A headline in The Times last month declared that forcing firms to show their social value is a “pointless pantomime”. The knee-jerk reaction from those working in social value was a chorus of dissent. Awkwardly, we actually agree with many of the key points underlying the Re:State report. 

There is an irony to the report and the press coverage that followed. The 66-page analysis devotes real effort to exploring how policy intent becomes distorted in scaled implementation, only for its own nuanced argument about complexity and proportionality to be flattened into a crude “ditch social value” headline.