Where impact
takes flight.
Social value isn't bolted on — it's engineered into how we deliver. Buyers shouldn't have to choose between technical capability and procurement-grade social value. Our operating model is built so that one produces the other.
Unlocking potential.
Unleashing innovation.
A different
operating model.
Sky Based Specialists Ltd is a Profit for Purpose company: commercially run and self-sustaining, with purpose engineered into the operating model rather than bolted on. Profit is the means; measurable social impact is part of the mission.
Most suppliers treat social value as a procurement-response activity: a question to answer in a tender, a percentage to commit to, a number to report at year-end. The work that actually produces it sits separate from the commercial delivery — and is the first thing cut when margins compress.
Sky Based Specialists takes the opposite position. The workforce model is part of the engineering. The people who plan flights, process capture data and build digital twins are part of a pathway into high-growth aerial & geospatial careers — and the commercial projects are the on-the-job environment that pathway runs through.
The result is that buying technical services from us automatically produces evidenced social value. You're not paying for an addendum. You're paying for a delivery model.
What we won't do —
and why it matters.
Our model is defined as much by what we don't do as by what we do. These are the lines we hold.
No charity framing.
We are a commercial supplier. The people on our team are technicians, operators and analysts — not beneficiaries. We will not let buyer reporting be built on language that frames our colleagues as recipients of help. The work is the help.
No inflated metrics.
Every social value number we deliver is auditable: who, when, what role, for how long, against which framework calculation. We would rather report a smaller number you can defend than a bigger one you can't.
No bolt-on volunteering.
Half a day painting a community centre is not how our model produces value. Embedded technical training, sustained employment, and demonstrable career progression are. We measure those.
No procurement separation.
Buyers should not have to procure social value separately from the technical service. If our commercial delivery does not also produce evidence for your reports, we have built the wrong supplier model.
Procurement-ready
evidence.
Every project produces a per-engagement social value pack — aligned to UK Social Value frameworks and PPN 06/20 procurement requirements, sized to your award, and traceable to the underlying records.
Employment
Hours, FTEs and roles delivered through the SBS workforce pathway, attributable to the project.
Skills & training
Accredited training delivered, technical competencies developed and qualifications progressed.
Pathway progression
Movement from entry roles into qualified technical positions — evidenced over time.
Local spend
Where engagements run, we capture local spend, supply-chain origin and travel reduction.
Carbon
Project-level emissions, displaced site activity, and journey-reduction figures where relevant.
Reporting alignment
Aligned to UK Social Value frameworks and PPN 06/20 procurement requirements, with auditable references, ready for client procurement and ESG reports.
How it lands
in your report.
Each engagement closes with a Social Value Evidence Pack: an auditable PDF that aligns the work we did to UK Social Value frameworks and PPN 06/20 procurement requirements. Quantitative figures sit alongside the underlying records — timesheets, training certifications, payroll references — redacted as appropriate.
You receive
- A per-project headline figure aligned to UK Social Value frameworks and PPN 06/20 procurement requirements
- Disaggregated metrics: hours, FTEs, training, qualifications, local spend
- Method statement explaining the calculation
- References to the underlying records, retained for audit