23rd November 2010
Social Firms UK releases its first 10-year independent impact review
Government cuts and more jobs under threat? Social Firms UK has a history of rising to the challenge.
A recent review by the New Economics Foundation (nef) said there is “a remarkable story” of how Social Firms UK has been able to maintain a strategic view of how it wants to create change in the world whilst constantly striving to meet its members’ needs. Social Firms UK’s vision is that everyone has the opportunity to be employed and its main purpose is to support meaningful job creation in market-led social enterprises for people that most employers wouldn’t consider taking on. The review concluded that since many Social Firms are small and do business locally there is a need for an umbrella body like Social Firms UK to bring them together and represent a unified voice that can make a ‘noise’ on a national scale.
On its 10th anniversary Social Firms UK commissioned nef consulting to review the impact of the organisation’s work, looking back over the last decade to see the added value their work has had. This can be hard for umbrella bodies to do because they’re always one step removed from the frontline. But despite its size, making a difference has always been part of Social Firms UK’s ethos and the review shows it can “punch well above its weight”. This is especially pertinent at a time when some are questioning the role and value of support bodies. As part of its work, nef has also produced some guidelines on how other intermediary agencies can set about measuring the social return they offer to their investors and this is being shared freely as an annex to the review.
The review demonstrated ‘how vital a role Social Firms UK as an intermediary support organisation plays in the development and manifestation of a sector that has the power to affect the fabric of society’.
4 significant areas of impact were highlighted as completing a virtuous circle:
1. Increased awareness of the Social Firm model: that severely disadvantaged workers can deliver quality products and services whilst promoting an ethical supply chain
2. Sector growth: creating more jobs and saving money for both the Treasury and the NHS
3. Increased business for Social Firms: resulting in more secure employment
4. Transforming the lives of individuals: creating social change as stigma dissolves
The report commented that ‘Social Firms UK’s great strength is therefore in its ability to mobilise people with knowledge, expertise and experience in the sector and thereby demonstrate how to combine economic and social benefits within a sound business model’.
Drawing on the principles and practice of social return on investment (SROI), the review explored some of Social Firms UK’s key initiatives in order to quantify the impact that the support organisation has made over the past 10 years. It concluded that the story of why the support, policy and advocacy work of Social Firms UK is valuable is linked closely to the way a Social Firm creates benefits for people and society. Social Firms UK’s key work has included:
· Its role in the development of the national Social Enterprise Coalition
· Ongoing advice, advocacy and support to individual Social Firms
· Achieving agreement across the sector to a core set of shared values based on Enterprise , Employment and Empowerment and drawing up and promoting the Values-Based Checklist that shows clearly what every Social Firm is all about
· Research into the growing size and composition of the Social Firm sector
· Showing how the Social Firm model can benefit a wide range of people have a disability or who face other major barriers in the labour market
· Becoming one of the Government’s strategic partners, raising awareness of the sector and lobbying for its needs at the highest level.
The report is available from Social Firms UK ’s website as a PDF (www.socialfirmsuk.co.uk) or on request in hard copy format. Contact Social Firms UK on tel. 01737 231360 or email info@socialfirmsuk.co.uk
Notes to Editors
1 Social Firms UK is the national support agency for this particular type of social enterprise that is committed to employing people at greatest disadvantage in the labour market. It has more than 300 members who are either Social Firms themselves or organisations/individuals with an interest in the Social Firm sector.
2 At least 25% of every Social Firm’s employees are people who are generally rejected by other companies because, for example, they have a learning disability, mental health problem, a prison record or a history of homelessness or drug or alcohol misuse.
3 Every Social Firm is a market-led company that generates at least 50% of its income through trade and reinvests its profits to create more jobs. Social Firms operate in a wide range of commercial sectors including retail; manufacture; printing; catering; recycling; horticulture and grounds maintenance. Since 1999 the number of Social Firms has increased from 5 to over 180 and collectively they now employ over 2000 people, 51% of whom face major labour market disadvantage.
4 Social Firms UK has estimated that the sector helps to save over £40m a year in welfare benefits and around £8m in health care costs.
5 For further information see www.socialfirmsuk.co.uk
Kind Regards
Temi Odesanya
Marketing Assistant
T: +44 (0)1737 231363
E: todesanya@socialfirmsuk.co.uk
W: socialfirmsuk.co.uk
Social Firms seek to create good quality jobs for severely disadvantaged people within supportive and successful enterprises
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Social Firms UK registered as a charity in Scotland No. SC030949. Company limited by guarantee registered in Scotland No. 214915.
Registered office: c/o Social Firms Scotland, 54 Manor Place , Edinburgh EH3 7EH
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