Leyton’s Score Centre officially opened by Waltham Forest Council

The winners of the UK Social Enterprise Awards were announced at a gala reception at the Roundhouse in London on 4 December. Find out more about our winners, who showcase the strength, diversity and innovation of the social enterprise community. UK Social Enterprise of the Year Sponsored by Keegan & Pennykid The overall award for a social enterprise that has a clear vision, excellence in impact, and that has demonstrated and promoted social enterprise beyond the sector. The Workspace Group Workspace is a ‘profit for purpose’ social enterprise, founded in Draperstownm a small village in Mid Ulster, in 1985, by 170 members from the local community. The organisation emerged as a direct response to local decline, deprivation, and rising unemployment. The initial business model aimed to generate rental income from business units, which was then used to fund the provision of free business advice to support local entrepreneurs to start up in business and create jobs in the area. Workspace has grown significantly since 1985 and, in addition to providing incubator units, has diversified its operations to include several commercial businesses. These generate surpluses, which are gifted back to the parent company, Workspace Draperstown Ltd, to enable it to carry out its social mission. @TheWorkspaceGro HIGHLY COMMENDED: Isle of Gigha Heritage Trust One to Watch Sponsored by PwC The One to Watch Award is for a start-up social enterprise. Key to winning this award is an ability to clearly articulate their future vision and how they are going to achieve it. Half the Story Half the Story is a social enterprise biscuit business started in 2023. Its biscuits taste great – but as it says on each packet: ‘It’s not about the biscuit…it’s about the people who bake them’. Half the Story creates life changing employment for people with major barriers to work including homelessness. Wrapped in ecofriendly packaging its biscuits can already be found in retail outlets, on boardroom tables, at conference centres and hotels. These are biscuits that taste good and do good! @halfthestoryuk Prove It: Social Impact Award Sponsored by Linklaters For a social enterprise that can truly demonstrate and communicate their impact with their stakeholders. Breadwinners Breadwinners is a not-for-profit social enterprise that provides artisan organic bread and pastries while supporting refugees through employment and work experience programmes. By operating market stalls and a wholesale model, it gives refugees jobs and creates a community of customers, socially responsible partners, and producers that promotes the integration of newly arrived individuals into the UK. All while offering the best sourdoughs, natural levains, and organic pastries! @wearebreadwinners HIGHLY COMMENDED: The Skill Mill ‘Buy Social’ Market Builder Award Sponsored by Clear Voice For a social enterprise, public sector body or private sector organisation that has demonstrably made efforts within its own organisation and remit to create more opportunities to buy from social enterprises. Co-op Co-op is one of the world’s largest consumer co-operatives, owned its by millions of members. It’s the UK’s fifth biggest food retailer with more than 2,500 local convenience stores, the UK’s number one funeral services provider, a major general insurer and a growing legal services business. Alongside clear financial and operational objectives the Co-op is a recognised leader for its social goals and community-led programmes. It exists to meet members’ needs and stand up for the things they believe in. @coopuk HIGHLY COMMENDED: McLaughlin & Harvey Social Investment Deal of the Year Sponsored by Better Society Capital For an organisation that has been part of a great investment deal in the last 12 months that has helped the social enterprise to grow or the movement as a whole to develop and flourish. British Land/Impact Hub London Impact Hub London secured a transformative deal with British Land who provided £3.5m of CAPEX and managed the Cat-A/B fit-out for a 10,650 sqft affordable workspace in Regent’s Place. Repayment for CatB and peppercorn rent with a profit share arrangement enabled what would otherwise have beenunaffordable. Not only did this secure a world-class space for inclusive innovation in Camden, with freememberships for underserved residents, but built aligned interests and a true collaboration to enablecommunity and global impact. @impacthublondon @britishlandplc HIGHLY COMMENDED: Impact Finance Consulting/ARK Resettlement Services Public Services Social Enterprise of the Year Sponsored by GLL For a social enterprise for whom the majority of their income comes from the public sector and which delivers public services (for central or local government, NHS, criminal justice or other statutory body). Simon Community Scotland Simon Community Scotland has focused on responding to the causes and consequences of homelessness. It is a community of staff, volunteers and people who are homeless that combine to reach, respond and resolve the challenges and circumstances people find themselves in. Its ambition is that everyone has a safe place to live and the support they need. In any given year, Simon Community Scotland supports over 7000 people with 300 staff, 140 volunteers and over 70 partners across Scotland working with people living on the street, temporary accommodation and in their own homes. @simoncommscot Consumer Facing Social Enterprise of the Year Sponsored by The Company Shop Group For a social enterprise that delivers a retail product or service to the general public. Tap Social Movement Oxford-based Tap Social Movement is an independent social enterprise, craft brewery, and hospitality organisation that provides training and employment opportunities for prisoners and prison leavers. It believes that everyone benefits when no one is excluded from the job market, and to date has created more than 85,000 of paid, meaningful employment for leavers. It runs four Oxfordshire community venues, including Proof Social Bakehouse, named by The Telegraph Food as one of the 13 best bakeries in Britain. @tapsocialmovement Education, Training & Jobs Social Enterprise of the Year Sponsored by BDO For a social enterprise in the education, training or employment sectors that can demonstrate excellence in vision and strategic direction, and clearly evidence their social, environmental and community impact. Change Please CIC Change Please is an innovative social enterprise revolutionising the approach to tackling homelessnessthrough its holistic programs. By training individuals experiencing homelessness as baristas and providing them with essential support services, Change Please creates pathways to stable employment and housing. Its “Driving for Change” initiative repurposes buses to deliver comprehensive health, social and employment services across London. Partnering with organisations like Colgate and HSBC, ChangePlease supports thousands annually and champions social change through impactful scalable solutions. @changeplease HIGHLY COMMENDED: Cockpit Environmental Social Enterprise of the Year Sponsored by Landmarc For a social enterprise in the green and environmental sector with a clear evidenced environmental impact. Finance Earth Finance Earth is an employee-owned social enterprise with a mission to scale up funding into natureconservation, climate, and communities. Current investment to tackle the twin crises of climate changeand biodiversity loss falls billions of pounds short of what is required. Finance Earth works with leadingenvironmental charities, governments, and businesses to secure investment in projects that deliver realsocial and environmental impact. This year, it facilitated the UK’s biggest ever transfer ofenergy assets into community ownership. @finance.earth HIGHLY COMMENDED: Ethstat Ethical CIC Social Enterprise Building Diversity, Inclusion, Equity & Justice Award Sponsored by Nestlé Social justice is fundamental to the social enterprise movement. This category is open to all social enterprises who are addressing issues around diversity, inclusion and equity. City Health Care Partnership CIC Providing the highest quality health and care services, City Health Care Partnership CIC’s vision is to lead and inspire through excellence, compassion and expertise in all that it does. CHCP helps to keep people healthy, happy and out of hospital in Hull, the East Riding of Yorkshire and Merseyside. It generates social value through reinvestment in colleagues, communities and services, with a social return on investment of £55 for every £1 spent. @chcphull Social Enterprise Women’s Champion of the Year Sponsored by Bunzl For a woman working in the senior leadership team of a social enterprise who represents excellence in her field of work. Maggie Gordon-Walker – Mothers Uncovered (Livestock charity)  Maggie directs Mothers Uncovered but she’s never not on the job. She’s constantly generating ideas to reach out to mothers, and ways they can make money in these times of austerity. Social obstacles to a woman succeeding in the business and voluntary sector are well known – hence the importance of Maggie’s focus on the lived experience of mothers, especially their mental health. The context in which she is working is tough but Maggie remains undaunted, vibrant and vital. @mothers_uncovered HIGHLY COMMENDED: Paula Jennings – Stepping Stones International Impact Award Sponsored by Zurich Insurance Group For a social enterprise working internationally, and which are having a big impact in their field. This award is open to UK-based organisations only with existing international operations. IDEMS International CIC IDEMS builds open technology and digital public goods for social impact, delivering services in partnership with local organisations to build equity in the place of exclusion. An international team working globally, it has developed not only cultural competences to identify analytic methods from new perspectives, but also a collaborative approach to delivery that can be as transformative as what is actually delivered. This approach, and the values on which it is based, are codified in its organisational principles. HIGHLY COMMENDED: Stand4Socks Community-Based Social Enterprise of the Year Sponsored by the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation This award is for a social enterprise that trades for the benefit of their community, making a real local impact. Peninsula Dental Social Enterprise CIC PDSE is committed to improving oral health in the Southwest through the provision of treatment, education and engagement with communities. Its unique model brings together dental education, high-quality patient care and community outreach to deliver demonstrable social impact. The clinics were established to tackle oral health inequalities in underserved areas and to address the lack of availability of dental care, treating patients who may not otherwise have access to a dentist. Social Enterprise Innovation of the Year Sponsored by Barclays Business Banking A new award is recognising a social enterprise that has brought something truly innovative to market in the past year. Change Please CIC Change Please is an innovative social enterprise revolutionising the approach to tackling homelessness through its holistic programs. By training individuals experiencing homelessness as baristas and providing them with essential support services, Change Please creates pathways to stable employment and housing. Its “Driving for Change” initiative repurposes buses to deliver comprehensive health, social and employment services across London. Partnering with organisations like Colgate and HSBC, Change Please supports thousands annually and champions social change through impactful scalable solutions. @changeplease Tech for Good: Technology Social Enterprise of the Year Sponsored by Mitie For a social enterprise that uses technology to achieve social impact. Hope 4 The Community CIC Hope For The Community CIC is a Coventry based social enterprise empowering people living with long-term conditions and carers to take control of their health and wellbeing. Its Hope Programme courses enhance participants’ knowledge, skills, and confidence, enabling them to actively participate in their care, leading to improved quality of life and reduced healthcare burden. Organisations across the public, voluntary and private sectors license a range of evidence based peer-led self-management programmes delivered in-person and online across the UK. @hope4tc HIGHLY COMMENDED: WYK Digital Awards Sponsors

An update on our collective policy campaigning from Cwmpas, Social Enterprise Northern Ireland, Social Enterprise Scotland and Social Enterprise UK  Although the new UK Government’s first Budget marked positive shifts like investment in public services, many social enterprises have concerns about how it could affect their business, which we’re currently working to urgently address.  Social enterprises are committed to paying a living wage and providing good jobs, often for those furthest from the labour market and in the most deprived areas – but many will struggle with additional costs from increased wages and employer National Insurance Contributions, particularly those reliant on public sector contracts. It’s not yet clear if some providers will be exempt from additional costs, or reimbursed in some way, or neither.   Different departments have given contradictory messages, so we’re seeking clarity on details of the plans and their potential impact; Scotland’s First Minister has also committed to pressing the UK Government on this. To deliver manifesto commitments around community services and prevention, government must recognise the essential role of social enterprises in their delivery across the country. We’re liaising urgently with politicians and policymakers in all four nations to ensure they understand these issues and work towards a fair resolution.   We’re also engaging partners and wider stakeholders impacted by the changes to maximise our collective impact, as this could have serious consequences for social enterprises who provide vital services every day. There are calls to protect GPs and social care providers, but we know this issue goes further – from healthcare to hospices, school meals to children’s homes, leisure facilities to community transport, all over the country.   To help shield the many vital social enterprises reliant on public sector contracts from these potentially crippling costs, please add your voice to our petition.  We hope the Chancellor will use her additional spending power to create the conditions where mission-led businesses like social enterprises can thrive, which will ultimately build a stronger and fairer economy – but we won’t just wait and see. We exist to be a strong voice for social enterprise, so we’ll make sure that central and devolved governments understand our needs on this budgetary issue and beyond. 

This holiday season, discover a gift that embodies luxury, social purpose, and sustainability with Amplify Goods' new Solidarity Gentle Exfoliating Bar Soap. Crafted for conscious consumers who want to make a meaningful impact with each purchase, the Solidarity Bar Soap is designed to nurture individually and collectively. The Solidarity Bar Soap isn’t just a washroom essential; it’s a gift that gives people and packaging a second chance. Each bar is carefully packaged at our base within Crisis’ warehouse, creating living wage paid work experience for people facing diverse barriers to work, including those experiencing homelessness. Our bar packaging also opens up to create a bookmark, by tearing along the inbuilt perforation. Each case of 175 soaps provides two hours of vital work experience, empowering individuals with the skills and confidence to (re)enter the workforce. When bought in bulk, the packaging process uses repurposed materials like newspaper offcuts and reused cardboard boxes to keep waste at an absolute minimum, embodying our commitment to reducing carbon and creating circular-enabled products. The Solidarity Bar Soap brings a premium feel to your routine with a blend of natural ingredients: 96%+ Naturally Derived Ingredients: Carefully selected to provide a nourishing and gentle cleanse, suitable for all skin types. 100% Vegan & Cruelty-Free: Certified by The Vegan Society, ensuring zero animal testing. Upcycled Olive Stone Granules: Offering a gentle exfoliation, this eco-friendly feature repurposes olive stones to reduce waste. Infused with 100% Essential Oils: Natural fragrances with orange and herbal notes. Plastic-Free Packaging: Our packaging is as mindful as our ingredients, designed to reduce environmental impact without compromising on quality. Each individual soap box can be repurposed into a bookmark, giving it a second chance of life. Amplify Goods Co-Founder Camilla Marcus-Dew, says: “Soap without compromise, I‘m so proud to launch this! Long ago, I used to have products in 1000 supermarkets doing good, and it’s exciting to bring something back to market that we know, at scale will do SUCH great things – let's make sure more products put people and planet first, and where better to buy this year that Crisis, ensuring all profit are used for good.” With an RRP of £3.75 per bar and also available in bulk orders, the Solidarity Bar Soap makes a meaningful and affordable addition to holiday hampers, stocking fillers, or corporate gifting. It’s a beautiful, socially impactful way to spread the spirit of giving this holiday season. For more information, contact us at hello@amplifygoods.org Shop Solidarity Bar Soaps on the Crisis store: https://shopfromcrisis.org.uk/products/solidarity-soap