Social Firms
What Is A Social Firm?
A Social Firm is one type of social enterprise. Other types of social enterprise include development trusts, co-operatives, credit unions and community businesses.
A social enterprise is a business that trades for a social purpose. It is a not-for-profit organisation. The Skillnet Group is a social enterprise.
The specific social purpose of a Social Firm is to employ people disadvantaged in the labour market. That includes physically disabled people, people with a learning disability/difficulty, people with mental health problems, ex-offenders and other people who might need more support than others to find paid work.
A Social Firm is a business set up specifically to create good quality jobs for people disadvantaged in getting paid work. Social Firms have 3 core values and these are based on:
- Enterprise
- Employment
- Empowerment
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Skillnet Group Social Firms
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Social firms must meet certain rules. For example:
- At least 50% of the firm’s turnover (all the money the firm makes) is earned through sales of goods and/or services.
- The firm does not make a profit for just one person or a small group of people but any surplus is put back into the firm (after paying people a real wage) or is shared equally (in the case of workers co-operatives).
- More than 25% of employees are people disadvantaged in getting paid jobs.
- The firm trades and has a proper business plan and rules in place about how it works to support people disadvantaged in getting paid jobs.
- All employees have a contract of employment and are paid a proper wage at or above national minimum wage.
- All employees are treated fairly and equally.
Please see the Social Firms UK website for more information about social firms and the core values: www.socialfirms.co.uk
The Skillnet Group is supporting people to develop new social firms. The Eco-Shed and parts of the Music and Arts Project (such as Club Productions and Risky Business) are emerging social firms. That means they are working towards being proper social firms but are not quite there yet.
