One reason the Budget is such a hotly anticipated and much-discussed topic both across media outlets and in our everyday lives is because of impact. Every single policy announced will have an impact on people – and that will vary from person to person based on their individual circumstances.
With its far-reaching and varied policies, we tend to look at the announcements in the Budget through an individual lens, wanting to understand how it will change our own lives and finances. Because of that, it may be easy to look at policies like increasing National Insurance Contributions for employers and think it has little impact on people other than different numbers in their payslips.
However, for employers – especially those smaller businesses or ones already under financial strain – this change could be a huge strain, which also has negative impacts on the mental wellbeing of business owners and managers, or even the wider staff body if they worry about the stability of the business they work for. When starting to take those next steps down the mental road of any of the policies announced, it’s easy to understand that the Budget itself is a huge social value moment every time it rolls around.
The Budget deals with the national picture too – and with the most recent one coming from a newly-appointed government, that bigger picture has been a core focus. So, just what do some of the bigger ticket items mean under a social value lens?
Planning professionals
It’s been very clear that this Labour government is on a mission to unblock the planning process with the moves it has made since coming into power in July. Initial steps have been taken, including a consultation to inform an updated National Planning Policy Framework. A clear emphasis has been placed on the importance of local planning, which is where the power of social value in development really comes alive.
Of course, the big challenge remains in actually unblocking the planning process as demand for development and regeneration grows ever higher and ambitious targets have been set. The Budget has allocated funding for an additional 300 “planners of the future” – with funding also intended to boost and upskill local planning authority capacity. That capacity is going to be crucial in the success of getting projects through the planning system and into development and reality.
No action will have an identical impact in different places due to localised differences in economies and communities. By ensuring a strategic approach to planning with that local focus, and upping the capacity of planning departments, delays in projects getting going will be reduced. And with more projects moving forwards, more social value benefits can be generated for communities – especially as we continue to move towards taking a Most Advantageous Tender approach to development projects.
Rail and road
Transport is always a hot topic, particularly amid the public perception as ticket costs rise. The Budget reflected the need to improve services for users across public transport and road networks, helping people get to where they need to go. The headline policies included commitments to:
- Secure delivery for upgrades between York and Manchester
- Deliver the new East West Rail line between Oxford and Cambridge
- Fund tunnelling work to take the HS2 rail line to Euston station
- Provide £1.3bn for urban transport schemes through City Region Sustainable Transport Settlements
- Allocate an addition £500m towards repairing potholes in England
Of course, the delivery of any infrastructure projects will create jobs and have environmental impacts that can be measured from a social value perspective, but when it comes to transport networks the social value goes much further than first meets the eye.
It’s not just about the physical connection, public transport networks connect diverse communities, create quality jobs and makes sure that education, healthcare, and overall social inclusion are much easier to access – while also reducing traffic and therefore stress for road users, along with clear environmental benefits. This all creates social connectivity, which in turn reduces isolation, increases mobility and improves wellbeing – all of which are metrics that can be measured accurately by robust social value frameworks like the National Social Value Standard (SVS).
Housing
The Budget continued Labour’s narrative of delivering more and better homes around the country, which was rooted in its election manifesto. £5bn has been commitment for investment into housing for 2025-26 alone, an increase of 20% on the previous year.
Of course, with new homes comes social mobility and all the social value impacts – positive and negative – that come with that. Clear allocations have been set aside for key schemes, including £56m for more than 2,000 homes at Liverpool Central Docks, an additional £500m for the Affordable Homes Programme, and £47m to support the delivery of up to 28,000 homes that would otherwise be stalled due to nutrient neutrality requirements.
But the commitment to creating better homes has a wider reach than just building new ones – it’s also about improving what we already have. More than £1bn has been allocated in 2025-26 to accelerate the remediation of unsafe housing, including social homes – all of which will have clear social impact on the people living in the homes. Being able to take account of qualitative elements such as wellbeing will be key to understanding the true difference these remediations will make to real people – but only if measured with reliable and accurate tools.
Finally, an initial £3.4bn has been committed for heat decarbonisation and household energy efficiency over the next three years. £1bn of that is allocated for next year alone, and while detailed on how that will be spent have yet to be revealed, we know the social impact of more efficient homes can be significant. Improving the efficiency of homes means not only are they warm in the winter and cool in the summer for comfort, but they improve both physical and mental health in residents, which in turn reduces pressure on public services like the NHS – as well as on personal finances through more affordable energy bills too.
Social value
So, as far-reaching as the Budget’s policies are – the social value thread can be followed throughout everything. Every single announcement has its individual, community or national-wide impact, whether that be social, economic or environmental. It’s a huge generator of social value, which can be used to provide a measure of success for any activity when approached correctly.
Time will be the key to telling us the positives that could come out of the latest Autumn Budget, but a key message for any organisation looking to evidence its social value impact, accuracy in measurement needs to remain key.
This includes looking at both positive and negative outcomes of any action taken to avoid ‘impact-washing’. That’s why our tool at Loop is developed with that accuracy built in through using the National Social Value Standard (SVS) – giving you that full insight into the whole spectrum of measurements that paint the full picture of your social value impact.
Without that full picture, it’s impossible to report the full impact created from any activity an organisation may take, whether on the micro or larger scale.
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