Jo Gideon MP champions social enterprise ahead of decision on Dormant Assets

It’s fantastic to see the MP for Stoke on Trent Central, Jo Gideon, speaking out for Social Enterprise this week in Pioneers Post.  Gideon was writing ahead of the decision on the Dormant Assets consultation, which is expected to be announced soon by the Minister for Civil Society, Stuart Andrew MP., and in support of the Community Enterprise Growth Plan.

Gideon writes….“The Community Enterprise Growth plan builds on a strong track record of using dormant assets over the last ten years to invest in social enterprises, community businesses and trading charities, and complements other proposed uses of dormant assets”

School for Social Entrepreneurs (SSE) is a partner in the Community Enterprise Growth Plan (CEGP), in collaboration with sector partners, including Social Enterprise UK, Access and Big Society Capital. The CEGP advocates channelling funds from Dormant Assets to enterprises with a social purpose in places and communities that have been deprived of investment in the past and will support organisations that solve local social and economic problems.  

Gideon highlights that a huge number of social enterprises deliver impact in the UK’s most deprived areas and that access to finance is one of their core challenges, but by leveraging additional investment into partners in the CEGP via Dormant Assets, social investment can reach more areas and go even further. 

“Not only does one in five social enterprises serve a deprived community, but 2021 data from Social Enterprise UK also showed that these social enterprises were twice as large as social enterprises working in other parts of the country. […]  the Community Enterprise Growth Plan would be able to ensure the flow of finance was targeted to places and communities that have not benefitted in the past”
–Gideon, who also Chairs the Social Enterprise All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG), champions the innovation and social value of social enterprises, but also highlights their economic benefit to society. 

 Alongside our sector partners in the CEGP, we are championing deprived and minoritised communities, and driving support for social change.

In 2022, CEGP partner Voice4ChangeEngland CEO Kunle Olunde said,
“Working in partnership with funders, Voice4Change England provides vital funding for black and ethnic minority led social impact organisations. We strongly believe in catalysing further investment to boost economic growth in left behind communities, and support Match Trading as a key tool within this eco system.”    

 At SSE, 1 in 3 of the social enterprises that we support serve a deprived community and 89% have lived experience of the issues they aim to address. 

One key element of the CEGP would be to scale grants to social enterprises via SSE’s innovative Match Trading®, which incentivises an increase in traded income, pound for pound.
This approach has supported at least a 64% traded income uplift for organisations working in deprived areas, helping them to improve their impact, sustainability and development.
Social purpose organisations attending Match Trading programmes in 2020 doubled their full-time equivalent jobs, even during the height of the pandemic.   

We thank Jo Gideon MP for championing the social enterprise movement and hope to be welcoming the Minister’s decision on Dormant Assets very soon.