The PeoplePlus Definition
Social value is the difference a business makes to the society around it, over and above the goods or services it sells. Procurement calls this additionality: the benefit has to be genuinely extra, not something that would have happened anyway. At PeoplePlus, we create it through social recruitment: applying responsible, inclusive standards to the way a business plans its workforce, hires, trains, retains and builds in its communities.
What is social value?
Put simply, social value means contributing positively to the well-being of communities, employees, and the environment to improve lives, the economy and relieve the pressure on public services. While concepts like environment and governance are well-understood, 'social' often seems like the missing piece of the puzzle. Understanding the concept has become essential as people and businesses recognise the need to address societal challenges such as poverty, inequality and economic inactivity.
How social value is measured depends on who is buying. Central government scores bids against eight policy outcomes today and against two, good jobs and skills, from January 2027. Local authorities, strategic authorities and the devolved nations set their own priorities. What holds steady underneath is the work itself: good jobs, the skills to reach them, and opportunity reaching the people furthest from it. We help you build the evidence base once, then adapt it to whatever a bid asks for.
Why PeoplePlus?
For 30 years we have worked with the people who find the labour market hardest to enter: young people not in education, employment or training, care leavers, unpaid carers, prison leavers, and people living with a long-term health condition or disability. Since 2021 we have supported nearly 23,000 people into work across England, Scotland and Wales through programmes including The Restart Scheme, Fair Start Scotland and Jobs Growth Wales+. Our Social Recruitment Framework, working with a network of training providers, has put a further 14,000 people into jobs with employers who came to us because they needed to fill roles. In prisons, our Way2Learn platform delivers in-cell digital learning across more than 50 sites, where over 15,000 learner workbooks have been marked in the past two years at an 86% pass rate.
That record is why the two outcomes now at the centre of the PPN026 Social Value Model, good jobs and skills, describe work we already do at scale rather than a direction we are turning towards. We work with 29 distinct groups whose route into employment is blocked in a particular way, and we hold delivery evidence behind each, because what opens a door for a care leaver is rarely what opens it for someone managing a long-term health condition. Support is designed around the person, which is slower to build, more valuable to get right, and the reason outcomes hold once someone is in post.
PeoplePlus was named Supplier of the Year at the GO Procurement Awards 2026/7, Social Responsibility Organisation of the Year in two consecutive years, and holds Gold accreditation from Investors in People.
How can we help businesses realise their potential social value?
There are limitless ways to create social impact - here are just a few options from PeoplePlus.
- Socially Responsible Recruitment - we connect employers with likeminded training providers to recruit disadvantaged job seekers who have been specifically trained for employer vacancies.
- Funding and social value workshop - a deep dive analysis to explore how Government funding can support your social value goals.
- Reduce reoffending - we deliver education in over 50 prisons, including all Scottish Prison Service establishments, tackling the root causes of re-offending - we can work with employers to offer job opportunities to ex-offenders on release.
- Deliver real community impact - invest in tangible legacies with grassroots organisations that are important to your business and customers.
- Improve bid wins and embed social value delivery - social impact can carry a 30% weighting in bidding and tendering - we can offer support with both solutions and the writing process.
- Join our Social Recruitment Advocacy Group - a collective of businesses who are addressing societal challenges and needs – with a business minded approach.
- Sign the Social Recruitment Covenant - a no-cost action that states your intentions, today.
Most employers come to us with something specific: a bid to answer, a role they can't fill, or a commitment already made that now has to be evidenced. If any of that sounds familiar, the team can talk it through.
