Social Firms UK

 Fightback Britain details the findings of the largest analysis of the social enterprise sector in the UK, conducted by Social Enterprise UK and supported by the Co-operative Bank.

It has revealed that three times as many social enterprises as mainstream businesses are operating in the UK’s poorest areas (39% compared to 13%) –where a third of all social enterprise start-ups have originated.

Get a copy of Fightback Britain here.

Electroville became an independent Social Firm on 1st June 2007, having grown out of the Disabled People's Electronic Village Hall (DP-EVH). It exists to provide employment for disabled people through providing high quality ICT services to voluntary organisations.

Electroville provides a wide range of ICT services: • ICT technical support • Management training in developing ICT strategy • Website production • Broadband.

They employ four disabled people out of a total of five full-time employees. Over 95% of Electroville's income comes from trading income.

This article appeared in The Guardian.  Despite mental health problems, Jonathan Naess maintained a successful career, and insists that others can do so too.  Now he just has to persuade employers throughout the UK.

Why the computer recycler burned out.

This document forms the summary evaluation of the project as carried out by The Institute for Applied Health and Social Policy, King's College London, and provides a guide to good practice for other public authorities considering this type of development.

This work was carried out by The Institute for Applied Health and Social Policy, King's College London, and aimed to investigate financial costs and outcomes from the perspective of the public authority, taxpayer and disabled worker as well as exploring the experiences of people with a learning disability or mental health problem working within social firms and enterprises that had been created to employ and/or train people with a disability.

This MBA dissertation was written in January 2004 by Kathy Baker, now Quality Support Manager at Social Firms UK. The study explores the ethical marketing conflicts that exist when using disabled people as a marketing tool in Social Firms. It examines ethical marketing theory, the ethical stance of disabled people and marketers in the study area and the concepts of vulnerability and social responsibility in relation to Social Firms.

People with mental health problems are significantly more disadvantaged than other disabled people, according to an Office for Disability Issues survey published yesterday.  The survey of the experiences and expectations of almost 2,000 disabled people found that while 43% of respondents of working age were in work, this applied to just 16% of those with mental health conditions. They also had the lowest median incomes of all groups responding to the survey.  While 12% of respondents felt they had been treated unfairly or discriminated against because of their impairment, this applied to 35% of people with mental health conditions. More than a quarter of people with mental health problems of working age felt they had not got a job they had applied for because of their condition, compared to 15% on average.

Most individuals who are homeless want to work but have multiple barriers to tackle before being able to gain, or sustain, employment. This is even more the case in the competitive, fast-moving, short-term, low-waged labour market that many with low skills or no recent work experience are likely to find themselves in. The Right Deal For Homeless People is a model of holistic, co-ordinated employment support for the most disadvantaged that, if funded and delivered in the right way, will enable more homeless individuals to achieve sustainable, progressive work.