Social Value and Community Investment

As a provider of social housing it is our mission to look after our homes and neighbourhoods, and we expect the companies we work with to do the same.

We do this through our Community Investment and Social Value work. With the support of our contractors, and through our own funding, this programme delivers community activities, initiatives and programmes that tackle inequality and improve the wellbeing of residents and local communities.

Community Investment explained

Put simply, Community Investment is about the time, funding and support we invest into helping residents and neighbourhoods thrive, beyond providing homes alone.

We’ve asked residents exactly what areas they’d like us to focus on, and based on their feedback we’ve set these six priority themes for our work:

Mental health
Social inclusion & loneliness
Feeling safer in the community
Activities for young people
Improving community spaces
Connecting and involving communities where they live

You can find out more about our current projects Community Investment Projects - Town & Country Housing. And if you’ve got an idea for your community, we’d love to hear from you. You can get in touch by emailing the CISV team via info@tch.org.uk

Social Value explained

The companies we work with support us in our Community Investment work by providing Social Value through their contracts with us.

Social value can include volunteering time and skills (for example, painting and decorating or running skills workshops), donating essential items such as furniture, or helping to create community spaces like gardens for residents to enjoy.

We’ve also asked residents what type of social value they want suppliers to provide. In order of popularity, these are:

Offer jobs, apprenticeships and work experience
Donate items to residents and charities (e.g. digital equipment)
Offer training and workshops
Volunteer their time to help with projects or local charities where residents live
Support young people (school visits and careers fairs)
Donate money to local charities or for community activities

We match offers of support from companies to local communities’ needs through the Match My Project website.

Match my Project

We work with many contractors and suppliers who help us to look after our homes and communities – from gas servicing and safety checks to catering in our Later Living communities and maintenance of communal spaces across our estates.

As well as providing services for residents, all of the companies we work with are required to provide Social Value support.

We match their offer of support with resident community needs through the Match My Project website.

Check out the links below to find out more about Match My Project.

Residents and community groups

Match My Project provides a platform for business and community to come together and improve their local area. It matches the resources of business with the local know-how of community organisations to get things done.

As a community organisation, you can use the site to upload your projects and accept help from businesses offering to support you.

How can I register for Match My Project?

Visit Match my project and click ‘Sign Up’.

What community organisations are eligible to apply?

We’ll consider each request on a case-by-case basis. To be approved, community organisations must be supporting communities where TCH manage homes. Essentials we also ask organisations to consider and/or include are:

The legal name of the organisation and contact details of one person from the organisation.
A bank account with a registered UK bank (if asking for funding)
The organisation needs to be a formally constituted community organisation, a registered charity, not-for-profit company, statutory body, school or community benefit society.
The project should include the community it aims to benefit from the start, from the design, the development, through to delivery of the activities planned.

What support can a community organisation expect by using Match My Project?

Non-profit community organisations and TCH teams representing residents can request support for projects that meet Town & Country Housing’s priorities. The support you can access may include volunteer time, materials and equipment, labour, professional services or advice, and financial donations.

How do you decide which projects will receive support?

Each request will be considered on a case-by-case basis and will be scored by the Community Investment and Social Value Team, using the Match My Project Priority Scoring Guide.

Contractors and suppliers

As a business, you can use the site to find community projects that need the kind of resources you can provide, and offer to support them.

If you are a supplier to Town & Country Housing, the projects you deliver via Match My Project will help demonstrate how you have delivered Social Value in the local area.

How can I register for Match My Project?

Visit Match my project and click ‘Sign Up’.

What Social Value offers can a business or supplier post on Match My Project?

Whether or not you have a contract with Town & Country Housing, businesses can find trusted community projects to help, by using your expertise and resources to create impact where it’s needed most. We invite you to register and connect with local community organisations, sharing any opportunities such as volunteering time, labour, materials or equipment, professional services or advice, as well as employment and training opportunities.

It is an expectation that all existing and future contracts across the business will offer social value through Match My Project that:

will have meaningful impact for our resident communities
will reflect our strategic and social value priorities
has been agreed as appropriate and proportionate to the total value of the contract.

Businesses who already have contractual social value commitments with Town & Country Housing should post each commitment as an offer on Match My Project. Community project requests on Match My Project may fulfil part of a wider social value offer from suppliers. For larger social value projects, we expect suppliers to collaborate with TCH through social value frameworks developed and agreed as part of the procurement process. Once agreed, framework commitments can be posted onto Match My Project.

It is also possible for suppliers not currently in contract with TCH to register on our platform and offer social value to our resident communities, should they wish to do so.

Jobs and Careers

The companies we work with have a range of job and careers that our residents could apply for. You can find out more here: Contractors' Current Vacancies - Town & Country Housing

Find out more

Across our communities, we’re proud to support local projects that bring people together, offer practical help and create opportunities to connect. Whether you’re looking to meet new people, try something new or access support, there are some great initiatives you can get involved in.

Or if you have any further questions, please email info@tch.org.uk.