Training guide
Social value in venue booking
The venue you book for training and meetings can add social value when the money stays local and funds community benefit, for example by booking a local charity rather than a national chain. To count it, record where you spent the money and what it funded, using a statement from the venue, and include it in your social value or contract monitoring report.
What social value means for a booker
Social value is the wider good that comes from how an organisation spends its money: local jobs, local spending, help for people who need it, and a healthier community. The Public Services (Social Value) Act 2012 asks public bodies in England and Wales to consider it when they buy services, and many councils, NHS bodies and housing providers now ask their suppliers to report it too.
Most of that attention goes on large contracts. But small, regular spends add up, and a training venue is one you choose every month. Booking a local charity instead of a hotel chain is an easy, honest way to show social value in your own spending.
How a venue booking can add social value
- Local spend. The money stays in the area you serve, instead of going to a national chain.
- Community benefit. When the venue is a charity, what you pay funds its community work.
- Access. A venue your staff and service users can reach easily, with free parking and step-free rooms, widens who can take part.
- Local partnership. Using community venues builds links with organisations in the borough.
How to evidence it
A social value claim needs a short, factual record. Keep:
- The venue's name, address and charity or company number.
- What you spent in the period, from your invoices.
- A statement from the venue of what the money funds, with figures if they have them.
- How the spend links to your own social value commitments, for example local spend in the borough you serve.
Keep claims to what you can show. "We spent £2,400 with a Knowsley charity that runs a weekly social supermarket" is stronger than a large, estimated figure.
What to ask a venue
- Are you a registered charity, social enterprise or community interest company? What is your number?
- What does the money from room hire fund?
- Do you have figures, such as how many people your community work reached last year?
- Do you have a social value statement we can use in a report?
What booking with us funds
The Maggie O'Neill Centre is a registered charity (no. 1215599) that has served Huyton and Knowsley for over 25 years. Money from room hire and virtual offices funds the charity's community work in the borough:
- Maggie's Meals, our social supermarket, open every Friday, 9am to 10am. 750+ people used it in the last year.
- 550+ hours of free space for hyper-local community groups in the last year.
- Community coffee mornings and clean-ups around Huyton.
Our social value page has a statement written to paste into your report. Booking for a council or school? See council and public sector training in Knowsley, or the NHS training venue.