Colas has partnered with the Social Value Portal and is rolling out the use of their measurement tool as its aligns with the National Themes, Outcomes and Measures (TOMs) framework.

Adopted by more than 60 public sector authorities, including many of Colas’ clients, the National TOMs is the most popular and widely used Social Value measurement framework in the UK. The framework uses a set of financial ‘proxy values’ to help clients and contractors better define how their activities benefit society. Implementing the TOMs will enable Colas to better monitor, manage, and improve the value its business and supply chain add to local communities.

While Colas has a strong tradition of delivering impactful initiatives with a focus on social, economic and environmental betterment at a project and regional level, there was a growing appreciation of the need to unify its approach across. By formalising its Social Value Policy, and aligning with the leading measurement framework, it is now better placed to communicate, deliver, and manage its objectives., according to the compamy. “Aligning with the National TOMs will help to drive consistency across our business, whilst providing a robust framework to support target-setting and continuous improvement,” it said.

Working closely with the Social Value Portal Colas has successfully used the TOMs framework to quantify the social value impacts on a number of its projects in 2020. This effective pilot programme enabled Colas to use the data from these projects to baseline its performance, which has informed its overall social value strategy development, set stretching targets for 2021, and launch the portal throughout the business.