Social Procurement Case Studies

“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

If you’ve ever doubted the value of your business network, consider the following: one business was set up because clients kept asking for a particular kind of service. That network was SEUK’s Buy Social Corporate Challenge.  Connection Crew is a social enterprise that has been creating opportunities for people affected by homelessness for two decades, providing event crew work, paying staff at least the London Living Wage and giving them valuable industry experience. As an SEUK Recommended Supplier – a database of B2B social enterprises that trade with large corporate clients – Connection Crew has been a regular attendee of SEUK’s Social Procurement Meetups. These events are an opportunity to connect with corporate buyers signed up to the Buy Social Corporate Challenge and other social procurement programmes run by SEUK. “We joined the cohort and spoke to the corporates about the kind of services they needed. And what they really needed was event production and sort of exhibition stand solutions,” explains Margarita Ktoris, Connection Crew’s Communications Manager. “And even though that wasn't what Connection Crew was doing at the time, we had expertise in the business. So essentially, we expanded our portfolio to cover it. And that's how Stitch was born.” Since launching, Stitch has grown into a full-service event production company, delivering everything from large-scale exhibitions and global summits to panel events and breakfast seminars. The service is end to end, from design and build through to filming, streaming and social media assets. And crucially, social and environmental impact is built in from the outset, not bolted on afterwards. On the environmental side, Stitch takes a circular approach to production, investing in reusable modular stock so that the vast majority of materials on any given project are built for reuse. On a recent panel event series for one of their corporate clients, 94% of the production was circular, meaning almost nothing went to waste. On the social side, revenue from Stitch productions funds places on the Connection Crew Academy, a training programme for people affected by homelessness that builds event crew skills, confidence and employability. As Stitch grows, so does its capacity to create those opportunities. It has also helped break the glass ceiling for Connection Crew employees. Crew members could gain experience, build confidence and develop skills, but the pathway into next-level event production roles simply didn't exist. With Stitch, those opportunities now exist. The relationship with corporate clients fostered through the Buy Social Corporate Challenge has been central to Stitch’s growth. It has been added to the preferred supplier rosters of major corporates, generating repeat work and long-term partnerships that allow impact to build over time. Across one such partnership alone, Stitch has generated over 3000 hours of London Living Wage work for people affected by homelessness. Around a third of startups fail within the first few years, so how has Stitch stayed in business? Ktoris’s answer is straightforward: "I think the impact - both environmentally and socially - is really important to clients. But comes down to being able to deliver events well. And being nice probably helps too!" It's a characteristically down-to-earth summary of what Stitch has achieved. Connection Crew saw a gap in the market and had the ambition to fill it. Stitch is not just raising the bar for sustainable event production, it's raising the glass ceiling for the people who make those events happen. stitchlive.co.uk

Nuneaton Signs has been manufacturing signs for Wates Group since 2018. The partnership has enabled the business to grow and sustain their mission of providing meaningful employment and training opportunities for people with disabilities. Nuneaton Signs Nuneaton Signs is a social enterprise which provides employment and training for people with disabilities through the manufacture and sales of signs. The company has been running for over 40 years, having been set up in 1982, and has grown to be one of the UK’s leading signage manufacturers. 100% of its profits are reinvested back into the business to create more impact.   The partnership with Wates Since 2018, Nuneaton Signs has been working with Buy Social Corporate Challenge founding partner, Wates, delivering on projects across the country. Wates is the UK’s leading family-owned development, building and property maintenance company and supporting and scaling the social enterprise sector is at the heart of their social value delivery. After initially meeting at a networking event, the two businesses have developed a strong partnership, with contracts from Wates unlocking more opportunities for innovation and impact at the social enterprise.   “The impact of the partnership is a well-established relationship that delivers goods Wates would be purchasing, but with additional social value. Supporting the social enterprise sector and facilitating employment for those furthest from the workforce aligns with our purpose to reimagine places for people to thrive.”  - Su Pickerill, Head of Social Value, Wates Group The impact As Nuneaton Signs reinvests 100% of its surplus back into its core purpose, having consistent work is essential. Thanks to Wates’ partnership over the past years, the organisation has been able to support more individuals into meaningful employment than ever before. It now employs 89 people, 74% of whom have a disability, learning disability, life-impacting medical condition, or mental health condition. The regular work provided by Wates has been a major contributing factor to this success. Beyond buying commercial services, Wates has also supported Nuneaton Signs through participation in its ASSETS programme, a seven-month business support programme for social enterprises in the construction industry, which has helped grow skills and develop the business.  “Wates was one of the first construction companies that supported us and truly believed in our capabilities. From our first order with Wates to the present day, our turnover has trebled, we have employed a further 30 persons with disabilities and have opened a second manufacturing facility.”  - Becky Anderson, Commercial Sales Manager, Nuneaton Signs Additionally, Nuneaton Signs was able to increase their positive environmental impact. The social enterprise has grown and adapted to meet the environmental challenges faced by its customers, developing a 100% PVC-free, fully recyclable material range used by Wates, as well as materials made entirely from recycled content for environmentally focused projects. Its partnership with Wates has helped ensure it remains at the forefront of sustainability within an industry that can often be wasteful. nuneatonsigns.co.uk  wates.co.uk