LSC
Firefly Online
PO Box 11248
Grantham
NG31 0NB
T: 0800 197 6958
E: support@localsupplychain.co.uk
Contact us
Guides
Supplier Registration Guidance How to join the SPP at LSC.
Create Users Guidance How to add new users to your account.
Navigation Guidance A complete guide to the SPP navigation.
Appraisal Guidance How to complete an appraisal assessment.
Supplier Categorisation Guidance Overview of the SPP criteria.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
- What is The Social Partnership Portal? The Social Partnership Portal is an online portal to bring social suppliers and buyers together and maximise social value within construction projects across the industry.
- Am I a buyer or a supplier? Buyers are organisations wanting to source and engage suppliers with a social or environmental purpose for their construction projects. Suppliers are organisations with a social or environmental purpose seeking to connect with buyers and work with them on their construction projects.
- Who is involved with The Social Partnership Portal? The Social Partnership Portal was procured by SCAPE who remain actively present in the portal’s future direction. Powered and developed by Local Supply Chain ensuring our buyers can source socially focussed suppliers. The portal has over 25 founding members proactively supporting this new initiative including Wates who played a critical part in the procurement process.
- Who can join The Social Partnership Portal? The Social Partnership Portal works with all tiers of the supply chain and welcomes buyers and socially focused suppliers across the UK to join the platform.
- What is the benefit to social suppliers? The portal is free to use for suppliers and supports social suppliers to showcase their skills to potential buyers simply and easily. By joining the platform, you will be visible to all buyers on the portal increasing your visibility across the industry.
- What is the benefit to buyers? The portal is aligned to National procurement best practices and supports buyers to achieve their social value and sustainability targets by connecting you with local and national socially focused organisations. By joining the portal and collaborating with other buyers you will benefit from increased buyer confidence and a streamlined process to procure social suppliers.
- How many social suppliers will be featured on the platform? We currently have over 500 suppliers on the portal with our aim to become the go-to platform for social procurement. The platform is open to suppliers throughout the UK to join the platform and connect with buyers across the industry.
- What is the difference between Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum status? There are different interpretations for what defines a social enterprise. To make sure we are supporting organisations that are at the early stages of their social value journey, whilst also recognising businesses that already meet criteria to be defined as a social enterprise, we have created categories from bronze through to platinum. An organisation's status will depend on a variety of factors, including grant-based income and the percentage of profit reinvested in social or environmental causes.
- What information will be featured on a social supplier profile? As well general information, such as contact details and size of business, each organisation is encouraged to provide as much detail as possible on their profile to showcase their credentials and maximise opportunities for winning new work in the construction sector. This includes outlining their social and environmental purpose, as well as encouraging businesses to be transparent about how they operate, and how they measure and report their social impact.
- What do you do with my data? Data will be seen across the industry by buyers' part of The Social Partnership Portal. Data cannot be viewed by other suppliers on the portal. You may be contacted by a buyer, SCAPE, or LSC outside of the portal with the ability to opt-out of further communications.