the Social Value are an afterthought. We all agreed that working together was the best way forward and that Social Value is an important part of our work in communities.