Evaluating social innovations and their contribution to social value: the benefits of a 'blended value' approach

Social innovation is viewed as a solution to developing new services that address complex needs and create 'social value', but what constitutes social value and how to measure it is contested. Drawing on a case study of a social prescribing pilot, this paper provides an example of how social value can be evaluated to support decisions by commissioners of socially innovative interventions. It argues that social value presents an epistemological and methodological challenge for commissioners seeking to embed it in decision making and recommends evaluating social innovations though a 'blended value' lens

Social prescribing ‘plus’: a model of asset-based collaborative innovation?

Social prescribing is a current UK social policy phenomenon but to what extent does it represent a substantive change in the way policymakers think about services for people with multiple and complex needs? I draw on several local studies of social prescribing initiatives to argue that cautious optimism is merited: through the idea of social prescribing ‘plus’ key actors in a number of localities have embraced the principles of asset-based working and collaborative innovation to achieve real change in policy and practice. However, policy interest in social prescribing cannot be decoupled from the public sector austerity and transformation agenda, and the true testing ground will be how local policymakers develop services in future: will they draw on the asset-based collaborative principles of social prescribing ‘plus’; or will it lead to expectations that people and communities do more for themselves without the necessary investment in this alternate model of welfare