Social Firms UK

This article appeared in the 2008 Social Firms UK annual conference souvenir brochure.  It suggests that for each that employment in Social Firms is sustained at the current level, the annual benefit saving along to the Exchequer is £6.4 million.

This report is based on the results from a workshop held at the Social Firms UK conference in June 2006.

REDF, based in the USA, monitored 900 individuals, 47% of whom had mental health problems.  This report illustrates the value that their 'employment enterprises' bring those individuals.

In 2005 Social Firms UK and NEF worked together to carry out two SROI case studies on Social Firms, with phenomenal results:

Pack-IT in Cardiff (that has employees with learning disabilities) The projected SROI ratio for Pack-IT is 1.9:1. Thus, for every £1 invested, £1.90 of social value is created for each year for society in terms of reduced welfare costs and increased local purchasing. Although availability of comparable data for other Social Firms is limited, any return greater than 1:1 is a good result and argues for further investment. Read the full case study here for Pack-IT's SROI.

While we in the Social Firm sector have always believed that working is good for your health and well-being, here we have the evidence! This is a 'review of reviews' and while there are certain provisos attached to this overall conclusion (e.g. depends on the quality of the job etc.), and some statistical/evidential gaps, it gives everybody a good basis on which to move forward. As far as Social Firms UK is concerned, our development of the Values-Based Checklist links strategically to the outcomes of this research review. As one of the research gaps is around evidencing health gain on re-entry to employment we are keener than every to try and move this bit of work forward. Visit www.workingforhealth.gov.uk to view this report or download the executive summary here.