social value and sustainability

Amaze is a small, local charity with an excellent reputation, and established contacts with families of children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) and partners working on the ground in Brighton & Hove and East Sussex.

As a long standing, local, community and voluntary sector partner we inputted into the development of the Brighton & Hove City Council Social Value Framework, and have been signed up to the Social Value Pledge, adopting the Brighton & Hove Social Value principles ever since.

Social value is a way of thinking about how scarce resources are allocated and used. It involves looking beyond the price of each individual contract or the cost of a service, and looking at what the collective social, economic and environmental benefit to a community is when a public body chooses to award a contract or redesign its services. ‘Thinking social value’ prioritises the overall value of outcomes, rather than focusing purely on the bottom-line cost. The greatest long-term cost savings are to be found in supporting citizens to be independent, productive and socially mobile, leading lives that they value.

As part of being signed up to the Social Value Pledge Amaze is committed to:

Economic

• Supporting parent carers and people with disabilities in/back to work by providing flexible volunteering and employment opportunities compatible with caring responsibilities, taking positive action in our recruitment practices, providing reasonable adjustments and supporting staff/volunteers to gain professional qualifications
• Working towards relevant benchmarks (e.g. Disability and Carer Confident) to ensure we provide an accessible and healthy workplace for carers and people with disabilities
• Supporting young people with SEND into work by providing specialist careers advice and guidance alongside volunteering, internship and kickstarter opportunities
• Paying all staff at least the living wage
• Supporting the Brighton & Hove and East Sussex economies by buying local, choosing suppliers close to the point of service delivery and maintaining ethical standards both in the purchasing and delivery of services.

Social

• Supporting the health, wellbeing, social inclusion and resilience of parent carers and YP with SEND through a range of services including health campaigns, early intervention/prevention work, disability benefits support, young person and parent carer social groups and physical activity and healthy eating initiatives
• Contributing to the inclusion agendas in East Sussex & Brighton and Hove, ensuring children and young people with SEND and parent carers are involved in shaping local services and helping us and other organisations to reduce barriers to accessing services for less well served communities
• Building the capacity of smaller voluntary and community groups through partnership working and financial support, and enhancing their SEND offer to improve outcomes for children and young people with SEND and their families.

Environmental

Reducing our impact on the environment in line with our Environmental/ Sustainability Policy, with identified tasks listed in our Environmental Action Plan e.g. reducing our use of paper and printing; using second hand, or donated, equipment and other supplies, or purchasing these locally wherever possible to reduce transportation miles; donating unwanted office furniture or equipment to reduce the amount of landfill waste; only buying recycled stationary that uses bio-degradable packaging; ensuring our printer cartridges are recycled, or refilled if possible.

• Undergoing an external audit of our current practice as part of being ‘Green Small Business Certified,’ which recognises our efforts and commitment to improving our environmental impact and achieving net zero by 2050.
• Working with our landlords in Brighton and Hove and Eastbourne to ensure they: select energy providers who use more sustainable energy sources; improve the insulation of our office buildings; introduce LED lighting; re-introduce food waste collection bins; insist the cleaning company switch to eco cleaning products.