Welcome
Continued Commitments
Further Recognition
Delivering Impact
Helping People:
Northumberland Line: Work placement for student with disabilities
Hartlepool Highlight Active Wellbeing Hub: Benefitting local residents
Darlington: Transforming Hope Town
Newcastle Gateshead: Tyne Bridge restoration project
Newcastle: Graduate placements at Newcastle Academy
Helping Communities:
South Tyneside: Harton Primary School visit dairy farm
Tees Valley: Support for Parent and Child Together North East
The Gateshead Exchange: VCSE support platform
Stockton: Support for Warm Spaces and Winter Warmer project
North Tyneside: Support for the Holiday Activities and Food programme
Newcastle: Volunteering day at Newcastle Dog and Cat Shelter
Sunderland: Expert support for voluntary organisations
Middlesbrough: Support for the Catalyst Fund and Hope Foundation
Helping the Environment:
South Tyneside: Beach clean at Jackie’s Beach, Whitburn
Northumberland: Great Northumberland Forest tree planting day
Sunderland: Expert support to local community projects
Redcar and Cleveland: Coronation Park regeneration project
Durham: Transformation of a community garden
Welcome to our third annual social value impact report.
This report reflects the last 12 months of the fantastic collaborative social value work that has been achieved by us and our local Member Authorities. With an annual expenditure of over £3billion on goods, services and works we remain committed to maximising benefits to our residents, workforces, communities and outstanding environment.
As well as showcasing the achievements of our core social value programme, I am also proud to share what NEPO staff have been doing as part of our own activities. We have supported a local mental health charity through fundraising and worked alongside some of our suppliers on a range of volunteering activities. This has included litter picking and beach cleaning, supporting a veteran’s charity, ground preparation and planting of trees and shrubs, and helping a family support charity to repair and renew their outdoor play area.
On a personal note, I was really pleased to work with Hartlepool College to deliver a talk to students on the fantastic opportunities that a career in procurement can bring. All this not only helped the organisations but has been beneficial to our staff and myself. It has given us insight into the needs and challenges faced by the individuals and communities we support but also provided a fantastic sense of achievement and contribution.
The world of procurement is going through a major period of change and upheaval as the new Procurement Act 2023 brings into effect a new regime and ways of working. One constant remains in the need to continue to work together to leverage our tender processes to get the added benefits and impacts needed to support our economic and environmental challenges.
Despite our shared success we continue to look for ways to improve what we ask of suppliers and how we deliver social value. This is why we took the decision to find a better way of expressing our social value ambitions and for our suppliers to have a fairer, more transparent and flexible way to including and measuring this.
Our new ESG model will be finalised in 2024 and will enable a stronger partnership with our Member Authorities and suppliers to maximise the benefits and changes we will continue to deliver.
Our programme of procurement renewals and new solutions continued to secure social value outcomes As a result, our suppliers have committed to delivering jobs, apprenticeships, supporting communities, investing in their supply chains and reducing carbon emissions. The following graphic provides an overview of what these cover. in cash, in-kind or volunteering support to local community projects
local people employed in full time positions
£279k
51 weeks of apprenticeship or T-Level training
1,890 in supply chain spend
1,073 tonnes of CO2 emissions reduced
£73k
£44k in cash, expertise or volunteering support for VCSEs
£31k
hours of teaching support for schools and colleges 1,816 to support reforestation projects
supply chain action to tackle modern slavery £10k supporting unemployed people into work
£439k
NEPO’s public procurement excellence was recognised in our shortlisting in four categories at the prestigious Go Awards in May 2024. These annual awards celebrate the very best procurement achievements from public, private and third sector organisations across the UK.
Among the categories was a social value award for our work alongside Corona Energy to deliver social value within the NEPO302 Gas solution. This recognised our commitment to delivering positive social impact through procurement activities, fostering sustainable growth and community development.
Although NEPO were unsuccessful on this occasion, it was great to see the fantastic social value partnership project the ‘County Durham Pound’ awarded the top prize for the Best Collaborative Procurement initiative. This followed on their success in June 2023 when given
the national Social Value Conference.
Led by Durham County Council the initiative brings together organisations across the county to collaborate and commit to maximise social, economic and environmental value. This involves making procurement decisions and reviewing the ways in which suppliers are selected. Each member of the County Durham Pound reviews how they operate responsibly and ethically to achieve their goals. The partners include Believe Housing, Durham and Darlington Fire and Rescue Service, Durham Police and Crime Commissioner, Durham University, Karbon Homes, Livin, New College Durham and Northumbrian Water.
The awards are a testament to each partner’s contribution and hard work under the project and saw Durham County Council and their efforts gain this
Changes have been made to the way NEPO shares and reports social value commitments and delivery with Member Authorities through the Social Value Delivery Group.
New terms of reference on social value and the respective responsibilities between NEPO and Member Authorities have also been introduced. These changes to our ways of collaborative working will drive greater awareness of the opportunities for social value delivery. Alongside this, better distribution across the region will help to drive more targeted delivery and better reporting of achievements and impact.
While positive, securing social value commitments is not enough. The real prize is to ensure these are realised through delivery and the benefits are targeted in the right way. It is not enough to focus only on the target numbers and values being offered if we are not achieving the benefits for the people and places needing this help.
Although progress is being made with more delivery being reported and more stakeholders such as the VCSE sector being engaged more needs to be done.
This report is not just about NEPO. It reflects the ambition shared with Member Authorities to maximise the opportunities and benefits we bring to the residents, workforce, communities and local environments across the region.
While approaches and methods may vary between us, social value is a programme of joint working and collaboration which has at its heart the need to focus on the difference it is making.
To this end, the report reflects the work Member Authorities have undertaken enabled by the social value commitments secured by NEPO.
Work placement for a young student with disabilities on the Northumberland Line project
As part of their award to the Northumberland Line project, MSI committed to a range of social value offerings which included sponsorship of the 2024 Northern Pride event and the development of a bespoke work placement opportunity for someone with learning disabilities.
They worked with the Percy Hedley Foundation which is a charity that supports children, young people and adults with disabilities. This came about as a result of them attending a Northumberland Employability Network event in November 2023.
Hedley’s Beyond Project Manager, Kerry Robinson explained: “There are 1.5 million people with a learning disability in the UK. Of these, only around a fifth are currently in employment, evidence has shown that they are dedicated workers, having fewer sickness absences, on average than other employees.
“In addition, people with a learning disability generally stay in entry-level jobs longer, saving employers money on recruiting and training new staff. Many employers also report that their staff team morale increases because of working with their colleagues with a learning disability.”
Through collaborative working a work placement was developed, with Percy Hedley visiting the site to carry out robust risk assessments with MSI’s staff.
Percy Hedley led on ‘job carving’, which helped create a role that would prove mutually beneficial for the student, MSI and NLP.
Job carving refers to customising duties or creating specialist jobs for people with disabilities. This helped to create a one day per week work placement with MSI’s Stores Team, and 20-year-old student
James Crozier applied for the role. He was successfully matched to the placement and joined the team in June 2024, chaperoned by his support worker.
A
range of benefits for local residents and young people on the Highlight Active Wellbeing Hub leisure centre construction project
Wates were appointed under the NEPO207 Construction Works solution by Hartlepool Council to construct the Highlight Active Wellbeing Hub.
The £34million project is being built as part of Hartlepool Council’s ambitious proposals for the regeneration of the Hartlepool Waterfront area It is scheduled for completion towards the end of 2025 and will replace the town's existing Mill House Leisure Centre which opened in 1972
As part of the contract award, Hartlepool Council successfully secured a range of social value commitments which will bring significant benefits to local residents These are identified below along with progress made so far in the delivery of these commitments
Wilmott Dixon were appointed to undertake a construction project to create an exciting new world class visitor attraction for Darlington Borough Council. Transforming Hope Town, Darlington
In addition, the project resulted in a wide range of social value delivery activities which included: 1,000 £105k
265
new jobs created 15 spent with local enterprises weeks of apprenticeships delivered
hours of school and college support given to 281 students
Following their apprenticeship, two local young women went on to secure permanent jobs with Wilmott Dixon and these are their stories:
Riley Sweeney
Riley began her journey at Wilmott Dixon as an apprentice on Hopetown After two years of working at Hopetown and seeing the project through to completion, she has now progressed on to the Management Trainee programme as well as picking up numerous awards along the way!
Spoke in Parliament sharing her apprenticeship journey. Named ‘One to Watch’ at the Top 100 Women in Construction awards. Shared her apprenticeship journey at the Tees Valley Business Club. Joined Chartered Institute of Building North East as a Tomorrow’s Leader Representative.
Now started her next steps as a Wilmott Dixon Management Trainee in operations.
Phoebe Thompson
Management trainee Phoebe started her career as an apprentice at Hopetown and worked on the project from preconstruction through to handover. Now a Willmott Dixon Management Trainee, Phoebe tells us more about her apprenticeship journey: “I started as an apprentice quantity surveyor on the Hopetown project and worked on it from September 2021 to June 2024 from precon to handover.
“Hopetown was a fantastic project to be involved with, working with an even better team. I’d consider it to be the job of a lifetime which just happened to be my first job too!”
Tyne Bridge Restoration
Esh Group has been busy delivering a raft of social value initiatives across Newcastle and Gateshead as part of the Tyne Bridge restoration. From school visits to volunteering, Esh has committed to maximising the positive impact within the local community throughout the four-year programme of work that will restore the iconic structure to its former glory.
While it has been full steam ahead on the restoration work, Esh’s social value team have been engaging with the local community to provide meaningful opportunities and create a positive impact for both Newcastle and Gateshead residents.
The project has also allowed Esh to offer work placement opportunities which enabled student Toby Peach to gain key insights into civil engineering as he completed a two-week placement on the restoration project.
Studying Civil and Environmental Engineering at Cardiff University, Toby, 22, returned to his hometown to grab a great opportunity. He had been looking for work experience around home for a while and knew about the Tyne Bridge project, so contacted Esh to see if there were any opportunities.
Throughout his time on the project, Toby worked alongside the Esh team, taking in key lessons on health and safety in construction, risk assessments and the importance of communication in the role. He was attended planning meetings, which the team used to track project progress and pick up on any challenges to be addressed throughout the week.
He even managed to play a part in the bridge’s restoration as he supported the project engineer with identifying and marking out repairs to steel parts on the bridge. Toby revealed that the experience was quite an eye-opening one, as he was able to see first-hand some of the challenges the site team has been dealing with, since getting to work on the bridge.
Graduate placements at their Newcastle Academy
Version 1 are the supplier appointed by NEPO for the contract to provide maintenance and operational support for our new e-tendering system Open. Their contract submission proposed a range of social value activities including to provide places at their Newcastle Academy. These were to be made available to people living in areas of multiple deprivation and administered through a partnership with Northumbria
University. These would involve 48 weeks of supported training resulting in recognised qualifications.
In 2023, 16 graduates completed the programme and have gone on to become full-time employees working for Version 1. One of the successful graduates was Cezary Zalesinski who has outlined how he benefited from being supported by the scheme.
Cezary said: “In March 2023, I embarked on my journey with Version 1's Early Careers Programme As someone transitioning from a media background to the tech industry, I felt welcomed and supported by the Enabled Individuals team. Their care and understanding made me feel at home. As a disabled career apprentice dediated to understanding when needed extra assistance through the programme,
I gained valuable work experience, proudly held certifications in CISCO Cubersecurity and AWS Cloud Practitioner. Currently, I’m training for Hashicorp Terraform certification. Seven months into my employment at Version 1, I’m already contributing meaningfully to various projeccts. The open and nurturing environment of Version 1's Early Careers Programme has been instrumental in my growth.”
Pupils from Harton Primary School visit Village Farm
Pupils from Harton Primary School in South Tyneside were given exclusive tours of Village Farm, Mordon, and Embleton Hall Dairies, Wingate, to learn how their school milk makes its way from the farm to their classroom.
Local school children across the region were invited to dream up a design for their perfect milkshake. The competition saw many creative, colourful and inventive designs submitted from hundreds of pupils. Harton Primary School in South Shields were the lucky school chosen to visit the farm and see the dairy process from cow to carton.
Pupils began their day at Village Farm, where they were greeted by Holstein
Friesian cows on a dairy-themed activity
trail as they explored some of the farm’s 240 acres. Children toured the working dairy farm, meeting some of the calves born only days earlier.
They were shown how farmers milk their cows using digitalised, robotic milking machines. Animal Story’s offered the children a chance to experience exceptional animal encounters, learning more about the natural world and sparking an interest in wildlife.
Volunteer day to support Parent and Child Together North East (PACTNE)
Vulnerable families in Tees Valley are now able to enjoy the newly refurbished accommodation, thanks to staff from NEPO and business energy supplier EDF Energy Parent and Child Together North East (PACTNE) provides accommodation and offers physical and emotional wellbeing for families struggling with ongoing health challenges, homelessness, domestic violence and a variety of other reasons.
Located in a rural setting on the edge of Darlington, the three-acre site offers six log cabin homes for vulnerable families from across Tees Valley, Hartlepool, Darlington and North Yorkshire, as well as intensive support, relevant training and counselling.
Organised by NEPO’s sole energy supplier, a total of 11 volunteers from EDF and NEPO helped renovate the site with tree planting, path building, garden tidying and decorating.
James Lusby, Service Development Manager at EDF, said: “We believe in generating good relationships with our customers, and part of that is giving back to the community through social value activities like we have carried out here at PACTNE.”
Trevor Birtle, Chair of Trustees at PACTNE, said: “We house families who
are vulnerable for lots of different reasons and need intensive support for a period of time. The results have been great, many families have gone back into the community feeling so much stronger after staying here EDF and NEPO have helped make a big impact to improve our on-site facilities for the families who reside here, in a short space of time. It’s very much appreciated.”
Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise (VCSE) support platform
Gateshead Council launched their Gateshead Exchange hub in August 2023. This allows local schools, colleges, VCSE's, charities and community groups to connect with Gateshead Council's suppliers in order to maximize social value benefits. The platform enables the exchange of these benefits by delivering to the needs of the area and helps to build a thriving Gateshead.
The concept is simple. Local VCSEs and other community based organisations are encouraged to submit a 'Request Support' form. The types of support requested can include donations, work experience, volunteers, training, advice and apprenticeships.
Examples of requests include: a school herb garden, materials or goods donations such as wood pallets to build play areas, office furniture for a VCSE and volunteers to tidy a church yard
Suppliers to Gateshead Council can easily view the list of 'Support Wanted' and align their social value offers based on these identified needs
Suppliers are also able to offer their support by submitting a 'Offer Support' form which local organisations can then request to take up the help being offered
The site also provides Gateshead Council the opportunity to promote the benefits social value provides by promoting their success stories on the site which include:
Bestway
donates £200 worth of chocolate for Gateshead's
looked-after children
Bestway Wholesale helped foster families and children to enjoy Christmas with a 'sweet' donation The company generously donated £200 worth of chocolate boxes for the Gateshead Fostering annual Christmas party.
In total, they donated 16 boxes of Quality Street, 36 boxes of Celebrations and 18 boxes of Roses and children's crisps, all of which were greatly welcomed by the children and families.
Positive About Inclusion delivers Equality, Diversity and Inclusion training
Gateshead Exchange brought together two Gateshead-based third-sector organisations to share important knowledge about equality, diversity and inclusion.
Positive About Inclusion CIC, a social enterprise that supports local public, private and third sectors with equality, diversity and inclusion training and consultancy, offered their services
through the Exchange. Meanwhile, Skills 4 Work Gateshead Ltd applied to the Exchange requesting volunteer guest speakers for their employment support sessions - and Positive About Inclusion were keen to help.
Karen Faulkner, director and co-founder of Positive About Inclusion, visited Skills 4 Work to deliver equality, diversity and inclusion training. She also offered general advice about engaging with commercial partners and raising their online profile.
Cash donation to support Stockton Winter Warmer project
Corona, NEPO’s Gas solution supplier donated £10,000 to support a ‘Warm Spaces’ project in Stockton-on-Tees. This was to support people severely affected by the combination of high energy costs and rising household expenditure in 2023. The project was developed by Stockton Council working together with a range of community organisations and charities, including Stockton and District Advice and Information Service (SDAIS), the Citizens Advice service for the area.
The cash was donated to SDAIS who worked with the 60 community venues which hosted the Warm Space venues in 2022 to repeat the initiative over the winter of 2023/24. As part of this work they offered people using the spaces additional support in the form of winter warmer boxes. In the most severe cases cash support in the form of a Winter Warmth Fund was also to be made available. This was a hardship fund
designed to provide tailored and bespoke support to people with particular needs that cannot be met from any other sources.
The donated cash was allocated as £7,500 for the winter warmer boxes and £2,500 for the Winter Warmer Fund. From this it was estimated with the boxes costing £25 that around 300 would be distributed and for the fund around 50 households would be supported.
In January 2024, SDIAS reported the project had been a success with 376 distributed with 129 going to men, 136 to women and 111 to children. A decision was made not to distribute the boxes until after Christmas to avoid them being ‘misused’ as presents and traditionally support is usually strong in the run up to Christmas anyway. In addition, the colder and more severe weather normally falls in the January/February period.
Feedback from the Warm Spaces venues was very positive and a number of them requested additional boxes due to high level of need. Take up of the Winter Warmth Fund was slow due to the high level of other national central government support, limited awareness of the fund and the success in SDAIS staff securing other sources of funds. As consequence the level of the Winter Warmth Fund was reduced and awareness of it was raised across wider stakeholders.
A sample of the feedback testimonials from the participating organsiations include:
Stockton Borough Council
Housing and Homeless Team
Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) programme
NEPO’s furniture supplier Albany provided a £2,000 grant to help support the North Tyneside food partnership and HAF programme during the summer of 2024. Working with North Tyneside Council, they identified and agreed a programme of support based on funding the following activities:
The small grants were used to support local social supermarkets, a local pantry and a charity that supports refugees and asylum seekers. The projects supported were:
Whitley Bay Big Local Social Supermarket
Walking With in North Tyneside
Pop-Up Pantry Wallsend and Our Little Shop Percy Main
Friends Share Social Supermarket (North Tyneside Disability Forum)
St Paul's Pop Up Pantry
Funding was spent on supporting the purchase of stock items including toiletries, bakery goods, dairy tinned/dry foods, fruit and veg and tinned meat. These items were either given to the community (in the case of Walking With) or sold at a massively discounted cost to members of the local community.
Volunteering day at Newcastle Dog and Cat Shelter
Organised by NEPO’s sole water supplier Wave Utilities as part of their commitment to social value and community engagement a volunteer day was held in support of the Newcastle Dog and Cat Shelter A total of 20 volunteers from Wave, NEPO, Sunderland City Council, Darlington Borough Council, Northumberland County Council and Believe Housing took part in a range of activities.
In a bid to make a difference to the lives of the animals awaiting adoption, Wave worked with partners to assist the shelter staff with a variety of tasks This included cleaning, feeding, playing with the animals, and helping with general maintenance around the shelter.
Newcastle Dog and Cat Shelter was established in 1896 and helps animals that are lost, unwanted, neglected, abused and abandoned. The shelter works tirelessly to rehome animals and educate the public about responsible pet ownership. They rely heavily on volunteers and donations to continue their life-saving work.
For more information about Newcastle Dog and Cat Shelter or to learn how you can support their cause, visit dogandcatshelter.com
Jane Austin, HR Director at Wave, commented: "Our water retail services are only the tip of the iceberg; we pride ourselves on being, and delivering, so much more than that. Our commitment to social value is at the heart of Wave and it's great to work with customers who share our passion to make a difference to our local communities.
There is something special about employees volunteering alongside our customers to give something back and help a charity. As an organisation of animal lovers, we were thrilled to spend a day at the Newcastle Dog and Cat Shelter supporting the work they do in this region.”
Expert support for voluntary organisations
ABL are the local provider of Sunderland Specialist Stop Smoking Services and offered to share their knowledge and expertise with VCSE bodies across Sunderland. The offer was to help VCSE’s with practical skills to enable them to thrive. This included strategy
development, stakeholder mapping, bid writing, internal governance and supporting people into employment.
ABL committed to dedicating 40 hours per year for four years to assist local communities throughout the city. Although not located locally, they agreed to share their skills to aid local community projects.
ABL has been proactive in fulfilling these social value commitments, and to date have provided:
ABL have already surpassed their initial commitment and will carry on fulfilling the rest of their obligations over the period of the contract.
Catalyst Fund and Hope Foundation
As part of the new Bloom Catalyst Fund initiative implemented as part of their social value commitment in 2024, the Hope Foundation have secured a £500 cash donation. The charity is based in Middlesbrough, and its aim is to reduce disadvantage, loneliness and isolation and help people recognise their potential – because they matter.
Through the charity’s work many local people have gained skills and qualifications, become volunteers, found employment and made friends.
One of the early projects to receive financial support has been a warm space, called ‘The Snug’, operated by the Hope Foundation. This is a dedicated space that is a nicely decorated area where people can spend time and keep warm. Funding will be used to provide warm drinks, or hot meals for those in greatest need. These will be available free of charge and the funding will also help contribute to heating the space.
The aim is to help people keep warm and to save them needing to heat their homes. While using the space they can also link into additional support offered by the centre in a friendly environment which will help combat social isolation.
Bloom established the fund because they recognise that it can sometimes be hard for community groups to raise funding to progress their communitybased projects. It is a way to work with NEPO Member Authorities to help identify and support local community projects or programmes by offering financial support and volunteering hours.
As part of the fund they are looking to support projects that aim to:
Build safe communities by supporting local youth groups, lighting for public spaces and private security.
Support older, disabled and vulnerable people through befriending schemes and digital inclusion clubs.
Engage people in health interventions and wellbeing initiatives such as stop smoking, obesity, alcohol reduction, drugs and physical activities.
Tackle homelessness through temporary housing schemes.
Create and manage green infrastructure to increase biodiversity, keep green spaces clean and accessible and to support delivery of net zero.
They are also keen to support local schools and youth organisations with career programmes which could include delivering careers talks, providing curriculum support, literacy support, CV advice, mock interviews and careers guidance.
Jackie’s Beach, Whitburn, beach cleaning volunteer day
The NEPO team supported our supplier Bunzl Greenham to clean up unwanted litter on Jackie’s Beach, South Tyneside which is part of the Durham Heritage Coast.
Armed with litter-pickers and binbags, colleagues from NEPO and Bunzl Greenham took to Jackie’s Beach in Whitburn, as part of a series of community volunteer days organised in collaboration with SeaScapes, celebrating marine heritage from the Tyne to the Tees. More than 14 bags of litter collected, helping prevent manmade litter enter our ocean and damage our marine life.
David Fox, Regional Sales Manager for the North East at Bunzl Greenham, said: “We like to think that we’re not just a provider to industry, we want to give back to the communities we work in. Today’s beach clean has a really good feel-factor to it. We’re doing our bit to give back to the residents and visitors of Jackie’s Beach and help the environment thrive, and we’re thrilled to have NEPO colleagues along for the ride.”
Michael Burn, Access and Volunteer Officer at Seascapes, said: “Beach cleans are really important because we don’t realise where a lot of our litter ends up, and when it ends up in the ocean it can cause a real problem. Litter can enter the food chain for wildlife and it can start breaking down and becomes microplastics, which cause problems for us as
well. So by picking up the larger pieces of litter has a huge impact.
“We’re starting to see the affect of these beach cleans have had already, the beaches we visit appear cleaner and people are congratulating us on our hard work A huge thank you to everyone who helped out on Jackie’s Beach today.”
Tree planting at Stamfordham Sports Pavilion
In a bid to help protect and enhance the natural environment, Wave partnered with the Great Northumberland Forest to create a shelter belt of native species trees and large shrubs around the boundary of cricket ground at Stamfordham Sports Pavilion. More than 300 tree saplings were planted and NEPO were happy to give a helping hand
Organised by NEPO’s sole water supplier Wave, a total of 24 volunteers clocked up valuable volunteering hours, with representatives from NEPO, Northumberland County Council and North Tyneside Council.
Nigel Corfield, Director of Industrial and Commercial Customers at Wave said: “Volunteering days like this are all part of our social and sustainability promise which is built on four pillars: our company, our people, our customers and community and our planet. What we try to do at Wave under those four pillars is to drive a positive difference in society and in industry, and it’s great to have our partners and our customers join us for the day to support this initiative.
“The activities carried out here in Stamfordham will help the local community. By planting trees we’re creating a shelter belt which will act as a corridor for wildlife to improve the biodiversity and amenity of the area.”
Mark Child, Great Northumberland Forest Programme Manager, said: “The Great Northumberland Forest is a plan to establish millions of trees, creating more wooded landscapes across the county by 2030. This will help tackle some of the big challenges facing society, such as climate change, biodiversity decline, while promoting health and wellbeing, and supporting a thriving local economy.”
Materials and expert support to local community projects
Airedale Forestry successfully won a place on the Council’s Tree Works, Maintenance, and Tree Removal Services solution and as part of this made an offer of social value in-kind support to local VCSEs. They worked closely with Sunderland City Council and Sunderland Voluntary Sector Alliance to identify ways in which this offer to the local voluntary and community sector organisations could be achieved to improve outcomes for local communities.
The initial offer was for one organisation to be supported but when a number of potential projects were identified Airedale decided they wanted to support all six projects. To date, the two projects where work is complete are:
The Chapel of Light
The Chapel of Light in Southwick requested a tree be removed from the side entrance of the building which has for many years sprouted branches that threaten the roof especially from Spring through Summertime. In the Autumn the leaves shed which created blocked gutters, requiring cleaning sometimes twice a year to stop water going into the Church.
The removal of the tree has had a significant impact on the church and the local community Not only has it saved the church money by preventing the need to frequently replace loose tiles damaged by the tree's branches, but it has also reduced the cost of biannual gutter cleaning. The space left by the tree on the side lawn presents an opportunity for the church to enhance its already stunning interiors, which have hosted weddings for over a century. The new landscape and garden will complement this historic site, providing a picturesque backdrop for various ceremonies such as baby dedications, weddings, renewals and burials
Herrington Scouts Group
Herrington Scout Group required an area of unused ground re-purposing at the rear of their HQ building. It was overgrown and full of rubbish and had been for many years.
Help was needed to revamp the space to allow it to be used for outdoor cooking, barbecues, campfire songs, and gatherings. Airedale visited the site to assess the required work then cleared the scrub, laid landscape fabric, and stone and provided the labour and materials, working through challenging weather conditions to finish the job.
Alan Toll, Group Leader at Herrington Scouts, expressed his delight with the outcome and thanked Airedale for their hard work. The new area will be used to have campfire singalongs and offer children the opportunity to learn cooking, outdoor fire lighting, and bush craft skills in a secure and supervised setting. The Limited youth provision in Herrington makes the Scout Groups weekly sessions a valuable alternative to ‘hanging around the Park’. It engages children and fosters social responsibility which leads to more positive outcomes for the local community.
Coronation Park regeneration project
Seymour Civil Engineering were appointed by Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council to carry out works to improve access and facilities at Coronation Park, Loftus. This would benefit the local community and provide a much-needed multi-functional space for all.
The works involved a new car park, drainage works, creation of new pathways, street light lighting works, new railings, street furniture and
signposts, landscaping and planting of trees, whilst protecting the existing flora and fauna.
Seymour Civil Engineering worked closely with the Council, as well as engaging and collaborating with local residents, to ensure that the objectives of the Council’s Social Value Charter were delivered though this project.
To do this they adopted used an approach which focused on employing local people, buying from local suppliers, worked with and supported local communities while being a good employer.
As a consequence a number of key activities and benefits were delivered during the work to regenerate and improve the facilities at the park which included:
Seymour Skills Academy delivered 53 ‘Gateway to Construction’ courses to unemployed local residents with 31 going on to secure employment
Over 100 qualifications were achieved by local residents alongside three previous Seymour Skills Academy students going on to join Seymour have gained valuable work experience through the delivery of this project
98% of the material and 84% of plant and equipment bought for the project came from local spend.
Local schools took part in workshops to come up with meaningful words or phrases about what Coronation Park means to them. These were inscribed on plaques donated and installed within the park leaving a lasting legacy and community connection.
An interactive Health and Safety and STEM career talk was delivered to local pupils at who were asked to create a health and safety poster with the six winning entries receiving £15 Amazon vouchers. The posters were enlarged and placed on the site.
Seymour staff volunteered as part of a woodland task day hosted by the Council and carried out 12 hours of weeding, vegetation clearance and the removal brambling.
Wood pallets were donated and cut to size by Seymour staff to create bird/bat box templates for easy assembly by pupils of Handale Primary. Seymour staff helped the pupils construct the boxes which were placed within Coronation Park and nearby local woodland.
The regenerated park hosted a community celebration to mark King Charles III Coronation. Children from local schools attended and a commemorative plaque was unveiled in memory of her late majesty the Queen and a plaque celebrating the Coronation.
Together with Seymour Civil Engineering, Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council have improved a community asset and one that the next generation will treasure for years to come.
Transforming The Welcome Centre and Community Garden
The Methodist Church in Easington Colliery, once a thriving place of worship set in a beautiful brick building from 1913, had unfortunately fallen into disrepair and had a congregation of less than ten people
Starting with initial conversations in 2021, the determination and passion of local councillor secured the support of many organisations across County
Durham. They supported with funding, materials, skills and time through their social value contributions which transformed the church into a thriving community building which came back into full use in 2024.
The Welcome Centre continues to provide a place of worship as well a popular community café that attracts an average of 40 people each week. It also hosts a thriving youth club which is thriving and which the children love.
The Community Pantry is attracting around 40 people each week and Spare 10 for Ben are delivering a Breakfast Club with 15 people attending each week.
Many organisations have offered their services free of charge to make this happen through social value. Leading partners in the building refurbishment
and garden works were Re:Gen through a Believe Housing contract and BAM Nuttall through a Durham County Council contract This was made possible by ‘radical collaboration’ and the consistent message of the County Durham Pound and what it means to drive social value to benefit communities.
Despite a record of success NEPO continues to look to improve the inclusion of social value in our procurements and how benefits are delivered This includes continued support to Member Authorities and enabling suppliers to maximise the benefits to be realised economically, socially and environmentally Some of this will come from the new ways of working introduced in 2024 but also through the implementation of NEPO’s new ESG model
For the last seven years our approach has been based on a modified version of the national TOMs model. In 2023 we recognised this was no longer fit for purpose and did not meet our requirements including the need to embed social value into our e-procurement platform Open. In response we set the ambition of developing a bespoke new model based on our ESG Strategy and in recognition of the need to procure in a sustainable, ethical and progressive way.
Consultants at the Centre for Local Economic Studies (CLES) were appointed to work with us, our Member Authorities and wider stakeholders including suppliers. The work set three outcomes: a new set of indicators based on freely available public data sources; the tools and guidance to embed it into procurement practises; and the delivery of training to buyers and suppliers. One other key benefit to developing our own model will be its integration into Open This will mean the new ESG model will be easier for buyers to modify and embed into their procurements and for suppliers to submit and report on its delivery
The impact of these recent and impending changes will be to re-iterate an ongoing commitment to social value and more importantly the benefit it brings to people, communities and the environment Alongside this will come the changes brought by the new Procurement Act 2023 including a new revised National Procurement Policy Statement with a possible strengthened focus on social value.
We are also planning to finalise work on an enhanced coordinated approach to understanding VCSE needs and how these can be matched to social value offers All in all, 2025 is shaping up to be an interesting and exciting time for social value in the region
We'd like to thank all of our suppliers, Member Authorities and partners for their support in helping us make a real difference to the communities that we serve.
Whether it’s giving a helping hand to community groups, improving the environment or supporting charities, social value delivery aims to bring about real change, and we couldn’t do it without you.
