Blogs

• What do we want? Fair tax. When do we want it? Now, please.

  Posted on April 18, 2012 by Peter Holbrook

   

  As I prepare for my trip to China and New Zealand with the British Council to meet the business and social enterprise community sectors there, plus a week’s holiday to Australia to see family, I’m reflecting on an interesting few weeks here in the UK.  The launch of Big Society Capital has been overshadowed in the media by those lobbying the government to do a U-turn on their proposal to cap tax relief on charitable donations.  Quite rightly the story is just running and running, charities rely heavily on major donors and any action that may dissuade those with stacks of cash from giving it away was always going to be met with weighty opposition. I wonder what the government will have decided by the time I return from my travels.  Will the Treasury give in to the pressure?  Will DC put pressure on Osborne to do something, anything, just to stop the mounting criticism?  This certainly isn’t about the coalition making tough decisions in difficult times.  Instead it looks like the government departments aren’t talking to one another and are now airing their confused laundry in public.  Oops.  This is a shame because the launch of Big Society Capital was a real win.  Social investment was put on the global map, right here in the UK.

  The challenge that lies before us is to grow the social investment market, that is worth £160m a year.  The injection of £600m from Big Society Capital is a welcome boost, but the next step is for the Government to put some levers in place that will attract serious investment, including ones that will speak to high net worth individuals and ordinary people wanting to invest, as an alternative to – or in addition to – donating.  Philanthropy has been around for donkey’s years and in the DNA of many countries, particularly the UK and the US.  But as Ronnie Cohen (the father of social investment according to Wikipedia) pointed out on C4 News – there’s a limit to what philanthropy can do and we need to introduce social investment into the mix.

  Charities are so reliant on a particular swathe of society that they’re vulnerable when an economic downturn hits or when the housing market slows, with those all-important legacies tied up in properties. We need more diversity in how the social economy is funded. More charities are becoming more enterprising and trading rather than relying on donations, because (A) it gives them far more control over how they choose to allocate their resources, (B) provides certainty, enabling longer-term planning (it’s horrible not being able to plan beyond 3 months wondering if the income is going to come in), and (C) reduces reliance on too few income streams and makes them more sustainable.  (How many of us who have worked in charities with serious fundraising arms have felt guilty wondering whether all the older people we need to pop their clogs would be doing it soon so we can reach legacy targets?) I joke, but the serious downside is that without those large sums, charities have to make very difficult decisions such as closing down front-line services – and those who suffer are those most in need: those with mental or physical illnesses, troubled families, people without roofs over their heads or clean drinking water.  The list goes on, and on and on.

  By no means should we replace giving with investing, but we need to keep innovating to finance the organisations making a positive difference and helping those in need.  But it’s not going to happen without policies from the treasury that will support the social investment market.  Most importantly we need fair tax treatment for social enterprises.  While traditional investors can use schemes like the Venture Capital Trust and Enterprise Investment Scheme, that raise finance by offering tax relief to investors who purchase shares in companies, social enterprises and charities can’t access these schemes because they often don’t have shareholders.  The social enterprise sector, while becoming less dependent on government funding, still is.  To make the transition to independence it needs a fully-functioning social investment market, which requires fair tax treatment.

  There is currently only one tax incentive that social enterprises can access and that is Community Investment Tax Relief (CITR).  The fact that it was introduced in 2002 and only £63 million has since been raised speaks volumes.  It just isn’t working.  CITR scheme gives 25% tax relief (income or corporation tax) to investors who invest in accredited intermediaries. But these levels of relief are lower than the equivalent schemes for traditional investors.  And social enterprises are also losing out because individuals aren’t able to receive tax relief for direct investments made in social enterprises, which is limiting direct investment from high net worth investors, as well as family and friends.

  This is unfair, which is why at Social Enterprise UK we are about to launch the ‘fair tax’ campaign (exact title not yet decided), starting with letters to the Chancellor.  You might say we’re striking while the iron’s hot.  The Treasury is, by now, probably very aware that it cannot work in isolation.  Social and economic policy making needs to come together.  More detail about the campaign – exactly what we’re going to be asking for and how people and organisations can get involved will follow soon.

  I’ll take this opportunity to say a very big thank you to everybody that we’re working with.  Our networks are growing by the day and we’re building some very special relationships.  Together we are stronger – and our voices louder.

  See you in May.

  Peter

  Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a reply

• We no longer want a level playing field for social enterprise

  Posted on January 16, 2012 by Peter Holbrook

  It seems as is if some sort of political consensus has emerged. The continued upward redistribution of wealth, perpetuated by mainstream capitalism is squeezing almost everyone; the exception is an ever smaller minority – those within the significant asset owning classes – households with generous pension pots, mortgage-free, sizeable homes or city based apartments, share holdings and investments.

  Over 40% of households fear they will not be able to afford their energy bills. Unemployed people are forced into working for Megacorp for weeks and months without any tangible return for their unpaid endeavours, let alone wages. An increasing number of housing estates across the UK are approaching depressing new heights of worklessness and those very organisations that have traditionally been expected to patch up some of our society’s worst failings are facing the brunt of public sector budget cuts and donor fatigue.

  The continued funnelling of wealth in an upward direction, with ever greater gusto, threatens the ever-more threadbare fabric of our society – something evidenced by an ever growing army of research into quality of life and citizen happiness.  Whilst many of our leaders tut loudly at the spiralling inequality within our society and call glibly for better business practices, the ideas for genuine reform are at best disappointingly modest and at worst intentionally vague.

  Even if, and its a big if, growth returns to the European and American economies anytime soon, unless we can remodel our economies and generate a form of capitalism which is incentivised to share wealth and reduce negative impact, then growth alone will not help repair the societies in which we live and equip our communities and housing estates to become prosperous, sustainable, aspirational or fair.

  The UK has attempted to ape social and economic policy originating in the US for decades, an article in today’s New York Times quoting a report published by United States Census Bureau perhaps provides an insight to our country’s future unless we take bold and radical strides to reform capitalism and the continued concentration of wealth. The report  shows that 100 Million US citizens, more than 1 in 3, are now ‘deep poor’ ‘poor’ or ‘near poor’.

  As many of us that have worked in economically challenged communities know poverty is not just about the lack of money.  As Michael Harrington (author of the landmark book The Other America) observed in 1962 “Poverty should be defined psychologically in terms of those whose place in society is such that they are internal exiles who, almost inevitably, develop attitudes of defeat and pessimism and who are therefore excluded from taking advantage of new opportunities.”

  We need to shift quickly, through tax breaks and through education and reward new radical forms of fair, responsible and wealth redistributing  capitalism, we must re- invigorate  the connection and moral responsibility our business leaders have  and insist on a better understanding of, and commitment to our society.  Incentivising a new generation of business models is not an immediate solution but tackling the trends that undermine our vision of how a civilised society can function should be the only game in town right now.

  Giving shareholders the opportunity to veto extraordinary executive pay, calling for more employee share ownership is better than nothing and is a welcome small step in our direction but neither of these measures alone will address the systematic disfunctionality built into ‘free market capitalism’. For many years, the social enterprise movement has campaigned to level the playing field so we can compete in the market place fairly with our big corporate cousins; we continue to be discriminated against by commissioning frameworks, tax incentives and access to finance. In my view a level playing field is far too under ambitious for our sector given the lessons learned during the ongoing economic crisis; If the government and opposition are really serious about reforming market based capitalism then tipping the playing field in our collective favour is the only long term solution to our social and economic woes  and offers the only hope to tackling the ever greater divisions and an ever growing gulf and detachment between rich and poor.

  Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Replies

• Chain Reactions: growing business between social enterprise and corporates

  Posted on December 22, 2011 by admin

   

  By Nick Temple, Director of Business at Social Enterprise UK

  21 December 2011

  It is social enterprise conference season, and one of the subjects du jour seems to be “how social enterprises can better engage with corporates”. I’ve sat on two panels recently that have discussed this area in all its various component parts: CSR, staff engagement, mentoring, pro-bono support, brand and reputation, and so forth. But the piece of the jigsaw of that keeps coming up again and again is supply chains.

  This rising interest reflects a convergence of a few trends.

  Firstly, social enterprises’ primary need is customers. This might sound like an obvious point, but more customers means more social impact and more profit to reinvest in their social purpose. At a time when public sector (or quasi-public sector) agencies have less to spend, businesses and the private sector are a huge and relatively untapped market. Fightback Britain, Social Enterprise UK’s most recent state of social enterprise survey found that for 37% of social enterprises, their main source of income was from the general public, with 18% naming the public sector, and only 13% the private sector.

  The second trend is the changing world of corporate (social) responsibility. In previous years, C(S)R often meant charitable work or sponsorship: digging gardens or choosing a charity of the year. Increasingly, though, forward-thinking companies are aligning their activity in this area with their core business. Organisations like IHG provide vocational and workplace training that benefits those involved and the business; Wates endeavours to put social enterprises throughout its supply chain; and PwC invests in a centre for social impact to help social enterprises now, but also because it sees that more integrated reporting is the future.

  This area of measuring social value is the third trend: whether it is being incorporated into public procurement and commissioning, into greater integrated reporting, or even financial and accounting systems, the “direction of travel” (a phrase I hate!) is clear. So companies will need to demonstrate their social and environmental impact in practical and tangible ways: changing who and how they buy is one way to achieve that rapidly…and is simpler than changing their delivery methods or launching joint ventures with social enterprises (though that may also grow).

  All of this adds up to burgeoning levels of interest, but there are key challenges ahead, many of which social enterprise shares with the SME sector (indeed, BiTC are currently undertaking an Enterprise Inquiry into how SMEs can better work with big corporates). The first challenge is one of scale: there are few social enterprises who can currently deliver at the scale necessary for big corporates: can partnerships and consortia address this, do we just wait for social enterprises to grow, or do the big companies need to break down contracts into more accessible chunks? (As well as accompanying problems of decent payment terms, finance, cash-flow etc…). Access is key more generally: awareness and ensuring opportunities are disseminated widely (you can’t win a contract you don’t know about). Big companies also shouldn’t underestimate the power they have to influence their own partners and suppliers to buy differently as well: more access, more opportunities.

  But there are equal challenges on the social enterprise side: quality needs to be not only high, but consistently so; it needs to be a case of underpromise and overdeliver (or, at least, promise accurately and deliver on what you’ve said). And intermediary organisations such as ourselves need to work better in partnership (with each other) and as an expert broker and facilitator and match-maker. Alongside the inspirational case studies that prove the concept, it is cross-sectoral work that will help level the playing field and open up such opportunities. To create (supply) chains that connect and add to what each other has, rather than tie us in knots and restrict us to current practice.

  This blog first appeared on the BIS website.

  Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged corporate responsibility, CSR, Nick Temple, Supply Chains, Wates | Leave a reply

• Going on the social enterprise journey…

  Posted on December 16, 2011 by admin

  By Penny Keith

  When I joined Nottingham City Primary Care Trust as a Clinical Nurse Specialist for Long Term Conditions in September 2009, there were mumblings about transforming community services.  Like many others I buried my head in the sand and thought it would go away.  But in early 2010 the staff events began and it became clear that the aim to transform was not going away, and would impact dramatically on the whole organisation.

  Before I had joined, staff had taken a vote to become a Foundation Trust, but this had not been approved and so we were to be put in the market place for the highest bidder.

  I learned that another choice had been to become a social enterprise. So I read about social enterprises and looked at those that had become really successful, including the Big Issue, Divine Chocolate and many others that were health based.  I spoke to colleagues about my concerns of being in the market place and being sold off – to me that did not seem empowering or proactive, but more like sitting back and waiting.  Sufficient other people seemed to share this view and so at the following staff event I asked why we had not explored the option of becoming a social enterprise.

  The Chief Operating Officer took a show of hands there and then, to gauge what the staff felt and the response was overwhelmingly supportive.  This was the beginning of our right to request journey to become a social enterprise. Yes, there were concerns among some staff about becoming a social enterprise.  People were worried about how such a change would affect the care they gave, and what moving out of the NHS would mean for their own working terms and conditions.  We had several meetings at which senior managers met with staff and gave presentations on what was happening, and allowed questions to be voiced.  We needed other members of staff – and not just those in senior positions – to continue this dialogue, and so we formed a “champions” group made up of people who thought social enterprise was a good idea and were prepared to share their thinking with other staff they came into contact with on a daily basis.  This worked well and so a Staff Working Group was born and it was suggested that a similar group should be formed for the new organisation if we became a social enterprise.

  We were able to allay some of the staff fears, reassuring them that our patients would still receive the same care that we were able to give then, that our terms and conditions would be transferred to the new organisation, and that we would continue to do NHS work.

  We were successful and became a social enterprise – Nottingham CityCare Partnership CIC – on 1st April 2011.  Some members of staff don’t feel that very much has changed, but for others there is a feeling that we can do things differently.  We have tendered for other services and won them; we have strengthened links with our local football teams; we have made significant improvements to our workforce development and the way training is offered to staff.

  The Staff Working Group is now formed and the senior management team asked that a staff member from the group be elected onto the Board.  We are looking at ways to implement innovations and represent staff views by having regular drop-ins, weekly “Cascade” email updates, a “Bright Ideas” section on our intranet for staff to post their suggestions and views, as well as monthly events.  We’ve had an information morning for staff, to update them on what has been happening and provide an opportunity to speak with more senior members of staff.  And a “market place” event at the Nottingham Forest football ground where teams were able to set up a stall advertising their service.  The aim was to encourage the teams, community and voluntary organisations to network and explore how they could work more closely together.

  As the Staff Board Representative I’ve had a really interesting few months attending board meetings and presenting papers (something I’ve never personally done before).  The group works hard to encourage communication up to the board from staff and back down again.  I’ve also been attending national conferences and presenting, telling the story of what it’s like to work in a social enterprise.

  Being on the social enterprise journey has its challenges and surprises, but overall it’s exciting and fulfilling.  It really feels like we’re listening to staff and being inclusive.  We continue to strive to provide the best care for our patients

  Nottingham City Primary Care Trust is a Social Enterprise UK member.

  If you work in the public sector and are thinking about setting up a mutual or social enterprise, read The Right to Run – a free, practical guide to help you decide if social enterprise is the right model for you.

  Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged big issue, divine chocolate, right to run, social enterprise, social enterprise UK, spin outs | Leave a reply

• The social investment steam train is now unstoppable

  Posted on November 16, 2011 by Peter Holbrook

  Autumn is always a crazy time, every year the summer lulls you into a false sense that you’re finally getting a grip on the whole work-life balance thing and then it happens; families with kids return from their summer holidays en masse and the diary begins to choke once more. I could mark out a marathon route with the number of emails flagged for action that are all desperately screaming out for attention (sincere apologies if you’re one of those awaiting a response). I’ve also been racking up the train miles in the past few weeks. My destinations have included Manchester, where I attended the Locality convention, Derby, for the Social Enterprise East Midlands AGM, and Bath, where I was a guest at the launch of Sirona CIC – a new Right to Request spinout. I’ve also visited Birmingham to visit the SEWM team and Liverpool to help develop the concept of Social Enterprise Towns and Cities being pioneered by one of our members, Social Enterprise Solutions CIC.

  The rest of the team has been equally busy getting out and about; Social Enterprise UK has itself hosted 15 events in the past few weeks on massive range of subjects. It’s been great for our team to have met so many new members at those events, as well as old friends, and terrific that you’ve been networking and getting to know one another. The event we hosted last week on social investment went down a storm – the feedback is that it was practical and feisty, and included an inspiring look at social investment from the social entrepreneur’s viewpoint. The team won’t stop raving about Steve Welsh at H2Ope, who spoke on the day. It’s also been great to have Nick Temple finally join us as a director. I had a strong suspicion news of his arrival would be well received by the sector. Nick is going to be a fab compliment to our existing team. It’s as if (abstract analogy warning) Benjamin has finally been reunited with the Waltons.

  We know social investment is a knotty area, but it’s so important. We’re the Government’s strategic lead on the topic and it seems every second or third enquiry we receive at the office is focussed on this issue. The social investment sector is powering up and opportunities to invest are growing. I’m delighted that we’re responsible for bringing the movement together on this subject – we have waxed lyrical about the limitations of being an undercapitalised sector and now it seems the capital is beginning to flow… all floods begin with a trickle and we could well be on the verge of something quite historic. Consumer awareness of ‘you are what you buy’ saw substantive growth in organic, free range, fair-trade and eco products. ‘You are what you invest in’ is possibly the next big prize. But are we ready to grab it?

  A possible sticky issue might be that the social enterprise sector isn’t quite ready for the billions that could be available as the trickle gains volume and pace. I even have some concerns that the £600m set to be made available through Big Society Capital might struggle to find a home outside of existing, large establishment organisations. It’s important that we recognise and put effort into helping the whole sector become more business ready in order that they can become investment ready. It’s for us (the sector) to ensure social enterprise has every possible opportunity to meet this challenge. When I ran a social enterprise, almost from day one I considered my business to be investment ready – I had too much hubris in myself and my team and like most social entrepreneurs, never ever considered we could fail. I was stunned when I was knocked back for a modest overdraft by our bank – after all I’d had the deputy prime minister visit and say magnificent things about what we were doing and won some awards to boot. It took a fair bit of learning and introspection to recognise that whilst our outcomes were second to none and life changing for our community, that our financial systems were wobbly; our processes thin on the ground and our profits looked meagre as we busily met need by continually extending our reach with every £1 we earned. It took hard work and tough learning before we could take our slice of the social investment we needed to further catalyse our growth.

  The learning we went through was massively beneficial and brought, in hindsight, much more business discipline to our mission. I fully expect that interest from social entrepreneurs and social enterprises will be vast; after all nearly everybody I meet considers themselves to be investable. I expect many will be indignant when their requests for social investment are declined or when social investors insist on operational changes to the way investees conduct their businesses. Smaller social enterprises and start ups need to gear up and understand what it means to be investment ready rather than simply ambitious and inspiring. The sector, government and investors need to prepare for the fact that serious support is required, particularly at the smaller but often most inspiring end of the sector. The good news is when you stimulate supply, you stimulate demand and I expect the sector will rise to the challenge and over time I have every faith that we’ll get there. And I wouldn’t be surprised if ‘ordinary’ entrepreneurs, who might not have considered setting up specifically a social enterprise, move into our world, tempted by the capital and converted by a little bit of learning. It might yet prove to be another opportunity to introduce new audiences to our way – the social enterprise way – of doing business.
  Other challenges I discussed with the rest of the board at the Big Society Trust recently (overseeing the work of Big Society Capital), is the need for an interface in which social ventures can find out about and compare who is offering what in the burgeoning world of social investment – an equivalent of comparethemarket.com – now that will really get the ball rolling. How, as a social enterprise, you currently match your needs with the appropriate investor offer is already a daunting task with new forms of social investment appearing ever more frequently on the horizon. A market place is essential and something that we’re looking into here at SEUK.

  A place where investors and investees will have the opportunity to meet will be at The Social Enterprise Exchange. Many of you will have seen by now that Social Enterprise UK is joining forces with Social Enterprise Scotland – bringing together Voice and the S2S Fair. Go online and book before the end of December to bag heavily discounted early bird tickets. I’m looking forward to seeing you en masse in Glasgow. Scotland is a good place to be if you’re running a social enterprise right now. Southerners you’ll need to remember your thermals and phrase books.

  I’m really looking forward to Social Enterprise Day (17 November) – it sounds like lots of activity is happening around the country. On behalf of the SEUK team, thank you for all the invitations and we’re so sorry that we can’t be with you all. It’s really fantastic that over 60 organisations have signed up in support of the Society Profits campaign, including Divine Chocolate, The Big Life Group, RSA, Young Foundation, Big Society Network, BiTC, Social Investment Business, Triodos Bank and UnLtd. If you haven’t signed up, do it now and remember to tweet with #societyprofits. Oh and one last thing – Chris White’s social value bill has its third reading on Friday 25 November. Pick up the phone, hassle your MP’s with emails and letters (template on the website) and let’s make sure we have at least 40 supportive MPs in the chamber on the day.

  Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Big Society Capital, Chris White MP, Public Services Bill, social enterprise, social enterprise day, Social ENterprise Exchange | Leave a reply

• An Englishman’s home…

  Posted on November 7, 2011 by Morethanprofitman

  Thank God I’m not involved in RSLs. I admire RSLs (Registered Social Landlords) but I could not stand the interference they have to put up with. This comes from politicians, Councils, the Housing Regulator, OSCR, funders and Uncle Tom Cobley and all. No wonder male pattern baldness is endemic amongst their leadership.

  I heard on Radio Scotland that the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman Annual Report highlighted the deficiencies of public bodies (inc RSLs) re their complaints procedures. Since when was a Housing Association a public body thought I.

  Granted, they provide vital public services and they operate in a highly regulated environment etc but why are they deemed to be public and operating under the auspices of the SPSO? Does a private company e.g. SERCO providing public services for Councils have to meet these criteria too and if not why not? Check out what SERCO say about working with councils at this site and note the reference to large scale investment (£220M) by them and their Audit Commission citation as “best practice partners”:

  http://www.serco.com/markets/localgov/envandhousing/Index.asp

  Is the treatment of social enterprises indicative then of the nature of Social Economy/Enterprise – Public Partnerships where junior partners (us) get what the senior partner (the State) allows us to have? However, in a Private – Public Partnership are power and control constructed entirely differently because the State does not even consider it has the right to interfere in the inner workings of a private and independent business?

  Reflecting on this, my view is that of all our social enterprises, RSLs are best placed to make positive structural changes in our communities. They have the scale, management ability and resources that most other social enterprises can only dream about. Unfortunately they are constrained by the State from being truly entrepreneurial. Private sector companies in Partnerships with the State don’t have artificial constraints placed on them preventing them from running their businesses as they see fit especially if other business opportunities arise so why does it happen to social enterprises?

  Here is the problem. State folk don’t understand social enterprises or markets and don’t like dealing with risk and reward in a social enterprise context. However, if it is the private sector they are dealing with, they fall over – Trams anyone? So, they assume their role is to manage the entrepreneurial actions of social enterprises and RSLs. Perhaps they don’t trust them to act responsibly without Big Brother looking over their shoulder.

  Take this example; RSLs are subject to EU procurement rules. Why? This is stupid. They are not State bodies and they need to be free from all the bureaucracy that that implies. Only then can these social entrepreneurs deliver what we all want; successful communities. RSLs if freed from artificial barriers to social entrepreneurship could achieve so much more.

  In proscribing the activities of RSLs, the State continues to work against what it says it wants; successful communities. This is because it can’t let go. Imagine all those politicians and bureaucrats unable to interfere in every aspect of housing and regeneration matters – what would they all do instead?

  This is not to say that housing does not need a National Strategy, Management Standards and fairness at the heart of its provision – take allocation for example. The Housing Regulator could ensure all this on behalf of Parliament with all our support and best wishes.

  Equally, if you take the public pound you would expect to meet certain operating criteria contained in the partnership/contract – but that should not include being told how to run your own business in other spheres. What RSLs don’t need are barriers to their entrepreneurial endeavour because they have been wrongly categorised as more public than other social enterprises and not as private/independent as commercial businesses.

  So let me repeat myself. “Social enterprises are independent from the State full stop. They can work in partnership with the State full stop. They can make profits full stop. They can refuse to work with anyone including the State full stop. Their mission is their own business full stop”.

  I’ll leave you all with a wee scurrilous idea. If you want to be an unregistered social landlord set your business up as a private business and just do it in the most ethical way you can, raise capital and build your business by reinvesting your profits. Become a landlord, employer and community member “of note “. Take independent control of the word “social” as applied to how you go about the business of running your housing/regeneration business.

  You definitely won’t meet any social enterprise structures and governance criteria but you might achieve more “good” than if you were operating with one hand tied behind your back – because the State thinks of you as a public body and that you can be told what to do, what not to do and how to do “it”. After all if huge global private businesses like SERCO can hoover up State business without interference, why can’t the rest of us?

  Morethanprofitman

  NOTE: This blog does not necessarily reflect the views of the Scottish Social Enterprise Coalition or endorse any political position.

  Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Registered Social Landlords, Scottish Public Services Ombudsman. Audit Commission, SERCO, social enterprise | Leave a reply

• Chapelton of Elsick

  Posted on October 17, 2011 by Morethanprofitman

  The good folk of Aberdeenshire are supporting a 9000 home new town development on land owned by the Duke of Fife (Lord Southesk) near Newtonhill. Good for them.

  My reaction is not the usual one about housing standards, the environment, retail space, sustainability etc but one of who will get to live there and what sort of place it is intended to become. Hopefully not just an executive commuter satellite to Aberdeen.

  Can I suggest that the Coalition invite his Lordship’s son, David Southesk, to make a wee presentation to members about his vision for the place etc? Over lunch, our leadership could ask him if he has considered the benefits of social entrepreneurs developing a sense of community amongst his new residents. For example, I imagine he has not thought about having a Development Trust involved in the development of this new community – but I could be wrong. DTAS can keep me/us right.

  However, let’s face it, once the developers have gone and the houses and gardens have bedded in, what will the folk there do with and to each other? I’d like to think that there are at least 10 social enterprise opportunities for any spanking new community – answers on a postcard please.

  Apart from its rural location and access to the A90, a big bit of empty farmland must give some of us a few ideas and I for one would be delighted to see this new community throw up some award winning and highly innovative social enterprises. Compare and contrast this with “The Donald’s” development up the road.

  Maybe its time our leadership and staff got up there to chat with a few folk. Personally, I’d ask the locals if they were interested in putting the place on the map by doing something genuinely innovative, entrepreneurial and world class. I’d take our best social entrepreneurs on a meet and greet visit and who knows, perhaps in time Chapelton of Elsick will become a new “New Lanark”. After all, we all like to talk about that as a Scottish example of genius but “fair’s fair” Owen was after all a Welshman. We need the Doric speakers to do us proud.

  Morethanprofitman

  NOTE: This blog does not necessarily reflect the views of the Scottish Social Enterprise Coalition or endorse any political position.

  Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a reply

• A rightly impatient public wants no more business as usual

  Posted on October 17, 2011 by Peter Holbrook

  Andrew Lansley was continually challenged by a frequently angry audience during last week’s Question Time debate. The Health and Social Care Bill has been pushed through at break neck speed. I sense a genuine fear of what looks like an increasingly inevitable outcome – a similar experience to that of the DWP’s Work Programme; great promises of a meaningful and modernizing role for the third sector but a reality where a small number of big businesses dominate. After all they are well capitalised, capable of achieving huge economies of scale, too big to fail, and they will of course deliver the efficiencies we all so desire and desperately need. After all, it did work with the energy sector, bus and rail de-regulation didn’t it? No.

  Excessive profiteering, as we have seen in all of these areas, occurs when there are too few competitors, not when there are too many. Unfortunately Whitehall often has a very short memory.

  A revolution in commissioning was promised by the last government, as it is by the current. Waiting for a great leap forwards in commissioning is likely to be the equivalent of waiting for a gentle and delicate Wayne Rooney to emerge out of the tunnel at Old Trafford. Chris White’s Bill could play an important role in evolving commissioning but it won’t create the revolution we need all by itself. Strong US style anti-trust laws might help protect against the natural yet damaging monopolies that form when policy and commissioning favours only big business.

  What’s more likely to have an impact is the sort of collapse of faith in big business ethics by consumers and more importantly voters that the protests across the world over the weekend suggest is beginning to emerge. Before last Thursday’s Question Time debate got going there was a fascinating story about the 99% campaign camps set up in US towns and cities. From humble beginnings and a simple gathering on Wall Street, the movement has spread rapidly and appears to be developing rapidly across the UK too. The protesters call it a movement rather than a protest and are calling for a conversation on rampaging social and financial inequality. The campaign is centred on business ethics; excessive profiteering by global companies, business being bailed out by tax payers, avoidance of tax, over-exploitation of our natural resources and our communities.

  It’s perhaps captured an underlying public mood – one that is growing, particularly in the developed world. Business has to change the way it operates; the siphoning off of ever-greater profits to a small, exclusive, globally-mobile elite must stop. The protestors argue that governments around the world have been far too complicit in enabling this globalized business culture to grow unchallenged. Now you’ll know from my last blog that I’m in favour of working with corporate partners where a meaningful relationship can be developed but the opportunity to co produce with value-driven businesses tends to be a growing yet still marginal opportunity rather than the norm – particularly within the foggy world of international capital and trading markets.

  I’m currently travelling back from a meeting with PM training in Stoke on Trent. They work with around 1000 people each year providing training and high quality apprenticeships. I’ve blogged about them before. They’ve grown from a £2m to a £7m business in a short while. Last year 95% of their trainees (most of whom have faced multiple challenges in their early lives) completed their courses and, most importantly, secured work. It’s an inspiring organisation that continues to buy up private businesses and convert them into social enterprises. They have 42 homework teams providing garden and home maintenance to 5000 households of elderly and disabled people each year. They show exactly what can be done by socially-driven local businesses. In terms of outcomes they are capable of completely outperforming any big corporate and yet they are excluded from a range of government procurement opportunities because of their modest size or because the business case for them acting as sub-contractor-to-prime just doesn’t stack up. A report in the Mail on Sunday shown to me by Will, PM’s Chief Exec exposed how the apprenticeship programme is simply using taxpayers’ cash to provide existing staff within the big supermarkets with training labelled as adult apprenticeships rather than creating new jobs and training opportunities. It said that Asda alone has 25000 taxpayer-supported adult apprenticeships on the go, and not a single new job created as a result. Can’t the big supermarkets afford the cost of their own staff training? Wouldn’t it be better value to invest in the like of PM Training to expand their excellent work – safe in the knowledge that any profit they generate from public money would get reinvested into local communities, job creation and growth?

  Is it any wonder people are angry on Question Time and taking to the streets in cities across the world?

  Things aren’t changing fast enough and without much more ambitious thinking we know we will end up with more business-as-usual. The localism agenda needs to get a whole lot more radical. Collectively social enterprises must engage with the public and explain that they are part of the economic solution our world and our communities desperately need. Our new ‘Society Profits’ campaign aims to enable social enterprises and their supporters across the UK to do just that. Join our campaign, spread the word and show the angry and frustrated citizens around the world that a new, fairer economy can and will exist if we all collectively demand it. As you know that new economy must be built with social enterprise at its foundations.

  Peter

  Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged 99mpaign, Andrew Lansley, apprenticeships, Health and Social Care Bill, inequality, job creation, PM Training, Question Time, social enterprise, social enterprise UK, society profits, Work Programme | Leave a reply

• Apple pie and optimism

  Posted on October 7, 2011 by Peter Holbrook

  Sad news about Steve Jobs. I woke early yesterday morning to hear the news on Radio 4. He was cited as the most culturally important person of the last 30 years. The news was accompanied by a number of Jobs’ insightful quotes, but this one really stands out for me: “Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking, and don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it.”

  I’m sure there’s going to be a lot of Jobs’ quotes in the media in the coming weeks and I apologise for being quite so obvious, but I love some of what he said as much as I like the products that he was integral in developing. At age 56 it’s a sad, tragic loss.

  As Jobs knew, employee engagement and loyalty is much easier when you have clearly defined values to sell to your staff. It’s been shown to help with worker recruitment and retention, greatly increase productivity and reduce staff absenteeism. Running an organisation that bosses, staff and customers can have pride in isn’t just the right thing to do, but it’s the smart thing to do.

  Professor Michael Porter at Harvard Business School has spoken a great deal about business creating greater shared value, and he’s not the only one. Large corporates are all too aware that people are taking a keener-than-ever interest in corporate values and sustainability when choosing with who they might develop their careers. Big businesses are also facing customer cynicism, which is at an all-time high. This is partly why I believe they are keen to work with social enterprises in ever-greater numbers. Over the past 12 months we have been working more with private businesses; we’re encouraging them to open up their supply chains to social enterprise, modernise parts of their corporate responsibility strategies and adapt their businesses to a fast-changing world by becoming ever more socially enterprising. Doing the right thing is not always at odds with profit – in many cases it can enhance it – and corporates can really engage their staff by being supportive of social enterprise. For the movement it’s an important step because we’re raising awareness of social enterprise at the heart of big business.

  You may already know that PwC has invested in the Fire Station on Tooley Street, London Bridge and developed a new social enterprise hub – a base that signals their support for our sector (and will be Social Enterprise UK’s home soon). RBS Natwest has launched a new micro-credit loan fund, Microsoft’s new director of social enterprise is working very closely alongside us to maximise their sector impact and Business In The Community have launched ‘arc – Building Better Business’ a new support programme for social enterprises in London.

  Relationships between the corporate sector and social enterprise sector have never been so potentially fruitful. I understand many people are concerned that our sector might be used to ‘cleanse’ the image of tarnished business that continues to behave in greedy and selfish ways, but I genuinely believe that the tide is turning and the relationships we cultivate are assessed on the balance of net-gain for society and the sector. We have engaged the corporate ear and we must wisely use this opportunity to create the biggest and best impact for our world by challenging and changing usual business doctrines.

  Maybe it’s because we’re all in business that were beginning to build such productive relationships and understand how business needs to change. Business is getting this agenda much faster than many politicians – too many of whom see us as a peripheral, ideological and a marginal business sector. Ed Milliband was widely slated for talking about the role of good business, and how the predatory way of doing business needed to change. It seems odd that it wasn’t well received given that this is exactly the consensus that is emerging from business and economic analysts and across publications such as the Financial Times and the Harvard Business Review. Ed Miliband was a good friend to Social Enterprise in Government and he needs to give it support in opposition or risk having the socially-responsible business ground stolen by opponents.

  We kicked off the conference season with the Liberal Democrats in Birmingham; highlights included agreeing a number of potentially impactful actions with the BIS minister Ed Davey. I just hope he can encourage the rest of his department to take social enterprise as seriously as he clearly does.

  We were delighted to host our Labour Party event at Blackburne House, the social enterprise founded by my boss, and had a constructive discussion with Baroness Thornton, one of our new patrons, as well as Emily Thornbury MP, David Hanson MP and former transport minister Paul Clark about how Labour could create a clearer narrative on social justice, social enterprise and the role of good businesses in creating a fairer, more resilient economy. Themes that (surely by some coincidence) made their way into the leader’s speech later that day. I also shared a CBI platform with Helen Goodman MP and would have loved to accept her invitation to go for a dance if it wasn’t for a pre-booked train home!

  We had a great breakfast with our minister Nick Hurd at the Conservative conference. He gave his time generously and is clearly sincere in his support for our shared aspirations for the sector. We had a collective discussion about some really important issues including the Social Enterprise Bill and the future of the Work Programme. I doubt it could be a more challenging time for any OCS minister than it is right now, but Nick’s knowledge of the sector and his obvious commitment to it creates the best hope we have of getting Government to take us more seriously and deliver on their pre-election commitments.

  We also held a lively fringe meeting – thank you to our members for coming along. It was chaired by the Guardian’s Patrick Butler with John Coulthard (Microsoft’s director of social enterprise) and Richard Fuller (MP for Bedford). If you haven’t come across Richard then you should make yourself aware of him. A great orator, entertaining company and a fabulous and intelligent proponent of our sector. He gave a provocative and energetic analysis of what needs to happen to grow social enterprise: risk, more risk, planning for failure, capitalisation, innovation, localism and a revolution in commissioning. He’s an exceptional asset and one to watch.

  What of the PM’s speech? The only thing I could think was where has the Big Society gone? It featured lightly with just two mentions. I’m guessing we’ll have to wait and see what happens there. So the conference season is over and life returns to some sort of normality.

  Our conference activities are only made possible through the love and support of some of our members so thanks to P3, Sandwell CCT, HCT and Locality. Your investment on behalf of the whole sector is very much appreciated. As is the tireless work of the policy team here at Social Enterprise UK to get these meetings and events organised in the first place. A really big thank you.

  See you all soon,
  Peter

  Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a reply

• Hello Autumn

  Posted on September 6, 2011 by Peter Holbrook

  August is over, my tomato plants look tired after a long and successful summer harvest, the kids are heading back to school, the Libyan democrats have taken control of Tripoli (that’s Libyan, not Liberal, just in case you thought you’d missed something), and the evenings have begun to get depressingly shorter. I’ve even started using my lights on my cycle home.

  There are lots of things to consider in the wake of the summer‘s civil unrest and a desperate need to constructively respond to the challenges they pose and not to just simply walk on by. How we might remedy the inequality that now exists in Britain (and shows no sign of slowing – on this we’re up there with the US as the most unequal Western countries) and create opportunities and brighter futures for our young and disaffected communities, needs to be addressed. Based on requests from our membership and a fired up staff team, this is something we’ll be trying to tackle at our youth focused policy debate at the fantastic social enterprise PJ’s Community Services in Croydon on September 28th. We’ll be capturing the thoughts of young people and social enterprise leaders, and presenting their thoughts and ideas back to politicians in the coming weeks and months.

  I think there’s a risk that systemic unfairness could become accepted in Britain, and deemed impossible to change. The young have been demonised for a while now, but it seems that we’ve also started demonising the undeserving poor. Not always helped of course by the spinning activities of our politicians (I’m not talking about an exercise class here). Today, the reoffending rioters are being called a feral underclass by our justice secretary, as if that’s really going to help, and not that long ago Polly Toynbee raised the issue. A government press release detailed the top ten excuses given by ‘benefit cheats’. The real story is that fraud costs £1.6billion, just 0.7% of the benefits bill. The story was covered on BBC television news that bank holiday weekend in late May – and the stats weren’t quoted – so imagine the millions of people who were exposed to the scaremongering. It only served to play on people’s fears, pitting the mainstream against the UK’s poor, stirring up unnecessary feelings of anger and hatred, and dividing society.

  All the political parties promoted principles of fairness in their election campaigns, so what’s actually been done to try and achieve a fairer, kinder society? How far have we got?

  Job insecurity, flat lining wages, unaffordable housing, poor pension prospects, increasing crime rates – all suggesting not that far, and there’s not much in the way of policy that suggests it’s going to get any better. We need a revolution and that revolution needs to start here, within the social enterprise movement. We need to be bolder, more evangelical, we need to shout from the roof tops, phone into radio debates and be heard.

  Good on those who defended young people in the media recently. I heard a charity youth worker call into LBC radio, and my lovely Mum wrote into the Daily Mail getting a mention for social enterprise! Thank goodness for the voices of people like this who suggest ways in which we can remedy the country’s problems without wanting to dish out blame. Social enterprises have many solutions and ideas and now is no time to be reticent; we need to keep the debate alive and relevant.

  Social enterprise helps create a fair and prosperous economy. Germany has a much more plural basis for its economy; ownership is more equally shared and is richer, more resilient as a consequence. Social enterprises don’t just create wealth for their owners, but create and share wealth for others too.

  If we in the UK simply continue in our sole pursuit of growth without considering how we also tackle inequality we’ll all be worse off. Research shows that in more unequal societies it’s not just the poor who are miserable, it’s the rich too. We know that there’s no correlation between GDP and happiness.

  While on the subject of mental wellbeing, happiness was not an emotion that my friend (a lifelong Arsenal supporter) was feeling after his team’s shocker of a defeat to Manchester United. Almost weeping into his pint (not really, but I’m sure some fans did) he told me that he’d not bought a season ticket this year because the price had gone up yet they’d sold two of their best players. “It’s all about the shareholders”, he said.

  I suggested that more clubs follow the lead of AFC Wimbledon because football had lost its way, was crapping all over the fans, and that money was ruling and ruining the game. “It’s a nice idea, but it’ll never happen,” came his reply.

  I disagree – and I’d be in the wrong job if I didn’t think that the Premier League could feature more employee-owned clubs, or that business could be kinder. Too many people seem to be of the belief that ethics in business are an aside, a luxury to the brutal way that most business must unfortunately be done.

  My diary is jam packed between now and Christmas. My days are going to be long (can you hear the violins?). But seriously, I’m not complaining, not at all. At Social Enterprise UK HQ we’re seeing an upsurge in interest – potential start-ups looking for advice, social enterprises realising that they’re part of a movement (it still amazes me how many organisations there are out there that don’t realise they’re actually a social enterprise), but perhaps most interestingly, big corporates are knocking on our door wanting to know how they can get into the world of social enterprise.

  I think my next blog is going to talk about why social enterprise needs to work more closely with the corporate world. We’re not going to change the face of UK business unless we work with those already in it, are we?

  Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged benefit fraud, employee owned business, equality, inequlaity, PJ's Community Services, riots, social enterprise, social enterprise UK, society, young people | Leave a reply