News

23 September 2022 Responding to Labour’s new National Procurement Plan, Peter Holbrook, Chief Executive of Social Enterprise UK, said: Social Enterprise UK has long been calling for social value to be beefed up in government contracts. Labour’s plan to prioritise the benefits for local communities and the environment in procurement is a big step in the right direction. It will send a powerful signal to businesses that everyone receiving public money has a responsibility to make our country fairer and our planet greener. The UK spends over £300bn through public procurement every year. The latest research by our Social Value 2032 programme, which brings social enterprises and businesses together, has estimated that we are missing out on over £50bn of added social value through smarter procurement every year. It is good to see Labour looking to close that gap and get value for money for taxpayers.

23 Septemeber 2022 Chief Executive of Social Enterprise UK, Peter Holbrook, said: The Government’s Plan for Growth sees the UK’s economic future being gambled on tax cuts in the hope that this creates growth. Evidence shows this will not work. With the risk of another painful recession increasing, we must look at building a different model. There are alternatives out there, and social enterprise is at the centre. We will continue to make the case for change because the country cannot prosper without it.

22 September 2022 Yesterday’s Energy Bill Relief Scheme is a vital intervention which will give our members some of the help they need over the winter months. The UK Government have published guidance on their website going into more detail about how the scheme works, information on how bills will be reduced and examples of how the scheme will be applied to different organisations.   Social enterprises do not need to take any action to access the scheme and support (in the form of a p/kWh discount) will automatically be applied to bills. The level of price reduction for each business will vary depending on their contract type and circumstances. You can read the full guidance from Government here  We will be following up with more information about what the scheme means for social enterprises shortly and will continue to work hard to urge Government to support social enterprises through the uncertainties the next few months bring.  

21 Septemeber 2022 Commenting on the energy bill relief scheme announced today, Peter Holbrook, Chief Executive of Social Enterprise UK said: This vital intervention from Government will give social enterprises some of the help that they need this winter. The cap will help our sector to protect jobs and investment in local communities, ensuring that they can continue to deliver their social and environmental missions. We now need the energy companies to deliver this discount quickly. Any delay could harm the cashflow of social enterprises and create needless distress. “However, this crisis is not going to go away. Businesses need more certainty to plan and to secure investment for growth, which is why it’s crucial that the Government swiftly clarifies what will happen beyond March next year. Until the energy crisis is resolved, the cap must be kept.

By Tom Cracknell - Co-Founder Origin Africa Problem 1: Historically, in manufacturing, the value-added activity has been prioritised to the Global North. Hence the wealth gap increases. This leaves individuals and communities in places like Kikambala, Kenya, with very little control over their own economic path. Problem 2: The textile industry has a responsibility to clean up its act. Enormous swathes of polyester and energy consuming materials are produced to satisfy an increasingly fickle market of consumption in the global north. All this production takes energy, resources and often denatures water and fertile land (let's not forget recycling clothing takes energy too). Fashion Revolution Kenya worked with the British Council in 2020 to investigate what materials really are the most efficacious and least environmentally damaging to produce apparel. They looked to establish the pros and cons of each fibre and where improvements still needed to be made. The fibres were nettle, flax, pineapple, banana, hemp, water hyacinth, sisal, cotton, silk and fish leather and wool. A lot of these do not produce suitable fabric for garments but it's worth having a look at this paper because the options are exciting! The latest evidence points to the use of cotton but not in its traditional sense of landscape changing vast production that harms environments and livelihoods. However, the Report does highlight, along with other cutting edge non biased research such as the Transformers Foundation's Cotton Myths Debunked, that a sustainable solution is to overcome the issue of water consumption (an oft-quoted criticism of cotton) by ensuring production is catalysed by rain water rather than mass hectares of irrigated land: 'A shift to mainly or solely using rain-fed cotton is a tangible solution when looking to create a more sustainable industry.' When looking to establish our own supply chain from the get-go, it took time. We had to make sure we were making the right choices. This included country of origin, textile of the garment, materials consumed, methods employed, dyes used, pesticide consumption, quality of garments, nature of factory and finally, conditions in which the garment workers worked. Let's come back to that in a moment. So, having done our research, we settled on rain-fed cotton, using an absolute minimum of pesticides along with natural water-based dyes that would not denature water, and we would go to establish the ethics of production ourselves as cottage industries in Kenya have yet been unable to establish the expensive 'Organic' certification, albeit in planning. Environmentally satisfied we were doing everything possible to tackle problem 2, back to Problem 1! We needed to find a way to ensure clothing was being produced in a way that was respectful and even beneficial to those working in the supply chain. This needed to include ensuring basic employment rights such as maternity leave, secure contracts and protection from unlawful loss of employment. It also meant looking at working conditions to make sure that harmful materials were not being used, that working hours were not exploitative and that the factory was at a temperature which was not detrimental to health. Finally we also needed to ensure that workers had the opportunity to progress and develop. According to a 2019 Oxfam Australia report, 9 out of 10 garment workers felt that their income is not sufficient or partially sufficient to meet their needs and, as a result, 87% of workers take loans from the local shop to fill their income expenditure gap. Fashion companies are forcing this to happen and consumers, all too often, don’t pay attention to the detail enough to see the harm caused in the production of their new garments. In the fiscal year 2021-22, Next Plc (the UK’s largest fast fashion brand) reported a profit of £823 million, up 140% from the previous year. With some years of experience under our belt, we have come to a certain conclusion in fashion: If an organisation is not talking about the good things they are doing, they aren’t doing them. Basically, as consumers, we should be asking the hard questions. So, in researching our new supply chain, when we approached factories and organisations who could not explain to us their employment methods, their conditions of working or whether their employees were paid above the living wage, it was obvious to us that the organisation does not align with the ethics of Origin. We simply did not work with them. However, after lengthy research and really at a point when we felt ethical production in Africa may well not be possible for Origin clothing, opportunities began to spring up that offered hope. We began to see this may be possible and may actually happen. Working with garment factory SOKO Kenya in Kikambala and farm-to-fabric business Tosheka Textiles in Wote (both female-led businesses that emphasise female opportunity every day) one can see the unquestionable opportunity generated by good employment. Women are paid above the living wage, given appropriate training for personal and entrepreneurial development and are respected to pursue their own path for establishing themselves and ensuring a bright future for their families. With such an empowering culture for women, we decided we had to work with them. When profits are generated from this clothing, we share the profits equally with each step of the production process. This means that garment workers and their communities directly benefit from a greater proportion of value-added activity in the production process of the garments they actually made, thus fighting the enormous inequalities that have historically come from large companies keeping the poor down by extracting low-cost goods and adding all that value in the Global North. It is proven that for every woman that is lifted above thefinancial poverty line, she brings 7 people with her. Now, why? Well, as Sven Beckert explains in 'The Empire of Cotton', it is curious that after millennia of equal development in the Global South and North, what academics refer to as the 'great divergence' occurred at a time when cotton's properties were being fully discovered and utilised to propel clothing into a massive world changing engine. The previously Southern industry of cotton was usurped by an increasingly Europe-centric business class and the seeds were ironically sown for this 'great divergence' to create a rich Global North at the cost of the Global South. Our supply chain methods directly combat this damaging skew. We believe fashion has a responsibility to reverse the deleterious effects it has had on the Global South. The opportunities generated within our ethical and responsible supply chain are the weapon we can use to pursue that change and, as long as brands stick to the principles that make a social enterprise (or truly ethical brand), we can fight that battle together for as long as Origin keeps trading originafrica.co.uk

Commenting on Patagonia’s shift to investing its profits into fighting the climate crisis, Peter Holbrook, Chief Executive of Social Enterprise UK, said: Patagonia’s decision to become a social enterprise proves that global brands can make the shift to build their business around purpose, while still delivering profit and aiming for growth. The company’s Board has explicitly stated that they believe by putting environmental purpose at the heart of their business, they will attract the best staff and deeper loyalty from customers. The scale of the climate crisis can no longer be denied and business has a vital role to play in protecting our planet. As more businesses explore how to improve their positive impact on the environment and society, Patagonia demonstrates the power of changing company structure and governance. We hope more business leaders will see this as a rallying cry and will be bolder in their pursuit of business where purpose and profit go hand in hand.

8 September 2022 Lord Victor Adebowale, Chair of Social Enterprise UK and Peter Holbrook, Chief Executive of Social Enterprise UK, said:  Her Majesty the Queen has been the ultimate leader of our nation for the last 70 years. We, along with millions of others, have greatly admired her unwavering commitment to her duties and how she made supporting social causes a central part of her role, through her patronages.   Throughout all the challenges the UK has faced in her reign she has provided stability, comfort and shown steadfast leadership, often saying exactly what people have needed to hear in some of our most trying times. This is a deeply sad time for the UK and our thoughts are with the Royal Family at this time of their great personal loss. 

8 September 2022 Responding to the Prime Minister’s announcement on energy costs this afternoon, Peter Holbrook, Chief Executive of Social Enterprise UK said: Today businesses needed to hear from the Prime Minister that the government has a plan to help them stave off calamity this winter and beyond. We have heard only some of the plan for winter, but social enterprises need more detail. It is crucial that businesses are given clarity quickly. We also need to avoid needless cliff-edges. This energy crisis is predicted to last at least a year, not six months, as the government has recognised for households. We must avoid a situation where businesses close or jobs are lost because we have not put in place a long-term plan. The Prime Minister is right to be looking at how the UK can shore itself up against energy crises in future. Two-thirds of social enterprises have or plan to have tackling the climate crisis as one of their legally binding objectives. It’s clear more businesses need to adopt similar commitments to reduce dependency on fossil fuels. We also need to invest in community energy, where social enterprises are working with local people to develop renewables that can reduce carbon emissions and help reduce the cost of energy over the long term.