Opinion: Social enterprises must be bolder and sharper to convince Keir Starmer’s government of their worth

I spent the start of this week at the UK Labour Party conference in Liverpool, along with colleagues from Social Investment Business and partners from our world. I always find these events a bit of a blur, and this one was busier than most, with countless fringe events, keynote speeches and receptions to choose from. As ever, the best of pre-planned intentions soon fell by the wayside of serendipitous meetings and conversations with connections, old and new.

• The Editor’s Post: Labour and the impact economy: ‘they get it’. Now what?

I first attended a couple of ‘sector’ events (charity and social enterprise), but left a bit underwhelmed – at times, they felt quite insular, and the topics raised were limited in their scope or their newness. Should civil society remain in the Department for Culture, Media and Sport? Is the Social Value Act perfect? Why are big charities competing with small charities? Why are local authorities often quite bad at commissioning? Shouldn’t we have a champion for philanthropy? And so on: stop me if you’ve heard any of these before.

These perennial sector-facing debates, however valid they might be, felt as though they were running in parallel with a conference elsewhere talking with a sense of collective ambition and urgency on infrastructure, growth, buildings, energy and more. 

The sector events felt quite insular, and the topics raised were limited in their scope or their newness

Perhaps this was why there were no MPs, never mind ministers, at either of those sector sessions. As Sarah Elliott, the CEO of the National Council of Voluntary Organisations, which is a membership body for charities in England, said frankly at one event, charities (and social enterprises) simply aren’t a priority, except when there’s a crisis like the pandemic or the riots. I was interested to hear her say that one indicator of progress (aka being taken seriously) would be to see civil society or the impact economy represented or convened as part of each of the government’s ‘mission boards’ (cross-cutting panels expected to be formed to tackle each of the government’s five key manifesto pledges). 

A bolder, sharper argument

Outside the main conference, the showcasing of Liverpool’s thriving social economy – Kindred, Baltic Creative, Make CIC, Gateway Collective, Homebaked and all – was hugely welcome and great to see. They are such impressive individual examples but also make a collective case for how investment into such enterprises can create jobs, opportunities and help transform communities across a city-region.

• Read more about Kindred in Kindred spirits: the Liverpool collective redesigning social finance

It is that collective argument that I feel we need to work more on if we are going to cut through and advocate with more success. I came away from Liverpool thinking we need to be bolder and sharper if we are to make greater headway, especially on the economy. 

What does that look like?

• Positioning charities and social enterprises as the answer to the complex challenges of health and economic inactivity, both in direct delivery and also as the most flexible and supportive set of employers in the country.

Read more: Good jobs: UK social enterprises offer better pay, opportunities and diversity than other employers

• Demonstrating and evidencing our productivity and our combined investment in R&D, science and technology.
• Being unapologetic about our scale – we’re talking about 5% of the UK workforce, aggregate turnover of tens of billions, and billions more flowing as investment into the areas that need it most.
• Asserting clearly and confidently that we have a role in energy, in infrastructure, in investment, in utilities, in regional economic and industrial strategies – mission-led businesses making their contribution to the government’s growth mission; an impact economy that has a big impact on the whole economy.

None of which means we become untethered from reality or disconnected from the people and places we seek to serve. If I can steal a mantra from an estate agency near where I used to live, we need to be ‘big enough to cope, small enough to care’. At Social Investment Business that means being able to deliver at scale, with quality, responding with pace and purpose to the issues we face; but also building the trust and relationships and understanding that creates change in the long term.

When the prime minister Keir Starmer spoke in his speech of building a new home “brick by brick…a better home, built to last, built with pride, but above all built together”, my mind went back to an event I attended last Friday evening.

At Tottenham Town Hall, Ark Resettlement Services was celebrating its 10th anniversary – Ark is a charity which provides accommodation and support to those coming out of prison across north east London. Social Investment Business has just provided them with a loan (and a grant alongside) to buy and own its first house. The team there, led by Kingsley Bempah and Lloyd Walker, have built that organisation brick by brick, and now they have a better home to help others. 

They are exactly the sort of enterprise – creating jobs, preventing re-offending, ambitious to grow their reach and impact – that we want to support. And they are making a significant economic contribution in multiple ways. We must seek out people like Kingsley and Lloyd who are seeking to grow, and find bigger and better ways to support their aspirations. And we must channel their boldness, urgency and ambition in our work, if we are to build together as a movement – and make change at the pace and scale that’s required.

Nick Temple is CEO of Social Investment Business

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