In Scotland, social housing does much more than provide safe, affordable homes. Housing associations and councils increasingly play a frontline role in tackling poverty, health inequalities and climate targets. Achieving this broader mission demands more than good intentions. It needs robust ways to prove impact and guide better decisions.
Social value measurement offers exactly that. For Scottish landlords and partners, applying social value frameworks makes it possible to capture how services and investments benefit people and places, from better health to stronger communities and align with national ambitions like the Fairer Scotland Duty and the Net Zero Housing Route Map.
What does social value measurement mean?
Put simply, social value measurement quantifies the difference that housing interventions make to people’s lives. It goes beyond the bricks and mortar to value improvements like warmer homes, reduced fuel bills or higher well-being.
For instance, repairing damp conditions in a home can lead to lower NHS costs due to fewer respiratory illnesses, boost tenants’ mental health, and even help children perform better at school. Frameworks such as HACT’s UK Social Value Bank and Wellbeing Valuation have given Scottish landlords practical ways to turn these outcomes into credible figures.
Why it matters for Scotland
Targeting local poverty and inequality
Poverty rates remain stubbornly high in parts of Scotland. For example, over 1 in 4 children live in poverty in Glasgow. Housing providers have a critical role in breaking this cycle. Social value measurement helps direct spending where it has the biggest local impact – whether that’s creating apprenticeships in areas with high youth unemployment or investing in retrofits to cut fuel poverty.
Tackling health inequalities
Health inequalities in Scotland are stark. In the most-disadvantaged ten percent of Scotland, men have a life expectancy of 69.1 years compared to 82.3 years in the least-disadvantaged areas – a gap of 13.2 years. By measuring social value, landlords can show how better housing standards reduce these gaps. Kingdom Housing Association in Fife demonstrates this approach through their community investment and tenant support programmes.
Tools and approaches for Scottish landlords
Well-being valuation: Tools such as HACT’s UK Social Value Bank help organisations measure and demonstrate the positive impact their services have on people. WELLBY (Well-being Adjusted Life Years) provides a standardised approach to valuing improvements in life satisfaction and mental health outcomes.
Policy frameworks: The Scottish Government’s commitment to fairer communities and the Net Zero Housing Route Map create a strong policy environment for social value. By aligning measurement with these, landlords can unlock sustainability-linked finance and demonstrate compliance with obligations like the Community Empowerment Act.
Local partnerships: Place-based working is vital. In Dundee, Hillcrest Homes partners with local organisations to deliver community programs that generate measurable social value through improved tenant outcomes.
Scottish examples in action
Energy efficiency and fuel poverty
Scotland’s Social Housing Net Zero Heat Fund has made at least £200 million available to social landlords until 2026 for the retrofit of existing housing stock, with 85% of social homes now achieving EPC D or above, making them some of the most energy efficient in Scotland. North Lanarkshire Council implements the Energy Efficiency Standard for Social Housing (EESSH), requiring minimum EPC ratings of typically Band C or D depending on property type. By measuring fuel bill savings and health benefits, these programs demonstrate clear social value aligned with Scotland’s Net Zero targets.
Community investment and apprenticeships
Kingdom Housing Association incorporates trainee and employment clauses into their Asset Management and Capital Investment contracts, with their Gas Servicing and Maintenance contracts employing apprentices. Kingdom also operates a Community Initiatives Fund supporting projects in tenant and resident communities, covering themes including training and employment, energy efficiency, and education initiatives.
Social value measurement
Berwickshire Housing Association (BHA) has trialed a Social Value Toolkit method to measure the impact of Scottish Government Supporting Communities Fund support throughout their communities . This demonstrates how Scottish housing associations are developing robust methods to quantify their community impact and social return on investment.
Avoiding pitfalls: lessons for Scotland
While social value measurement brings huge benefits, it needs to be done well. Some organisations risk focusing only on headline numbers in procurement bids. To prevent this, Scottish landlords should look for clear plans and credible delivery evidence from suppliers, not just high promised values.
Attribution is another challenge. Many factors shape social outcomes, so providers must account for ‘deadweight’ what would have happened anyway and share impact fairly with partners. Collaboration with local councils, health boards and community groups is essential.
Building a future-ready social value strategy
- Start focused: Choose a handful of outcomes linked directly to local priorities, whether that’s tackling fuel poverty, youth unemployment or digital exclusion.
- Use mixed evidence: Combine hard data , such as job numbers or reduced energy bills with tenant feedback and local insights.
- Think place first: Work with community groups to ensure social value plans reflect what matters most in each area.
- Connect to net zero: Integrate social value with sustainability. For example, retrofit programmes can be measured for carbon savings and local economic benefits at the same time.
The way ahead
In Scotland, social value measurement is no longer a nice-to-have. It is central to proving impact, winning funding and building trust with communities. With clear measurement, housing providers can show how every pound invested improves lives today and builds stronger, fairer places for the future.
Creating a movement, not just metrics
The transformation happening across Scottish social housing represents more than individual organisations adopting new measurement tools. It signals a fundamental shift toward evidence-based social policy where housing providers become strategic partners in delivering Scotland’s national outcomes. When North Lanarkshire Council systematically tracks energy efficiency improvements, or when Berwickshire Housing Association quantifies community program impacts, they are contributing to a collective evidence base that strengthens the entire sector’s credibility and influence.
Unlocking Scotland’s competitive advantage
Scotland’s integrated policy landscape creates unique opportunities for housing providers willing to embrace comprehensive social value measurement. The alignment between the Community Empowerment Act, Fairer Scotland Duty, and Net Zero commitments means that organisations demonstrating measurable social impact can access multiple funding streams simultaneously. This policy coherence gives Scottish housing associations a competitive advantage over counterparts elsewhere in the UK, but only if they develop the measurement capabilities to exploit it.
From compliance to innovation
The most successful Scottish housing providers are moving beyond viewing social value measurement as a regulatory requirement toward using it as a driver of innovation. When Kingdom Housing Association embeds employment clauses in maintenance contracts, they are not just ticking compliance boxes – they are redesigning service delivery to maximize community benefit. This approach transforms social value from an administrative burden into a strategic tool for organisational development and community transformation.
Building ecosystem partnerships
The future of social value measurement in Scotland lies in collaborative approaches that recognize housing as part of a wider ecosystem of public services. Health boards, councils, colleges, and community organisations all have stakes in the outcomes that housing providers deliver. By developing shared measurement frameworks and pooled budgets, these partners can demonstrate collective impact that justifies larger-scale investment and policy support. The £200 million Social Housing Net Zero Heat Fund represents just the beginning of what becomes possible when social value measurement enables system-wide collaboration.
Preparing for the next generation of challenges
As Scotland’s population ages and climate pressures intensify, housing providers face challenges that go far beyond traditional accommodation provision. Social value measurement provides the analytical foundation for tackling these emerging issues proactively. Organisations that can quantify their contribution to healthy aging, community resilience, and climate adaptation will be essential partners as Scotland develops responses to demographic and environmental change.
The data revolution in social impact
Scottish housing associations are uniquely positioned to contribute to and benefit from the growing sophistication of social impact measurement. As artificial intelligence and big data analytics become more accessible, housing providers with robust measurement systems will be able to predict and prevent problems before they escalate, optimize interventions for maximum impact, and demonstrate outcomes with unprecedented precision. The organisations investing in measurement capability now are building the foundation for this data-driven future.
A sector-wide call to leadership
The question facing every Scottish housing association is not whether social value measurement will become standard practice – it already has. The question is whether they will be leaders or followers in developing the most effective approaches. The organisations that act decisively now to build measurement capability, forge strategic partnerships, and align with Scotland’s policy priorities will shape the future of social housing delivery across the country.
This is Scotland’s moment to demonstrate global leadership in social value measurement. With the right combination of policy support, sector collaboration, and organisational commitment, Scottish social housing can become a model for how measurement-driven approaches deliver transformational outcomes for communities. The tools exist, the need is urgent, and the opportunity is unprecedented. The only question remaining is which organisations will seize it.
