Thought Leadership

“They're really cool people, and the capabilities they have as a business are perfect for our needs.” GAIL’s Head of Property, Michelle Pollard-Smith, and RAW CEO, Rick Mower, reveal the strategy, heart, and creative innovation driving their collaboration. When Michelle Pollard-Smith, Head of Property at GAIL’s, first found the social enterprise RAW in 2021, she was, as she puts it, “doomscrolling for suppliers on LinkedIn”. After first contracting them for work at their Bracknell branch, RAW have since worked on most of their new openings and supported refurbishments across the existing estate. While Pollard-Smith provided the initial opportunity and the long-term vision, understanding the potential of the GAIL’s brand to grow the impact of a social enterprise, the partnership has thrived because of a unique meeting of minds. Pollard-Smith brings the commercial scale of a rapidly growing business, while RAW CEO Rick Mower supplies the restless, creative energy and practical innovation that makes true change possible. A collaborative engine of innovation The relationship has turned into a masterclass in co-proportional growth because, for Pollard-Smith, RAW is a true strategic partner that delivers operational and cost-effective Furniture, Fixtures and Equipment (FFE) services. She likes that she can go to RAW with a problem and they’ll work with her to find a solution that is commercially attractive, deliverable at scale and reliable. As well as manufacturing and sourcing new furniture for bakeries, RAW’s “what if” approach enables them to adapt dynamically to GAIL's evolving needs. For example, Michelle identified that GAIL’s were not capturing opportunities to re-use furniture across the estate. In-line with GAIL’s ‘Waste Less’ values, RAW created the ‘GAIL’s Hub’, taking surplus furniture and materials that were stored in back rooms across their estate, making them available to design teams and upcycling and reusing them to design spec for new bakeries. “If design teams can see what’s available for re-use and we can change or remodel it to fit with the scheme, that’s a sustainability win,” said Mower. “Plus, 90% of the time it’s far more cost effective than buying new items” he adds.  Everything is up for reuse. As well as hundreds of second-life tables and chairs across the GAIL’s estate, preloved stained glass from a Crystal Palace fitout now makes up the artwork on the walls at the recent Westfield opening in London, Stratford. When she found RAW, Pollard-Smith was just looking for a supplier. Now, she’s a convert to their social mission too.  “The tagline ‘I'm more than my past’ is exactly what RAW stands by. There are a huge number of FFE suppliers we could buy from but by choosing RAW, profit is used to drive real, human social change too” said Pollard-Smith. “Their products, service, prices and attitude compete with the best in the market, but they also open pathways to amazing new lives. Choosing RAW is not a trade-off, it’s a smart business and brand decision for GAIL’s”. The unique quality of RAW employees When she first found them on LinkedIn, Pollard-Smith was initially ignorant of the company’s social purpose, that 75% of the workforce have overcome some of life’s toughest challenges. “We're really lucky to employ people who've had some really tough experiences in life but survived them, and that's given us a truly outstanding workforce,” explains Mower. “We’ve grown to where we are because of the quality of our crew – they have a fire, a desire and a point to prove. That shines through and our clients see that in the products and services”. A recovering addict himself, Mower brings a distinct, inventive energy to the business. He believes people with challenging lives, who found a way through, have a particular quality he looks for. “So many people who end up as adults in dark places may have experienced tough childhoods, poverty, mental health issues, used drugs to change how they feel and so on … actually, we don't really look at that. We look at the fact that statistically, people who survived those experiences and decided to make a change are really rare and special. They have a unique spark and, nurtured well, that turns into a superpower.” Mower was previously the CEO of the charity Aspire Oxford, which initially worked with homeless people and then started to support prison leavers. Weary of scrabbling around for funding (as he puts it), he had the innovative idea that a company could make and supply products and create good because of that. “A lot of firms supply commercial furniture. On every metric – price, design, quality, UK made – we match and often outcompete traditional profit driven suppliers. But RAW also changes lives. We deliver the built-in social value that so many corporates want and it’s a supply chain switch that delivers triple bottom line value.” Human impact and the power of brand scale RAW’s social impact, in terms of the numbers, is well documented. But working with RAW Pollard-Smith sees more than the numbers. “You see people who often thought they were ‘less than’ in lots of ways. At RAW you see people’s dignity and pride grow and being able to point at their client list and say, ‘this is who I am now. This is who buys into what I do’. “The essence of RAW is always about proving that, no matter where you’ve been, things can change if you put the hard yards and passion in. RAW let their products and services do the talking to make that point. It’s not fluffy social value washing, it’s real and it’s deep”. After first contracting them, Pollard-Smith soon became aware of that impact and was obviously moved by it. At the Workplace Event, where she and Mower sat on a panel discussing the partnership between RAW and GAIL’s, she told the story of one of RAW’s employees who had initially been denied visiting rights to his daughter because of his turbulent history. With the stability the RAW work gave him, that changed, and eventually he was able to take his daughter to a GAIL’s and proudly show her what he had made. Mower is often asked about RAW’s social impact and has a beautifully simple answer about the effect on his employees: “Generally, people are happier than they were.” Growing together: from one department to company-wide buy-in The reliability and ingenuity of RAW have inspired GAIL's to see how else they can use the business to have a positive social impact. Pollard-Smith shares that, whereas once RAW felt like ‘hers’, the rest of the business has become very attached to RAW’s work and is motivated by it. “Now the whole of GAIL’s is supporting the social impact, and we're looking at how we can support everything that RAW does, such as their youth programme RAW Potential. How do we add weight not just from a purchasing point of view?” RAW Potential supports 120 young people a year across the Thames Valley who have faced barriers to accessing mainstream education, societal and mental health issues. “Over 50% of male inmates in UK prison today were excluded from school at some point in childhood. We don’t need to wait for them to hit that wall – RAW Potential is all about creating a future that is better than that”. Mower says he admires GAIL’s commitment to avoiding waste and their understanding of the positive social impact they can have through their supply chain. Pollard-Smith confirms that, partly as a result of the successful partnership with RAW, they’re looking at their procurement across the company. The rapid growth of GAIL’s has made it challenging as more staff across the company are buying in different departments. There were 185 GAIL’s at the end of 2025, and a further 40 were planned by the end of February 2026. As for RAW, they’ve grown to be Europe’s largest social impact furniture manufacturer, which Mower directly credits Pollard-Smith's for: “In a large business, who’ve done some things the same way for years, it only takes one person with the vision to say ‘whoa, there is a better way of doing this’. For us, that was Michelle. GAIL’s became the first big players to really go ‘we're in’," said Mower. “And that cascaded us to a lot of other clients very fast. Once you have GAIL’s on your books, it's powerful and we took off like a rocket. When you share a sense of mission with a client, it adds depth and commitment too. It’s a real joy to work with Michelle and her team who, like us, also want to show the world that there’s a way to do things differently, a way to do things better. It's a heck of a ride and we’re loving every minute of it.” raw-workshop.co.uk gails.com

Multi award-winning Oxford social enterprise Tap Social Movement has opened Day Release, its largest venue to date and a vibrant new all-day café, bar and community space at Signal Yard, Milton Park's new £14 million social and retail destination. Marking a significant milestone in Tap Social's growth, Day Release is the organisation's fourth community venue, first purpose-built location and largest to date, spanning two floors across approximately 3,563 sq ft (331 sq m). For the first time, the venue brings together Tap Social's bakery, pizza kitchen, café, bar, brewing school, and events under one roof, creating a welcoming destination for Milton Park occupiers, visitors and the wider Oxfordshire community. Featuring playful, hand-painted murals by Oxford artist Lisa Made It, Day Release offers: Fresh bread and pastries from Tap Social's bakery, Proof Social Bakehouse Hand-stretched sourdough pizzas Fresh salads and sandwiches A full bar with 10 draught lines plus canned beers, showcasing Tap Social’s independent beer range Barista-made coffee from fellow Oxford social enterprise NewGround Coffee Brew School, where groups can brew their own beer alongside Tap Social's professional brewers. The two-storey venue will be home to around 16 staff and continues Tap Social's mission to create meaningful employment opportunities for people with lived experience of the criminal justice system while creating a welcoming place for everyone. The opening of Day Release marks another milestone in Tap Social's growth. Building on the success of The Market Tap in Oxford's Covered Market, The Taproom in Botley and Proof Social Bakehouse in Kennington, Day Release becomes the organisation's fourth community venue in Oxfordshire. Together, Tap Social's brewery, bakery and hospitality businesses employ around 60 people. Since it was founded in 2016, Tap Social has created more than 115,000 hours of paid employment for people in prison and prison leavers, demonstrating how commercial success and social impact can go hand in hand. Tess Taylor, co-founder and director of Tap Social Movement, said: “Day Release is the culmination of everything that Tap Social has built over the last decade. It's our most ambitious venue to date and, for the first time, brings together our bakery, café, pizza kitchen, taproom and brewing experiences in one exciting, friendly space. “Hospitality is an incredible way to bring people together. Every coffee served, every meal shared and every shift worked helps create opportunities for people rebuilding their lives after contact with the criminal justice system. We're incredibly proud to be opening Day Release at Milton Park and to join the community at Signal Yard, a place where everyone is welcome. It’s been an absolute pleasure bringing Day Release to life and working alongside the team at Milton Park and Federated Hermes.” Day Release is the anchor tenant at Signal Yard, Milton Park's new social and retail destination, representing a £14 million investment in enhancing the Park's occupier experience and creating a vibrant place for people to meet, eat, work and spend time together. Spanning four sensitively repurposed buildings, Signal Yard provides 17 independent retail and hospitality units across two floors, together with landscaped public spaces and a carefully curated mix of independent operators serving Milton Park's 280 occupiers, visitors and the wider community. Clare Fleet, asset manager for Milton Park at Federated Hermes Real Estate, said: “Bringing Day Release to Signal Yard is a real milestone for us and something we've been working towards for a number of years. From the very beginning, our ambition was to create somewhere with character and purpose, championing independent businesses that bring something genuinely different to Milton Park and the wider community. “Tap Social is an exceptional organisation. Not only do they produce outstanding food, coffee and craft beer, they also transform lives by creating meaningful employment opportunities for people with convictions. That combination of commercial excellence and social impact makes them an incredible partner, and we're immensely proud they've chosen Signal Yard as the home for Day Release. “As Milton Park continues to grow, it's important that we're creating more than just places to work. Signal Yard has been designed as a destination where people can meet, connect and spend time together, and Day Release perfectly embodies that vision.” Day Release is open Monday to Wednesday, 7.30am-4pm; Thursday and Friday, 7.30am-9pm; and Saturday, 9am-9pm. The venue is closed on Sundays. About Tap Social Movement With a shared passion for social justice and independent beer, Paul Humpherson and sisters Amy and Tess Taylor founded Tap Social Movement in 2016 to provide support, training, and fulfilling employment to people who have had contact with the criminal justice system. To date Tap Social has created more than 115,000 hours of paid employment for people in prison and prison leavers. It is currently the UK’s “Community-Based Social Enterprise of the Year” as awarded by Social Enterprise UK. In addition to its commercial production brewery and bakery, Tap Social currently runs four Oxfordshire community venues. Learn more at tapsocialmovement.com.

Measuring the emissions of supply chains is complex and time-consuming, writes Andy Daly, Head of Procurement Programmes at SEUK. But simple changes can help give the climate the urgent action it needs now. If you've been thinking more about the environment and climate change recently, we're not surprised. With lawns, parks and fields the colour of straw and drought declared, the hottest summer on record has vividly illustrated how future seasons might feel. The UK Prime Minister has chaired emergency Cobra meetings in response to extreme heat, which brings into sharp focus that climate action is needed more urgently than ever. Along with government and citizens, the push to reach Net Zero needs business to step up to the challenge. It's under-reported that Net Zero strategy sits with two government departments: the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS), as well as the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ). For the private sector, Scope 1 and 2 emissions (internal emissions within a company's direct operational control) are crucial in effecting change, but holistic climate action can only come when a company looks to its supply chain and focuses on measuring and reducing Scope 3 emissions (indirect emissions across the company's value chain). For businesses, there is a tension between measuring and reducing Scope 3 emissions. As data ultimately drives change, measuring is important. However, it is also difficult and time-consuming, requiring the administration of supplier surveys, self-certification, benchmark estimation or a combination of all of the above. Unfortunately, measurement can become an end in itself, pulling resources away from activities which actually reduce emissions. To do that, companies need to take decisions even when the data is imperfect. They need to change purchasing behaviours, product/service specifications, and suppliers. How social enterprises can help Aggregate-level data for categories or business types can be useful in this context, and our research shows that about one in six social enterprises has a core mission addressing the climate emergency. We define social enterprises as businesses which trade for a social or environmental purpose, and many of them are already leading the way in helping businesses hit their Net Zero targets. If businesses are serious about actually moving the dial on carbon emissions in their supply chain, which social enterprise suppliers should they be engaging with? Opportunities are often closer to hand than businesses realise, and sometimes as unglamorous as the contents of a supply cupboard. Take the handwash in your bathrooms: Amplify Goods transforms this everyday essential into a low-carbon alternative, cutting emissions by 83% compared to conventional soap, while helping clients track and assess their savings along the way. Toilet paper is a less obvious target, but Serious Tissues makes the case for it too as a business founded on the startling fact that a million trees are felled every day just to make the stuff. Its planet-friendly toilet paper, laundry sheets and hygiene essentials are built for facilities managers and businesses that want a straightforward switch, with impact measurement handled for them rather than left as another task on the to-do list. The same logic extends to the promotional items that make up part of many marketing budgets. Eco Everyday helps organisations tackle their climate impact here too, providing ethical and sustainable promotional products and bespoke design work in place of the usual throwaway freebies. In the built environment, waste management is a particularly rich opportunity area. Oxford Wood Recycling works with businesses of all sizes across Oxfordshire, including large private sector companies, to collect waste wood and divert it into reuse or recycling routes such as biomass fuel, saving tonnes of CO2 in the process. And it's not just about what happens to waste today: Class Of Your Own is shaping the workforce of tomorrow, working with the same sector to educate young people on sustainability, net zero, biodiversity, carbon literacy and responsible design. Climate action doesn't have to stop at the office door, either. Mobilityways works with large employers to decarbonise something most businesses overlook entirely: the daily commute. They do it through an innovative climate-tech solution that contributes to real reductions in CO2 and air pollution. What unites these examples is that, as well as directly reducing their clients' carbon footprint, social enterprises can act as catalysts for more innovative, transformative change, going above and beyond minimum standards and pushing the boundaries of what's possible on climate action. Social Enterprise UK supports a wide range of businesses to leverage their everyday business spend for social and environmental benefit through programmes such as the Buy Social Corporate Challenge. To discuss how this could work for your business, contact us on socialprocurement@socialenterprise.org.uk. You can also browse a range of different social enterprises you could partner with in our Social Enterprise Directory.

Unity Trust Bank’s half year results show its customer base reached a record high of over 11,800 while deposits surpassed £2bn for the first time. Organisations choosing business banking with Unity supported £155.7m in new lending in the first six months of 2026 – up seven per cent from the same period last year. Almost half of this financing met the ABC of Enterprise Impact ‘C – Contribute to Solutions’ grade, meaning the loans actively addressed social or environmental challenges. As the award-winning social impact bank continues to make a difference where it is needed most, 64% of loans were distributed to disadvantaged communities driving purposeful change. Unity is committed to working with sectors that improve local communities such as health and social care, housing and education. Funding between January to June helped to support 4,784 homes; 646 care beds, 235 day care spaces; 3,263 jobs and over 2.5m prescriptions. Unity also helped over 150 small businesses by providing just under £14m to seven Community Development Finance Institutions (CDFIs). Unity’s profitability remains strong, despite the uncertain economic environment and the bank’s strategic investment in infrastructure and customer service, with profit before tax standing at £22.8m (HY 25: £28.6m). Colin Fyfe, CEO at Unity Trust Bank, said: “We believe that who you bank with matters – and our customers know that their money will only be used to support organisations that improve local communities in the UK. “Surpassing £2bn in deposits is an important milestone for us. It enables us to keep supporting our socially-minded customers to deliver positive impact. “We started this year with a clear purpose-led growth ambition to increase the scale of our lending, customer base and impact while maintaining financial resilience and disciplined risk management. I’m delighted to say that we are achieving that. “We’ve also retained our investment grade credit rating from global ratings agency Fitch, which is testament to Unity’s maturity, strength and resilience.” Unity has already exceeded its cumulative green lending target by nearly 200%. This has been achieved through funding allocated to high energy efficiency properties and Green Tariff loans, which help customers decarbonise their facilities and invest in nature-based solutions. Last year Unity became the first bank to help councils tackle climate change by investing £6.3m in Local Climate Bonds. A further £1.4m was invested in the first half of 2026, supporting six local authorities. In addition, Unity provided £102m to support nine local authorities through Money Market loans. Unity has also delivered improvements to its customer experience journeys, making business banking easier, faster and more inclusive for customers. Customer satisfaction scores increased to 85% in June, and the bank’s commitment to customer service was awarded the Service Mark Accreditation from the Institute of Customer Service. Through the Unity & Me employee forum, 39 good causes benefitted from over £46,400 worth of grants and donations – with the aim of reaching £80,000 by the end of 2026. Colin added: “Unity remains committed to delivering sustainable, purpose-led growth through our double bottom line strategy and we will continue to support organisations delivering positive change and creating long-term value for communities across the UK.” unity.co.uk About Unity Trust Bank Unity Trust Bank has been around for over 40 years, but demand for our way of banking has never been higher. We play a strategic role in the banking sector and economy. We serve unmet customer needs at a time when the frontline organisations that strong communities rely on need more, not less support. Today, over half of our lending goes to areas of high deprivation. Unity is a proven alternative business banking model with momentum and outsized impact. Our approach doesn’t put financial return above social or environmental impact. We recognise they all feed each other. We offer our customers deep expertise, long-term relationships, flexibility and a personal touch, giving security and confidence to the organisations that are the lifeblood of local economies. Our commitment to values-led banking has been recognised with the King’s Award for Enterprise for Sustainable Development, a national honour that reflects the positive impact we create alongside our customers and communities. Our ambition is to scale our approach, enabling more organisations to thrive, decarbonize and improve quality of life where it is needed most.

This Monday (10th), Turning Point released its annual social value report. This year the organisation has been able to evidence £171.95m in social value. However, our true social value goes far beyond that. It is the positive effect on people's lives and communities that is the true testament. Turning Point’s social impact includes the contributions it makes to local communities. It invested £10.79m in local voluntary community, social enterprise organisations. It supported dozens of organisations around the country such as Active Luton; Aspire Oxfordshire Community Enterprise; Age UK Leicestershire & Rutland; Healthwatch Herefordshire; Mind in the City, Hackney and Waltham Forest; and Suffolk Family Carers.  Julie Bass, Turning Point Chief Executive, said:  "Social value is an integral part of our vision. For more than 60 years, we have supported people to improve their health, wellbeing and independence, creating benefits that extend far beyond the services we deliver.   "This report demonstrates the difference Turning Point makes every day as a purpose-driven people-focussed business: supporting individuals to thrive, strengthening communities, reducing inequalities and creating lasting value for society.   "I am incredibly proud of the impact achieved by our colleagues, partners, volunteers and the people we support."  Read the report here turning-point.co.uk

On 7 August, Chris Sylvester, a recovering heroin addict, is going to sit in a bathtub in Leeds City Square for up to 3 days. He's doing it because he knows what it feels like to be trapped by addiction. He's doing it to try to raise £50k to help other people get clean. Two out of three employers say they wouldn’t employ a former crack or heroin addict. Unemployment is a clear driver of relapse. Getting Clean aims to smash the stigma around addiction and demonstrate that addicts can be some of the most productive members of society by employing recovering addicts to make and sell natural soap. It pledges to donate 50% of company profits to supporting people in recovery. It's mission is “to ensure that all addicts in the UK have access to peer support and employment opportunities”. Chris is the Founder of Getting Clean. After being introduced to heroin at the age of 12, Chris spent 20+ years in active addiction, meaning cycles of crime, prisons, hospitals and homelessness. At the age of 35 he found recovery. As soon as he got clean, he knew that he needed to help other people get clean too. After a few years in support work and running a community project, he realised the best way to help people get clean would be with soap. The event’s goal is to sell £50,000 of soap, which enables a £20,000 donation directly to a lived-experience recovery project led by Forward Leeds. Beyond the event, Getting Clean’s model channels support to people in recovery through both employment and its 50%-of-profits pledge. To find out more about the event, the life changing work carried out by Getting Clean, and how you can contribute through buying some soap visit gettingclean.co.uk/pages/tubtrap

Today's government announcement that public spending must back British jobs and skills in every postcode, set out in new Procurement Policy Note (PPN) 026, is another important step in Social Enterprise UK’s work to ensure public spending strengthens communities. We're especially pleased to see Andy Burnham's government putting social value at the heart of its agenda so early in his premiership.   Raising the minimum weighting for local social and economic benefit to 20% on contracts worth £5 million or more builds directly on the Public Services (Social Value) Act we proposed, helped pass in 2012, and have continued to champion and evolve since (and similarly with the Procurement Act that followed). We also welcome the stronger KPI reporting, including the new provision that poor performance against social value commitments can count against suppliers bidding for future contracts. For too long, social value has been a box to tick rather than a promise to keep, and government is right to say so. What’s changed?  Some of what’s been announced isn’t new. Procurement Policy Note 026 effectively supersedes PPN 002, which already covered fair work, skills for growth, employment for people facing barriers, and pipelines of opportunity for under-represented groups. What's genuinely new is narrower: jobs and skills are now the only route to meeting the weighting, whereas before, authorities could previously use climate, wellbeing or supply-chain outcomes instead. The weighting rises meaningfully at the top end; and the threshold rises to £1 million.   That £1 million threshold is our first concern. Raising it is framed as cutting red tape for small businesses, and easier routes for social enterprises bidding directly are welcome. But it also means social value requirements simply stop applying below that level - a tier where many social enterprises compete. A rule meant to open the door for small suppliers shouldn't quietly remove the lever that makes buyers choose them. It raises the prospect of a situation where a profit maximising private sector company with a large bid team outscores a social enterprise which focuses on job creation. We'd like a more proportionate approach below £1 million, rather than a blanket exemption.  It's also worth the government remembering who already delivers exactly these priorities. Our latest State of Social Enterprise research shows social enterprises employ an average of 72 people each across the UK's more than 100,000 social enterprises, with 43% specifically employing people from disadvantaged groups and 83% paying the Real Living Wage. Creating good jobs and routes into work for young people and those facing barriers isn't a new ask for social enterprises, it's what many were set up to do, and they should be direct beneficiaries of the new weighting, not just intermediaries helping larger contractors hit their targets.  Resilient supply chains  We’re also concerned about the loss of direction for commissioners that was in PPN 002: "Increase supply chain resilience". That rewarded suppliers for a diverse supply chain, including SMEs, VCSEs and mutuals: the closest thing the current model has to incentivising large contractors to buy from social enterprises.  PPN 026's Annex A contains only two outcomes, Good Jobs and Skills, and neither scores supply chain composition. The only remaining mention of VCSEs is a note about ensuring the criteria chosen are ones VCSEs can bid against, which gives accessibility for bidders, but doesn’t reward the larger organisations buying from them.  We know the alternative works. Amey, quoted in today's announcement, is a partner in our Buy Social Corporate Challenge, through which major businesses commit to spending on social enterprises rather than simply hiring directly. Amey's reported social value rose from £211 million to £248 million last year, plausibly reflecting the very outcome PPN 026 has now dropped.   If that route disappears, government risks removing the lever pulling large contractors towards social enterprises even as it raises the overall score; a contractor could hit the full 20% weighting through direct hiring alone, with no obligation to touch its supply chain. With this government’s focus on jobs, it’s pertinent that nearly 8,000 jobs have been created by corporates procuring from social enterprises through the Buy Social Corporate Challenge. That's our central ask for the autumn technical guidance: reinstate supply chain diversity, including VCSE participation, as a scored outcome, whether standalone or built into the Skills and Good Jobs criteria. We'd also like sub-contracting transparency, so buyers can see where social value spend actually lands, and independent verification of KPIs rather than self-reporting.  The opportunity ahead Public procurement is worth £90 billion a year. Getting this right could mean billions more reaching the organisations best placed to create good jobs and close skills gaps. Getting it wrong means large contractors meet the new weighting through direct hiring alone, while the route pulling spend towards social enterprises quietly closes.   We appreciate the new willingness of this government to engage with SEUK, which has led to meaningful dialogue with the Cabinet Office and No.10. We've spent over a decade proving what works, and we'd welcome the chance to bring that evidence into the guidance process before the rules take effect in January 2027. 5 August 2026

The Centre for Information Resilience (CIR) won the International Impact Award at the 2025 UK Social Enterprise Awards for work that includes geolocating war crimes in Palestine, Sudan and Myanmar. As tickets go on sale for this year's Awards, we look at how CIR co-founder Adam Rutland built a team of open-source investigators who turn phone footage and satellite images into courtroom-ready evidence. "There are a lot of bad people doing a lot of bad things around the world. Our mission is to say one thing to them: we're watching you." Not many award acceptance speeches sound like a defiant warning. Adam Rutland's, accepting the International Impact Award at the 2025 UK Social Enterprise Awards, was made all the more memorable because of it. The co-founder's speech was certainly different, something that could also be said of his organisation. Visit CIR's website, and you'll find reports of wrongdoing by what it calls ‘malign actors’. At the time of writing, this included investigations into whether Israeli displacement orders were sending Gazans to genuinely safe zones, how access to water (a basic human right) was being used as a weapon in Syria, and how far-right groups are spreading misinformation about London. Tracking a massacre from a phone video One case shows just how fascinating and painstaking that work is. CIR found a Rapid Support Forces (RSF) camp in Libya. The RSF is one of two factions fighting Sudan's civil war, which has raged since April 2023. CIR was able to prove that fighters from the camp were involved in an attack on the Zamzam refugee camp in North Darfur in Sudan; once home to 500,000 internally displaced people, it is now an RSF military base. A massacre took place there, and most of that number were forced to flee again. CIR traced the camp by studying phone footage RSF fighters had posted online and cross-referencing satellite images showing light sources from desert encampments at night. Investigators then built 3D models of vehicles from the footage, identifying them by markings such as words written in the dust on windscreens and existing damage. Famine took hold in Darfur as food supplies dried up, but the supply of military equipment to the RSF hadn't, and CIR traced where some of it was coming from. Much of CIR's work uses this kind of technology. Many of their published investigations include interactive maps, with dots marking specific incidents; click on one and you might find phone footage that's been verified through geolocation. "Our ability to harness technology, and the methodology that some of us learnt in government — and some of us learnt outside of government — has allowed us for the first time to really move from simply collecting information to collecting evidence that can be used for an impact on the ground," says Rutland. As well as raising public awareness of harms around the world, that evidence is used in national and international courts to prosecute war crimes and other abuses, helping deliver justice for victims, he explains. From diplomacy to digital investigation Rutland was drawn to this work after 15 years as a Foreign Office diplomat, posted to a variety of countries. "In all of those places there were obviously harms, sometimes by authoritarian regimes and sometimes by online actors. And when I came back to the UK, I was determined to do something about it," he says. Geographically at least, he's still close to government: CIR's office is housed in a 19th-century building near Whitehall. Centre for Information Resilience launched in 2020 and now employs 65 people, with a further 200 investigators and analysts working across 42 countries. Rutland describes CIR as a high-end research organisation. "We like to find really difficult, hard-to-find information and package it up for news organisations, for governments, for NGOs, primarily to help the fight against human rights abuses and online harm," he says, explaining the organisation's revenue model and who its clients are. Casting our lot Rutland admits the work CIR does is "quite dark sometimes", which is partly what led the organisation to enter last year's UK Social Enterprise Awards. "I thought it was a good idea for us to maybe just lift our head up a little bit, look at the other social enterprise organisations doing good in the world, and just cast our lot to see if people thought what we were doing was worthwhile." Rutland describes the win as "fantastic," and a tribute to the hundreds of people behind CIR's work. His acceptance speech wasn't planned. "I wanted people to know that they can't commit crimes in the dark, that there is a light shining on what they're doing. And ultimately, somewhere, at some time, justice will be served." info-res.org