Connection Crew releases 2024 impact report on the UN Day of Social Justice

RIFT Social Enterprise is a Community Interest Company (CIC) that delivers self-employment services across the UK, with its main focus being on a 12-month one-to-one support for people interested in working for themselves. Its vision is to be the leading provider of self-employment support for marginalised people, and its mission is to empower participants to achieve sustainable self-employment and raise awareness that this is a viable option for many. The business has been trading for seven years, delivering a series of courses and webinars beyond its main support programme as well as accredited workbooks. From a team of two, it’s grown to 15 staff members, and in the last year alone supported more than a thousand people on their journey to self-employment. Working to support those in the criminal justice system For the first four years of RIFT Social Enterprise’s existence, the government department it’s worked with most has been His Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS). It has delivered services via the dynamic purchasing system (DPS) for the prison service and through CFO3 (Co-funding Organisation Round 3), which supported people with convictions to overcome barriers to education and employment. This funding ended in July 2024, but the social enterprise has been onboarded by the majority of prime providers delivering the programme's next iteration, CFOE. Two years ago, RIFT Social Enterprise diversified its services and started delivering for the Department for Work and Pensions’ (DWP) Restart Scheme. This works with people who have been long-term unemployed, giving them specialist tools and support to get back into the job market. The scheme is primarily contracted out to a series of prime organisations, such as Maximus and Ingeus, and RIFT Social Enterprise currently delivers for 20 different Restart providers all across the country. What are the benefits to government of working with Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise Organisations (VCSEs)? RIFT Social Enterprise’s chief executive Andy Gullick emphasises the additional value that comes through partnering with organisations dedicated to creating a positive social or environmental impact: “Social enterprises have social value at their core. The work that we do is founded in doing it for the right reasons, and profits have to be reinvested back into the business for the greater good of the work we’re doing. It’s a self-fulfilling prophecy that’s only going to lead to long term benefits for the participants, the local community, and that government contract as a whole.” What challenges have you faced in the contracting process?   Process, transparency and the role of relationships One of the big challenges RIFT Social Enterprise has found when applying for contracts is the time it takes to get onto portals such as the DPS for the prison service. Organisations wishing to deliver government contracts submit eligibility to deliver a service onto a DPS, with the relevant department going to those who have made it onto these procurement platforms to decide who to contract with. Whilst these are set up to simplify the contracting process, getting on the DPS “took hours and hours for a relatively new social enterprise at the time”. For smaller VCSEs, the amount of detail required can prove to be a challenge: “When you don’t have a big team or the experience of bidding for government contracts, it’s quite difficult in terms of bid writing , having to have two years’ worth of audited accounts, or if not providing management accounts and references. Having to go through 90 different questions as part of the due diligence process is really time consuming!” Once on a procurement portal, Andy highlights that many organisations “expect to sit back and wait for call-off opportunities to be published which they can bid for” but in reality it’s often “more about the relationships that you had or forge with particular prison governors of prison leadership teams, rather than it being an equal process”. This focus on forging relationships with commissioning bodies can lead to criticisms about the transparency of the process, and service deliverers sometimes approaching commissioners with ideas on what kind of services to commission. Compared to work with HMPPS, the Restart work through DWP was easier - but there were common challenges around the onboarding process, primarily around working with primes (organisations applying directly apply to DWP to deliver the bulk of the contract). In the example of Restart, a prime organisation would deliver a certain percentage of the contract and subcontract a supply chain to deliver another percentage, then both subcontract RIFT Social Enterprise on a spot purchase arrangement to provide specialist self-employment provision. Each layer required separate due diligence processes. Working with so many primes meant RIFT Social Enterprise had to fill out the same information multiple times and often in different ways; Andy said: “I wish that there was one standard proforma that was used for all VCSE providers that captured all of the information that all the primes need for due diligence.” Capturing broader impact Andy raised concerns that contracting processes don’t capture well the broader impact created by VCSEs, which are set up to tackle social and environmental challenges. He stressed how “stories of change” and the impact of RIFT Social Enterprise’s programmes on individual participants are key to its work, but often beyond the specifications of many contracts. With Restart, prime organisations draw down funding every time RIFT Social Enterprise can evidence that someone is self-employed as a result of the organisation’s work, but what is not counted are the “many softer outcomes for that individual such as an increase in confidence, better relationships with family and the wider community”. “There’s a real dichotomy between us being a not for profit, doing things for the right reasons, but working on a contract, where in a way, they encourage us to screen people out that aren’t going to get to the point of trading because they won’t be able to draw down any funding for that person – it’s a constant battle.” One possible solution to making it easier for VCSEs to apply for government contracts suggested by Andy is to influence primes to work with more VCSE suppliers: “With any new government procurement opportunities, the prime should be mandated so that a percentage of delivery has to fall within VCSE organisations. We add so much in terms of social value and impact but, at the moment, it’s a nice to have.” Based on a conversation with Andy Gullick, Chief Executive at RIFT Social Enterprise riftse.co.uk

RIFT Social Enterprise is a Community Interest Company (CIC) that delivers self-employment services across the UK, with its main focus being on a 12-month one-to-one support for people interested in working for themselves. Its vision is to be the leading provider of self-employment support for marginalised people, and its mission is to empower participants to achieve sustainable self-employment and raise awareness that this is a viable option for many. The business has been trading for seven years, delivering a series of courses and webinars beyond its main support programme as well as accredited workbooks. From a team of two, it’s grown to 15 staff members, and in the last year alone supported more than a thousand people on their journey to self-employment. Working to support those in the criminal justice system For the first four years of RIFT Social Enterprise’s existence, the government department it’s worked with most has been His Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS). It has delivered services via the dynamic purchasing system (DPS) for the prison service and through CFO3 (Co-funding Organisation Round 3), which supported people with convictions to overcome barriers to education and employment. This funding ended in July 2024, but the social enterprise has been onboarded by the majority of prime providers delivering the programme's next iteration, CFOE. Two years ago, RIFT Social Enterprise diversified its services and started delivering for the Department for Work and Pensions’ (DWP) Restart Scheme. This works with people who have been long-term unemployed, giving them specialist tools and support to get back into the job market. The scheme is primarily contracted out to a series of prime organisations, such as Maximus and Ingeus, and RIFT Social Enterprise currently delivers for 20 different Restart providers all across the country. What are the benefits to government of working with Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise Organisations (VCSEs)? RIFT Social Enterprise’s chief executive Andy Gullick emphasises the additional value that comes through partnering with organisations dedicated to creating a positive social or environmental impact: “Social enterprises have social value at their core. The work that we do is founded in doing it for the right reasons, and profits have to be reinvested back into the business for the greater good of the work we’re doing. It’s a self-fulfilling prophecy that’s only going to lead to long term benefits for the participants, the local community, and that government contract as a whole.” What tips do you have for other VCSEs looking to work with government? Andy recommends trying to secure contracts with key performance targets, rather than spot purchase arrangements, as this offers a much more stable source of revenue: “When we secured our first contract on the CFO3 provision across the prison service, the fact that we knew we were guaranteed that revenue every month for two years gave us the financial stability to be able to build and look to the future. Yes, we had some tough targets to meet and to evidence, but we knew exactly where we were. At the moment a lot of our contracts are on spot purchase arrangements, so we don’t know from one month to the next how many referrals we’re going to get in and how many successful outcomes we’re going to be able to draw down funding for. See if you can persuade the contracting body or prime to put you on a fixed-term contract with a guaranteed minimum revenue stream every month. It certainly was the building block for us to be able to continue with our growth.” Another top tip is to “network, network, network – get your name out there, go to as many events as you can, get your pitch deck in order and get it done professionally”. One big piece of advice given to Andy when it comes to promoting your business to a contracting organisation is to make sure you focus on the specific issues you can address and how you can work with them to deliver the solutions needed, rather than on broadly talking about what you do: “When talking about promoting your business to primes and to government organisations, start off with the problem you’re going to solve as opposed to what a lot of people do which is saying who we are, what we do, how great we are then at the end talking about the problem. Turn it on its head, go to the prime and tell them - this is a problem I’ve identified that you could potentially face with this contract and this is how we can support you to resolve it.” Based on a conversation with Andy Gullick, Chief Executive at RIFT Social Enterprise riftse.co.uk

Supplying services to the government or intending to? Here’s everything you need to know about the government’s new Procurement Act and how it will affect you.  Many of our members supply goods and services to local and national government, which is why the Procurement Act 2023 finally coming into force on 24 February is big news for social enterprises. The government is telling us that “the rules that shape how public bodies buy goods and services will change,” so if you’re a supplier or aspire to be, read on. We’ll tell you what’s changing, what you can do to prepare for it and why this is good news.  What is the new Procurement Act? According to the government, the new Act will simplify bidding and negotiating for contracts with the public sector by introducing a more flexible process that will reduce bureaucratic barriers for social enterprises. Payment will be more prompt, with 30-day payment terms on more contracts being promised, and suppliers can also expect feedback on their tenders from public bodies.   Key to this slicker way of working will be a new central digital platform, which is being positioned as ‘an enhancement to the existing Find a Tender service’. Registration will be simpler, and you’ll be able to store your core business details, making it easier to share your information with contracting authorities and use it for multiple bids. If you’re interested to see the new platform, the section below tells you how. All public procurement opportunities will be visible and searchable, and you’ll also be able to set up alerts, making it easier to stay aware of relevant available tenders.   The Act also promises a new regulator to ensure everyone plays by the new rules. The slightly Orwellian sounding Procurement Review Unit (PRU) will ‘enhance public sector procurement practice by ensuring adherence to the Procurement Act and safeguarding public procurement from suppliers deemed to pose risk’. Should you feel you were treated unfairly through the procurement process, the PRU will be the people to speak to, including anything to do with late payment.   How to get ready for the changes The government has done a good job in providing lots of resources to help you prepare for this new procurement process. It’s put a wealth of written information at your disposal, but also a library of 'Knowledge Drop' videos, as well as the training materials they are supplying to public sector buyers. You can find links to all of these on the government website. If you can set aside an hour, this video gives an overview of the new Procurement Act, along with key benefits and a demonstration of the new central digital platform. Join one of our practical webinars  We’ll be hosting a series of webinars to support organisations make the most of the opportunities being created by the new procurement landscape. 13 March, 12-12:40pm – Support for social enterprises Join our Deputy CEO, Charlie Wigglesworth, who’ll run through the key requirements for social enterprise suppliers. This webinar will be taking place in our Members’ Area and SEUK members will be sent a sign-up link in advance. If you’re not a member but would like to find out more, please fill out this expression of interest form. 12 March, 11am-12pm – Support for government suppliers VCSE Crown Representative, Claire Dove will run through the governments plans to increase spend with social enterprises and charities, providing practical examples and advice. 11 March, 12-1pm – Support for local authorities This webinar, explicitly tailored to local authority commissioners, will outline why it is important to involve social enterprises in the commissioning process. Why is this an opportunity for social enterprises?  The government has prefaced the Act going live with a National Procurement Policy Statement (NPPS) which provides transparency to the expectations they have of commissioners.   In it, it’s particularly pleasing to see recognition that social enterprises “are more likely to generate diverse and thriving local economies, creating jobs and economic growth”. Even better, that the number one requirement for economic growth in the NPPS is to “maximise procurement spend with small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and voluntary, community and social enterprises (VCSEs)”.  Read our full response to the NPPS. Overall, we see the new Procurement Act and accompanying statement as a good direction of travel towards our aim of all public sector procurement creating social value. If you’re interested in knowing more about this, you can read about our Social Value 2032 Programme.