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Last updated: 31 March 2010
Government spends about £2.5 billion per year on business support for all businesses. In many instances, social enterprises need very similar advice and support to mainstream businesses. However, in some instances specialist support may be appropriate.
Office of the Third Sector’s policy on business support is for social enterprises to be able to access the full range of support through the business support system. We are working with the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS), Regional Development Agencies (RDAs), Business Link, the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF), the social enterprise sector and others to understand more about where specialist support may be needed and how best to meet their business support needs.
OTS is providing almost £6 million to March 2011 to improve the service that Business Link provides to social enterprises, via RDAs. on the use of these funds are available to download here:
Business Link [external website] provides free online support for all businesses, from guidance on business planning to how to take on employees. OTS has worked with businesslink.gov to ensure online support for budding social entrepreneurs is available.
Capacitybuilders [external website] is also providing a further £6 million to March 2011 to build the capacity of specialist social enterprise support organisations. This includes helping them to work with Business Link so they can win business through the brokerage system and provide specialist support to clients that need it.
Following on from the Social Enterprise Summit in May 2009, OTS, the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and the third sector worked together to find ways to enhance existing promotion and support for social enterprises. Enhancing promotion and support for social enterprise was developed to raise awareness of and improve signposting to the wide range of business support services available to social enterprise. Key findings revealed that:
Enhancing promotion and support for social enterprise includes information about the business support landscape and the actions that government and the sector agreed to work together on.
National Evaluation of Social Enterprise Business Support Improvement Programme