The historical development of the UK government’s approach to social entrepreneurship
Social enterprise in the UK has a long history, from the cooperative movement and mutual organisations of the 1800’s to the long-standing trading activities of many charities. Throughout the second half of the twentieth century support was provided to co-operatives to different degrees by different governments, culminating in a near complete withdrawal of central government support to co-operative development during the Conservative government of 1979-1997. During the “lean years” of the 1980’s and early 1990’s co-operative and community development organisations often turned to European funding programmes to finance their work. Then, as is the case now, committed individuals – both volunteers and paid – often subsidised projects, organisations and initiatives through their “sweat equity”, the provision of their own time, and sometimes funds, to ensure projects continued.
The mid 1990’s saw parts of the co-operative movement rebranding co-operatives as social enterprise, leading to the building of the current social enterprise movement and government embracing the concept. This was very much driven by a concerted campaign from cooperative and social enterprise organisations. The first government document to acknowledge social enterprises as a group of organisations concerned with delivering social or environmental objectives through trading was the Policy Action Team 3 paper titled “Enterprise and Social Exclusion” published in 1999.” The report led to a number of government interventions and, combined with a strong lobby from sector leaders, instigated and focused initial government interest in the sector.
In 2002, the government launched a Social Enterprise Strategy and set up the DTI Social Enterprise Unit to co-ordinate its implementation. The Social Enterprise Unit was borne, at least in part, from the continued lobby of government from the emerging social enterprise sector, and in particular the newly formed Social Enterprise Coalition. The Unit was established within the Department of Trade and Industry, and in 2006 became part of the newly created Office of the Third Sector(OTS), within the Cabinet Office at the centre of government.
The DTI’s Social Enterprise Unit and the subsequent Office of the Third Sector is at least in part responsible for the creation of units within many government departments and more than £500million of public investment targeting growing social enterprises and social entrepreneurs. It has also been instrumental in developments such as The National Programme for Third Sector Commissioning, which has seen more than 2,000 public sector commissioners be trained in how to engage with social enterprise to procure services.
UK government’s specific support for Social enterprise
a. Social Enterprise London
“The first agency in the UK – Social Enterprise London (SEL) – was established in 1998 after collaboration between co-operative businesses (Poptel, Computercraft Ltd, Calverts Press, Artzone), a number of co-operative development agencies (CDAs), and infrastructure bodies supporting co-operative enterprise development (Co-operative Training London, Co-operative Party, London ICOM, Co-operatives UK). SEL’s first chief executive, Jonathan Bland, brought experience from Valencia where a business support infrastructure for co-operative enterprise was established using learning from the Mondragon region of Spain. SEL did more than provide support to emerging businesses. It created a community of interest by working with the London Development Agency (LDA) to establish both an undergraduate degree in social enterprise at the University of East London (led by Jon Griffith) and a Social Enterprise Journal (now managed by Liverpool John Moores University and published by Emerald Publishing).
SEL is listed as separate from the other regional support agencies due to its pioneering role in establishing the social economy support infrastructure in the UK.
b. National Council for Voluntary Organisation’s Sustainable Funding Project
As part of The National Council for Voluntary Organisation’s (NCVO) vision “of a society in which people are inspired to make a positive difference to their communities” it established the Sustainable Funding Project in 2000. Using funds from FutureBuilders, Centrica and Charity Bank, “Sustainable Funding Project provides tools, resources and expertise to enable voluntary and community organisations to develop and implement a sustainable income strategy, including good financial management. As well as the information provided online we also deliver training courses, events, consultancy and a range of publications aimed at bringing together the best that NCVO and the sector can offer in a practical, accessible way”.
c. Social Enterprise Coalition
The Social Enterprise Coalition (SEC) is the UK’s national body for social enterprise. “The Social Enterprise Coalition represents a wide range of social enterprises, regional and national support networks and other related organisations. We believe that social enterprise is the right way to do business and we work with our members to:
• Promote the benefits of social enterprise through the media, campaigning and events.
• Promote best practice amongst social enterprises through networks and publications. A key part of the Coalition’s work is to enable social enterprises to share know how, network and do business. We publish a range of case studies, ‘how to’ guides and training materials.
• Inform the policy agenda working with key decision makers. Our aim is to improve the operating environment for social enterprise by advising government, informing consultations and hosting policy events.
• We influence politicians across the political spectrum, generating support for social enterprise. Political engagement has been the bed rock of the Coalition’s work in promoting social enterprise and in pushing the issue up the policy agenda.
• Undertake research to expand the social enterprise evidence base.
• We are currently gathering up-to-date information from a national membership survey to inform government policy”.
d. Social Enterprise support organisations in the regions
Following the establishment of SEL and then SEC social enterprise and social economy support organisations begun to appear in the other regions around the UK. Often instigated or at least funded by the Regional Development Agencies (RDA’s), as part of their economic development strategies, these new organisations became the focal points for regional lobbying and representation as well as support and capacity building.
e. Co-operatives UK
“Co‑operatives UK was launched in January 2003 when the Co‑operative Union, the Industrial and Common Ownership Movement (ICOM), and the United Kingdom Co‑operative Council (UKCC) were brought together in a single organisation. Co‑operativesUK is an independent and autonomous co‑operative organisation, owned and democratically controlled by its members, but the work that we do benefits all co‑operative enterprises in the United Kingdom.
f. Social Enterprise Magazine
Social Enterprise Magazine is the UK’s monthly magazine devoted to providing accessible, comprehensive news and practical help for everyone interested in social enterprise.
* Community interest Companies : A community interest company (CIC) is a new type of company introduced by the United Kingdom government in 2005 under the Companies (Audit, Investigations and Community Enterprise) Act 2004, designed for social enterprises that want to use their profits and assets for the public good. CICs are intended to be easy to set up, with all the flexibility and certainty of the company form, but with some special features to ensure they are working for the benefit of the community.
영국은 오래 전부터 사회적 기업 육성에 힘을 쏟아왔다. 그 결과 2011년 6만여개의 사회적 기업이 전체 고용의 5%를 차지할 정도로 사회적 기업 활동이 활발하게 이루어지고 있는 대표적인 국가로 성장 하였다. 영국 정부는 일찍부터 사회적 기업이 다양한 사회적, 경제적 문제를 해결 할 수 있을 것이라고 판단하였고, 2001년부터 정부 내 사회적 기업단(Social Enterprise Unit:SEU)을 발족 시키고 적극적으로 사회적 기업의 육성지원정책을 펼치기 시작했다. 그 이후 사회적기업 설립을 효과적으로 지원하기 위해 2005년에 공동체이익회사(Community Interest Company)제도를 도입하였고, 런던 지역사회에서는 사회적 기업 부문 확대를 위해 SEL(Social Enterprise London)을 만들어 노동시장 훈련 프로젝트(불우계층 및 실직자들에게 교육과 고용기회 제공)와 LET'S등의 로컬 트레이딩 네트워크(스킬교환) 역할을 수행하는 등 사회적 기업 육성을 위해 많은 노력을 기울였다. 이 과정에서 영국정부는 사회적 기업에 대해 단순한 재정적인 지원뿐만 아니라, 지속성과 안전성 강화를 위한 지역사회와의 파트너십 구축, 경쟁력강화를 위한 지원정책, 사회적 기업 간 네트워크 구축 지원 정책 등을 전략적으로 펼쳐, 사회적 기업 육성에 큰 성과를 거두었다.