“Forget you’re a social enterprise!”

Welcome to the Social Value Leaders' Summit 2026! We have a packed agenda today, designed to bring to light key developments in social value through expert-led panel discussions and speeches. A key part of the day will be this afternoon's roundtables, which will provide an interactive forum for attendees to share their own experiences. Here's our agenda for the day: 9:45: Introduction by Rachel Taylor - PWC UK Government and Health Industries Leaders 9:50 - 10:00: Our facilitator for the day, Sarah Crawley Beaumont, will run through the planned schedule Procurement Act year one - from promise to practice 10:00 - 10:15 Josh Babarinde OBE MP Josh will look at what's changed one year after the passing of the Procurement Act in our opening speech. Keynote speech - the common good economy 10:15 - 10:45 Professor Mariana Mazzucato - Professor in the Economics of Innovation and Public Value at University College London Professor Mazzucato will ask the question of what does ‘good’ looks like in economics and whether you create social value without a sense of the common good? Mariana advises policy makers around the world on innovation-led inclusive and sustainable growth and has been listed in GQ’s Top 50 most influential people in Britain, Wired’s 25 leaders shaping the future of capitalism, and by the New Republic as one of the 3 most important thinkers about innovation. The national picture – government's vision for social value 10:30 - 11:15 Claire Dove CBE - Crown Representative for the VCSE sector Jo Jarvis - Procurement Director, National Highways Robert Vaughan - SME and VCSE Champion for the Department of Transport Peter Holbrook CBE - Group Chief Executive, Social Enterprise Coalition (Chair) Find out more about the government's vision for social value from the VCSE Crown Representative, Claire Dove. You'll also learn how two leading social value practitioners are responding to the new procurement framework and working with VCSEs. The discussion will provide essential insights into emerging policy frameworks and strategic priorities, and will also explore whether the ambition and enthusiasm for social procurement described in last year’s Procurement Act has motivated procurement teams at national and local levels to enthusiastically target contracts offering more social value. 11:15 - 11:30: COFFEE The impact economy and public procurement 11:30 - 12:15 Dame Patricia Hewitt - Former Secretary of State for Trade and Industry Angela Halliday - Director, Social Impact UK&I at Sodexo and co-chair of the National Social Value Taskforce Gayle Monk - Anthony Collins Solicitors (Chair) This expert panel will look in depth at how procurement can be used as a tool to drive the impact economy - a timely discussion following the launch of the Government's new Office for the Impact Economy. 12:15 - 13:00: LUNCH Roundtables 13:00 - 13:40 - Rountable 1: Barriers to embedding social value – what's getting in the way? 13:45 - 14:30- Roundtable 2: Accountability gaps – why does social value get lost after contract award? Attendees will be split into groups for discussions based on the above topics. It's a chance to share your own experiences of social value, point out examples of best practice and openly discuss the barriers faced in embeddeding social value across commissioning and procurement. Your workshop groups will have been allocated to you at the start of the day and correspond to the stickers on your name badge. 14:30 - 14:45: COFFEE From barriers to breakthroughs - responding to what the room told us 14:45 - 15:15 Claire Connelly - Fusion 21 Gareth Hart - Plymouth Social Enterprise Network Alison Ramsey - Scape Kate Welch - Social Enterprise Acumen The chairs of the roundtables will feedback key findings from both sessions. Afternoon keynote 15:15 - 15:25 Mete Coban MBE - Deputy Mayor of London for Environment and Energy New ways of funding social value 15:25 - 16:00 Matthew Conroy - Head of Impact Propositions, Unity Trust Bank Karl Harder - Director, Abundance Local authorities are getting creative in finding ways to fund community projects that create social value by borrowing money from local people and paying them interest.  Find out more in this, our final session of the day. 16:00 - 16:15 - Closing Remarks 16:15 - 17:00 - Networking This agenda is subject to change The Social Value Leaders' Summit is supported by:

Be part of the change makers driving a holistic approach to public procurement. Making public procurement a force for good We are at a turning point in history where mission-driven procurement needs your expertise. Join the Better Commission Coalition for the benefit of your organisation and the future of social value. A landmark opportunity At Social Enterprise UK we have been championing social value for the last 15 years. We are proud of the leading part we played in the Social Value Act in 2012, and in continuing to make the case for it through groundbreaking research and advocacy. An important recent development is the National Procurement Policy Statement (NPPS), published in February 2025, which recognises the power of public procurement and the potential of social value. It promises a mission-based approach that is ‘more joined up’ and ‘pushes power out to communities’. There is huge potential in taking this approach if social enterprises, delivering better health outcomes, good work, and stronger communities, are enabled to play their part. The Procurement Act and the NPPS are both positive starting points, but we need the change carried out day-to-day through thousands of commissioners nationwide, with government driving cultural change over time. Join the Better Commissioning Coalition To take this vision forward, we are seeking to bring together a group of cross-sector experts committed to developing a programme of work that demonstrates what procurement can do when harnessed to the levers of government. How? We'll do this by demonstrating what better commissioning can achieve through a combination of research, stakeholder engagement and publications, focusing on three key areas that align with government policy: economic growth, local impact, and better work. Join us if you're: A corporate, driving social value through your supply chains A public body committed to commissioning services that maximise social value A social enterprise or charity delivering services to the public or private sector which demonstrates the additional value that comes through working with the VCSE sector The Better Commissioning Coalition can help amplify your work, position you as a driver of change to government, and showcase you as an organisation driving real transformative change in the UK's commissioning and procurement landscape. Why be part of the coalition? Influencing and engagement Exclusive engagement with key social value stakeholders: Ministers, departmental officials, local authorities, political and public sector leaders Profiling opportunities at high-profile events such as the Social Value Leaders' Summit Guaranteed participation and contribution in at least three roundtables with public and private sector leaders across the country Shaping evidence delivery Share your expertise and contribute to content development, from reviewing findings to developing outputs for the programme Position your organisation as leaders in public procurement, through best practice examples featured in case studies and thought leadership pieces Co-design solutions in key thematic areas: policy, leadership & culture, measurement and implementation Peer to peer expertise exchange Knowledge exchange with coalition partners by attending regular briefings to identify key trends and share intelligence on better commissioning Communications and events Dedicated blogs, op-eds and written communication for agreed key target media Opportunity to provide quotes/reactions when the Coalition addresses key issues and topical news stories Brand recognition on all outputs Headline sponsorship of the Social Value Summit, the UK’s leading leadership conference on Social Value, bringing together 150 leaders from across the public, private and VCSE sectors The Better Commissioning Coalition is supported by Fusion21 and GLL Get involved If you'd like to take part and find out more, fill out the below form and we'll be in touch!

Nearly £50m went out to small and medium sized charities and social enterprises in the shape of grants and loans. But with the Growth Fund closed, is the finance gap back? We look at the legacy of this pioneering fund and what has followed it. For years, social enterprises complained that there was a missing middle when it came to getting investment. Lots of startup grants or loans at the beginning of their journey were available, and plenty of finance was on offer for organisations that had grown to a certain size with a healthy turnover. But for those beyond startup with proven social impact and more modest revenue that were looking for investment to grow? Not so much. As long ago as 2017, SEUK’s ‘State of Social Enterprise’ report identified that ‘social enterprises remain ‘finance-hungry’ and ‘access to the right type of finance at the right time is still a key barrier (or enabler) of success.’ The report recommended that social investors and the wholesalers that build the market, should focus on smaller, unsecured and more patient finance, but also on products that meet the needs of social enterprises – for working capital, cash flow pressures and income diversification. The news that a final evaluation of the Growth Fund - which offered blended finance (a mix of grant and loan) of up to £150K to smaller organisations - showed that it had helped to fill a crucial gap in the social investment market is therefore very good news. The Growth Fund £50m was up for grabs, with £22.5m coming courtesy of National Lottery players. The remainder came from Better Society Capital, who contributed £27.5m from dormant assets it had received: unclaimed amounts in accounts that banks were unable to reunite with owners. The programmme was delivered by Access, which worked with 15 social investors to manage deployment. Between 2016 and 2023, 780 investments were made in 580 voluntary, community and social enterprise organisations (VCSEs), around half of which had never applied for investment outside of grants before. As the finance on offer was blended (some grant, some loan), the evaluation report concludes that it was the free money on offer (the grant) that was ‘a key motivator’. The Growth Fund was successful in plugging the ‘missing middle’ gap of finance available to small and medium sized VCSEs. The average investment was £67K, and the median annual income of funded organisations was approximately £177K, with 54% of funded VCSEs having fewer than five full-time employees. Only 12% of those funded had more than 25 full-time staff. The money was typically used for growth: scaling up existing activities, asset acquisition, diversifying income and staff development, but also for reducing reliance on grants and boosting reserves. Recipients of the money were surveyed, with 29% responding. Of those surveyed, 50% of VCSEs reported significant improvements in financial resilience. Over 70% of VCSE survey respondents indicated the social investment increased their overall social impact and the number of beneficiaries they supported. Aside from helping to grow VCSEs, the Growth Fund was also successful in growing the social investment market: 70% of those surveyed applied for further investment after their Growth Fund loan and 80% would recommend social investment to other VCSEs. Access distributed funds to various regional social investors and although experienced social investors delivered seven of the resulting social investment funds, 10 were delivered by organisations with no prior loan book management experience. Half of those are continuing with blended finance, and half are no longer active. The legacy The Growth Fund set in motion a range of further blended finance programmes, including Access’s £50m Enterprise Growth for Communities programme (the successor to the Growth Fund, backed by £20m in grants from dormant assets money), which continues to offer simple blended finance products that are largely unsecured. More recently, Access has also been allocated a further £87.5m of dormant assets money, £41m of which is intended for blended finance funds. “The Growth Fund was instrumental in establishing the role that blended finance can play in supporting smaller charities and social enterprises to access the finance they need,” said Neil Berry, Director of Programmes at Access. “Crucially, the Growth Fund was not a one‑off intervention but the starting point of a deliberate pipeline of support, ensuring there was no drop‑off or gap in the availability of appropriate finance. It has been the springboard for much of our subsequent work - at least half of the finance we support charities and social enterprises with is in the form of small-scale unsecured debt.” Please note Access funds social investors and intermediaries, not charities or social enterprises directly. If you are a charity or social enterprise looking for social investment, visit Good Finance.