Assisting local authorities in developing their support for social enterprise

In April 2010, the Young Foundation was commissioned by the Department for Communities and Local Government and the Office for Civil Society to understand how local authorities can develop specific activities that allow social enterprises to thrive, and to establish an understanding of barriers that prevent this from taking place.

About the project

The project consisted of three phases:

• Phase 1 - working with five local authorities (Brighton and Hove City Council, Gateshead Council, London Borough of Havering, Leeds City Council and Suffolk County Council) that have demonstrated interest and activity in supporting social enterprise, to draw together what has happened to date, what has been learnt and to begin to tease out lessons for the broader application.
• Phase 2 - working with five different local authorities (Cheshire West and Chester Council, Devon County Council, Ealing Council, Northumberland County Council and Wigan Council) where there is a keen interest in developing their approach to supporting social enterprise. This will involve intensive work to help the local authorities to develop specific policies, programmes and activities to enhance their support of social enterprises.
• Phase 3 - consolidating learning and reporting findings.

Project Findings

Our work with 10 local authorities over the course of one year has demonstrated a real transformation in councils' expectations of the social enterprise sector. If these expectations are to be met, local authorities recognise that they need a broader approach to supporting and nurturing social enterprises.

This broad approach encompasses seven themes: leadership, commissioning and procurement, innovative finance, delivering public services, collaboration, business support and local innovation. In isolation, actions under each of these themes are valuable, but when combined they signal the intent of local authorities to support the growth and significance of social enterprises in their localities.
Grow Your Own: How local authorities can support social enterprise

This report brings together information on the Supporting Local Social Enterprise action research project, case studies, inspiration from other sources, key findings and information on the developed actions and seven themes.

Find out more about the report Grow Your Own: How local authorities can support social enterprise

Grow Your Own: A new programme helping local authorities to develop their local social enterprise sector

Alongside the release of the Grow Your Own report, we have launched a related programme to support local authorities that want to bolster their capacity to work with social enterprises. The programme, also named 'Grow Your Own' is looking for budding local authority pioneers in supporting local social enterprise.

Find out more about the Grow Your Own programme.

Watch a video of MP Andrew Stunnel's speech at the launch of Grow Your Own:

Grow Your Own - How local authorities can support social enterprise from Knowledge Hub on Vimeo.