A new report by Social Value 2032 and authored by Professor Chris White - former Member of Parliament and author of the Social Value Act - has found that smarter public sector procurement could unleash an extra £56bn per year in social value which could be used to level up the country, tackle Net Zero and strengthen communities.Read more
Our statement on the reforms being made by Big Society Capital in response to the Commission on Social InvestmentRead more
Social Enterprise UK (SEUK) has appointed five new Board members following a rigorous recruitment process.Read more
Social Enterprise UK's response to the 2022 Spring Statement.Read more
Leading businesses and social enterprises have announced a new programme of work to accelerate and expand the consideration of social value in public and private sector procurement. This programme has been announced on the 10th Anniversary of the passage of the Social Value Act, a world-leading law which requires public bodies to consider social and environmental impact when making procurement decisions.Read more
Our response to the APPG for Social Enterprises inquiry into the impact of COVID-19 on the social enterprise sector and the Government's response.Read more
Our response to the Levelling Up White Paper published on 2 February 2022. We argue that reform should not stop at the Council Room but needs to go through the Boardroom as well.Read more
Social Enterprise UK's response to the findings of the Commission on Social InvestmentRead more
SEUK’s Crowdfunder will help advocate for change and support disabled ex-workers following the collapse of social enterprise and charity Clarity Employment for Blind People (EBP) and the purchase of its assets by a private company.Read more
Diversity, inclusion and sustainability are higher than ever on the agenda for procurement professionals as leading corporations look to their purchasing power as a means to achieving positive social and environmental outcomes. In a push to contribute to an inclusive and sustainable post-COVID recovery, forward-thinking companies are opening up their supply chains to social enterprises – businesses with a social or environmental mission. Now a new partnership of global corporations and social enterprise bodies promises to make this form of trade far more common across Europe in the years to come.Read more
Our response to Labour's new deal for working people which was launched at Impact Hubs Kings Cross, a social enterprise and SEUK memberRead more
Sodexo and Nestlé are the latest signatories to the Buy Social Corporate Challenge, the initiative which sees high-profile businesses use their everyday spending to transform lives.Read more
The APPG for Social Enterprise, a cross-party group of Parliamentarians from the House of Commons and House of Lords, has launched a new inquiry into the impact of COVID on the UK’s 100,000 social enterprises.Read more
Our CEO has written to the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care to call for more support for social enterprises within the drive towards integration. Social enterprises make a critical contribution to the health service that must not be lost.Read more
SEUK and Bates Wells have partnered to run a series of ‘Digital Breakfast’ roundtable events, to give social enterprise leaders an opportunity to network with their peers and discuss some of the key issues they are working through at their organisations. Here is a summary of the first event, where we focused on the climate emergency.Read more
At Social Enterprise UK we are dedicated to being an anti-racist organisation. As part of this commitment, we have signed BITC's Race at Work Charter.Read more
We welcome the decision made by the Chancellor to extend the Social Investment Tax Relief and listen to the views of social enterprises.Read more
Pre the Health and Social Care White Paper, SEUK responded to the NHS England and NHS Improvement’s consultation on the future of Integrated Care Systems. Our members are broadly supportive of the direction of travel however they are concerned that there is insufficient detail in the current proposals around how ICSs will be accountable and transparent.Read more
Our response to the allegations that former social enterprise, Clarity, is alleged to owe as much as £200,000 in unpaid wages.Read more
A response from our Chair, Lord Victor Adebowale to the Chancellor’s new measures to support the economy - 22 October 2020Read more
Almost £100million has been spent so far with social enterprises by some of the UK's biggest businesses through the Buy Social Corporate Challange. With the Challenge growing from strength to strength, Adaire Fox-Martin, Executive Board Member at software giant SAP, has been named the first Global Buy Social Ambassador.Read more
Our response to Dany Kruger MP's report 'Levelling up our communities: proposals for a new social covenant'.Read more
Our response to Big Society Capital's Quadrennial Review on the good work done by the social investment wholesaler and what needs to change.Read more
We welcome the Prime Minister’s announcement at PMQs that the furlough scheme will be addressed to consider the needs of shielding workers.Read more
Our response to the announcement of £30m of additional Dormant Accounts funding for blended finance for social enterprises.Read more
Businesses leaders representing over 100,000 UK businesses have written to the Chancellor to make sure that the design of the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme does not put the jobs of the UK’s most vulnerable workers at risk.Read more
1,000 businesses, social enterprises and cooperatives have signed up to a letter calling on the Chancellor to help their businesses or risk choking off the recovery including one of the UK's largest businesses - The Co-operative GroupRead more
The UK’s social enterprises, co-operatives and community businesses are falling between the cracks of the current government schemes to support businesses through Covid-19 with half the sector at risk of running out of money by June. That's why SEUK have joined with other sector bodies to push the Chancellor to #SaveOurSocents so we can #BuildBackBetterRead more
Our response to the Chancellor's announced funding package for civil society organisations during the coronavirus pandemic. The fund will cover only a small minority of the social enterprise sector and this needs to be the first in a series of measures to support social enterprises.Read more
A letter from SEUK CEO, Peter Holbrook, to the Manchester Evening News following reporting about an investment into SharpFutures – a Social Enterprise UK member.Read more
Lord Victor Adebowale CBE, Chair of Social Enterprise UK, has announced the creation of a new Commission on Social Investment which will look at the future of this £3.5bn market and how it can support the growth of the social enterprise movement.Read more
Social Enterprise UK CEO, Peter Holbrook on the latest Government reshuffle which has seen Oliver Dowden named as Secretary of State at DCMS, the department where ministerial responsibility for social enterprise sitsRead more
Our response to the results of the 2019 General Election calling on the PM to ditch business as usual and support social enterpriseRead more
Social Enterprise UK along with The School for Social Entrepreneurs, CAN and the Impact Hub Kings Cross are hoping to secure the long-term future of the social enterprise movement here in London.Read more
Our statement to the new PM calling him to move responsibility for social enterprises from the Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport to the Department for Business.Read more
A new report reveals that staff-owned social enterprises, also called “public service mutuals”, hold the key to solving the UK public sector’s productivity crisis.Read more
Our statement welcoming the new Institute for Impact Investing.Read more
SEUK's new report, Front and Centre – Putting Social Value at the Heart of Inclusive Growth, has found that local councils are increasingly using procurement as a way to drive higher economic growth.Read more
Partnership with Social Enterprise UK to open up annual transaction value of £65 billion in the UK and help corporate buyers spend better with social enterprises.Read more
Achieving an impressive £65.2 million in cumulative spend since launched, the Corporate Challenge has seen a wave of new businesses sign up this year: ENGIE, Lendlease, Nationwide, SAP and Willmott Dixon.Read more
Lendlease is the latest business to sign-up to the Buy Social Corporate Challenge – a ground-breaking initiative seeing leading companies aim to cumulatively spend £1 billion with social enterprises.Read more
Jennifer Exon will be joining Social Enterprise UK (SEUK) as its Director of Business and Enterprise. Heading up the Business Development Team, she will be leading on the SEUK’s corporate market building work which includes the Buy Social Corporate Challenge, an initiative seeing some of the UK’s biggest businesses open up their supply chains to social enterprises.Read more
Rebecca Long-Bailey, the Shadow Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, told a summit on the future of business that Labour would be putting social enterprise at the heart of its economic policy making.Read more
Social Enterprise UK welcomes the NHS’s new Long Term Plan which calls on the NHS to continue to work with social enterprises who are leading innovators in community health care.Read more
Analysis by Tussell on behalf of Social Enterprise UK on public sector contracts awarded to Community Interest Companies (CICs) has found the number of social enterprises winning contracts has fallen to its lowest level for two years.Read more
In the run up to Christmas SEUK commissioned some polling to gauge the country's mood when it comes to making ethical purchasing decisions over the festive period. The polling was used to promote our Christmas Gift Guide.Read more
Our response to the news that Tracey Crouch MP, the Minister for Sport and Civil Society has resigned.Read more
Our Chief Executive Peter Holbrook responds to the 2018 Budget.Read more
The value of the social enterprise sector has been found to be significantly underestimated at £24 billion with new research showing its real contribution is £60 billion. Evidence shows social enterprises are performing better economically than traditional firms and that the sector employs 1 in 20 people, accounting for 3% of GDP – three times larger than agriculture and as big as creative services.Read more
Comment from SEUK CEO, Peter Holbrook and Board Member, Chris White on the publication of the Civil Society Strategy.Read more
Social Enterprise UK’s analysis of data provided by Tussell on public sector contracts awarded to Community Interest Companies (CICs) has found that despite government’s commitment to opening up public sector contracts to a range of providers there has been little increase since 2016.Read more
Our response to the news that the Rt Hon Jeremy Wright MP has been named Secretary of State at DCMS and that the Rt Hon Matt Hancock has moved to the Department of Health and Social Care.Read more
Through the hard work of our members and our team we have helped secure NHS Equal Pay for some of our members who would have been adversely affected by the new NHS pay deal.Read more
Chris White, author of the Social Value Act and our Chair, Lord Victor Adebowale gives their thoughts on the Act's extension.Read more
The Prime Minister is hosting a round-table featuring leading social enterprises. Here's our response.Read more
Our Chair, Lord Victor Adebowale sets out our concerns around the proposed funding route for the NHS pay deal which, as it stands, does not cover social enterprises providing NHS services.Read more
Chris White, author of the Social Value Act and former MP for Warwick and Leamington has joined the Social Enterprise UK Board.Read more
Our response to the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, Matt Hancock's speech on the Civil Society Strategy which makes positive statements on social value but is short on ambition in recognising the potential of social enterprise.Read more
Our response on the publication of the new action plan for the VCSE Review.Read more
We are delighted to announce NatWest as the principal supporter for the Social Enterprise Places Programme, our ground-breaking programme recognising those areas using social enterprise to transform their local communities.Read more
More than £45 million has been spent by UK Corporates on social enterprises, according to a new report from Social Enterprise UK (SEUK), on its pioneering initiative, the Buy Social Corporate Challenge, which is changing lives by redirecting Corporate supply chain spend into businesses which deliver social impact for some of the most deprived communities in the UK and around the world.Read more
The new Buy Social range from Zepbrook allows their customers to place orders for social enterprise products tackling a wide range of issues both in the UK and abroad.Read more
SEUK is supporting the growing number of UK start-ups by removing the member fee for smaller social enterprises, enabling them to join the largest social enterprise network in the world.Read more
Our response to the Call for Evidence for the Civil Society Strategy announced by the Government on 27 February.Read more
Our patron and former Chair, Claire Dove OBE DL, has been appointed as the Crown Representative for the Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise Sector.Read more
‘Trading for Good’ shows the important impact social enterprises are having on some of the poorest communities in the UK and calls for more to be done to encourage Government, funders and the public to ensure social enterprises are supported.Read more
Social Enterprise UK is expanding its team welcoming Dr Claire Mansfield, as director of research, and Professor Jo Pritchard MBE, as director of health and social care.Read more
Our response to the Government's announcement that £330 million is to be unlocked from dormant accounts to tackle societal challenges.Read more
We are delighted to announce that Charlie Wigglesworth will take on the role of Deputy CEO at Social Enterprise UK from the beginning of January 2018.Read more
In a report written with the author of the Social Value Act, we call on the Act to be extended to all public sector expenditure.Read more
Our response to the Industrial Strategy.Read more
Peter Holbrook replies to the 2017 Budget.Read more
Nick Temple, Deputy CEO of Social Enterprise UK, has been appointed as the new Chief Executive of Social Investment Business (SIB). He will be leaving Social Enterprise UK at the end of December to take up his new position at SIB in January 2018.Read more
A major new report into how business is conducted in the UK today reveals the continued growth of the Social Enterprise movement.Read more
Leaders from business and civil society organisations have come together to create an Inclusive Economy Partnership that will tackle significant challenges facing our society.Read more
Social Enterprise UK has had a long-held ambition to acquire a building that can help bring the concept of social enterprise to life for members of the public, potential supporters and our broader range of stakeholders.Read more
Our response to the June 2017 Queen's Speech.Read more
Our CEO, Peter Holbrook, welcomes the appointment of the new Sports and Civil Society Minister Tracey Crouch MP.Read more
Michael Sheen, Patron of Social Enterprise UK pens an open letter, addressed to all candidates standing for office at the June General Election, urging them to support a social economy.Read more
New research conducted by ourselves and National Voices found that only 13% of Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) can clearly show that they are actively committed to pursuing social value in their procurement and commissioning decisions.Read more
The Buy Social Corporate Challenge, launched at Downing Street last year, is celebrating its one year anniversary. This ground-breaking initiative is seeing some of the UK’s largest businesses use their spending power to effect positive change in communities, both in the UK and abroad by committing to collectively spend £1 billion with social enterprises by 2020.Read more
The Social Economy Alliance, representing hundreds of social enterprises, co-operatives, charities, investors, entrepreneurs, trusts and associations has launched its manifesto for the General Election.Read more
Our response to the announcement of the General Election to be held in June 2017.Read more
Actor and social activist Michael Sheen will be joining Social Enterprise UK as patron and supporter, working with the organisation to promote and champion social enterprise models that can help tackle our most pressing challenges.Read more
Our response to the 2017 Spring Budget which contained some welcome news but which failed to deliver the radical change the economy needs.Read more
Our response to the Green Paper on the Industrial Strategy.Read more
Lord Victor Adebowale CBE has been named new Chair of Social Enterprise UK, the national body for social enterprises.Read more
Peter Holbrook's New Year wishlist for Government Departments on how they can best support social enterprises and the wider social economy.Read more
