Social Firms UK is very pleased to announce that Wates Group, the family-owned construction services company, has joined as a Corporate Member.
People, partnership and sustainability is at the very heart of the way Wates does business and a strategic partnership with Social Firms UK epitomises that approach. Demonstrating a long term commitment to corporate, social and environmental responsibility, Wates works with like-minded organisations to enable change at a local and community level.
Social Firms UK has been working with Wates to identify social businesses that can operate within their supply chain, supporting its members via trade opportunities across the UK.
Rachel Woolliscroft, Head of Sustainability at Wates, commented “We are committed to making a difference to the communities in which we live and work. One of our priorities is creating work opportunities. We do this through running our own employment programmes such as Building Futures, where we help long term unemployed and ex-offenders back into work together with supporting social enterprises through our supply chain. Partnering with Social Firms UK is a natural extension of this and helps us identify other businesses who share the same values that we can engage with to achieve our goals."
Sally Reynolds, Chief Executive of Social Firms UK, commented “We are increasingly working with enlightened corporate companies who want to demonstrate their corporate responsibility in a meaningful and constructive manner. Social Firms are invariably small to medium businesses who rely on trade to remain sustainable whilst striving to deliver their social aim of job creation for the most disadvantaged. In these tough economic times, innovative and proactive approaches such as the one Wates is implementing helps the sector in the most useful way – through business.”
Corporate Membership of Social Firms UK offers bespoke opportunities to deliver a company’s social responsibilities whilst supporting social businesses who reinvest their profit to support their own social and/or environmental aims. Whether it’s via the supply chain, through training and development initiatives or through a volunteering programme, Social Firms UK can work with companies to embed social value in their organisation.