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30 UK businesses have spent £250 million procuring services and products from social enterprises and helped create 2,700 jobs in an ongoing programme from Social Enterprise UK.
90 per cent of corporate partners in the challenge reported that social enterprises were cost neutral or even cheaper when compared with other suppliers, while 95 per cent said that social enterprises delivered comparable or higher quality.
Social enterprises are businesses that reinvest at least 50 per cent of their profits back into a social or environmental mission. 52 per cent of social enterprises trading with Buy Social Corporate Challenge have been able to recruit more staff as a result.
Launched in 2016, the Buy Social Corporate Challenge has a ten-year target of £1 billion of spend and is on track to reach this goal, with more than £91 million achieved in the last year, and a total of more than a quarter of a billion, over the last six years.
Corporate partners on the programme include Amey, CBRE, Compass/Foodbuy, Deloitte, EQUANS, Landmarc Support Services, Lendlease, Mitie, Sodexo, The Crown Estate, Wates Group and Willmott Dixon.
Social Enterprise UK estimates that by trading with Buy Social Corporate Challenge partners and adopting ethical procurement principles, social enterprise suppliers have been able to reinvest approximately £26.5 million.
Peter Holbrook, Chief Executive of Social Enterprise UK, said: “Following higher scrutiny by investors, stakeholders, staff and consumers, mainstream UK businesses are increasingly considering their social and environmental impact when they set strategy and make decisions.
“SEUK welcomes this shift and we believe social enterprise has an important role to play in supporting the wider business community to embrace social value and consider the social and environmental impact of their work.”
Picture: a photograph of two people working together on a laptop and with pen and paper. Image Credit: Pexels
Article written by Ella Tansley | Published 29 September 2022
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