Social enterprise background
Social enterprises are defined as “businesses with primarily social
objectives whose surpluses are principally reinvested for that purpose in
the business or community, rather than being driven by the need to maximise
profit for shareholders and owners”.
This means organisations that trade goods and services and use the majority
of their profits for social and environmental goals. You might be familiar
with such examples as The Big Issue [external
website] and Jamie Oliver’s Fifteen
restaurant [external website], but there
are at least 55,000 social enterprises like these across the UK.
Social enterprises tackle some of our most entrenched social and
environmental challenges in an innovative way. They can come in many shapes
and sizes, from community-owned village shops to large development trusts,
and in many legal forms, including community interest companies, industrial
and provident societies and companies limited by guarantee, among others.
Whatever form they take, social enterprises prove that social and
environmental responsibility can be combined with financial success. They
challenge and help government to improve the way we design and deliver
public services. They bring innovative ideas and a ‘can-do’ attitude and
can work in some of the community groups that government finds it
hardest to reach. At the same time they raise standards for ethical
business and corporate social responsibility.
The Government's work to promote the role of social enterprise in the
economy and society was mapped out in its 2006 strategy, the Social
enterprise action plan: scaling new heights.
