There is no one accepted definition of social innovation in the UK. The one opted for by the Young Foundation is that ‘social innovations are new approaches to addressing social needs. They are social in their means and in their ends. They engage and mobilise the beneficiaries and help to transform social relations by improving beneficiaries’ access to power and resources.’ This emphasises innovation which leaves behind a stronger capacity for society to act.
British history is replete with examples of individuals and organisations pioneering new ways to tackle social needs from the Peabody estate (social housing), to the Ragged Schools Union (universal education), and from the Consumer’s Association (consumer rights) to the Body Shop (ethical business). These have left an enduring impact on British society and contributed to a vibrant social economy.
Government statistics now identify around 70,000 social enterprises in the UK, contributing around £24 billion to the economy and employing nearly a million people. Since 2005, over 11,000 Community Interest Companies have been founded, and the last five years have seen significant development of social investment to support the growth of this movement[1].
The majority of central government departments and local authorities are involved in policy activity that facilitates social innovation. However, the Cabinet Office with its cross-cutting remit is most explicit in its supportive agenda. An example of this is its responsibility for policy frameworks such as the Open Public Services White Paper which embedded innovation in public and social policy with an emphasis on individual, neighbourhood and commissioned services.
After the 2015 election of the current government, implicit and explicit support for social innovation remains important. For example, a £20 million Local Sustainability Fund recently helps increase the sustainability of third sector organisations. Similarly the Cabinet office launched a £1 million Social Action Fund encouraging civic participation and engagement of young people living in deprived areas[2].
In addition to these initiatives, more formal regulatory frameworks supporting social innovation in the UK include privileged legal status of social innovation organisations, reducing bureaucratic and procedural burden and favourable procurement and commissioning guidelines.
Social innovators, entrepreneurs and ventures are also supported by a number of intermediaries – social venture funds, incubators, service designers, impact monitoring agencies, specialist recruitment agencies, and networks. Academic institutions are taking a more active interest in social innovation (e.g. Oxford University, Northumbria University, Glasgow Caledonian University) whilst think tanks continue to bridge the gap between research and policy. Another group of actors are arm’s length or spin off bodies which have the benefit of being independent of Government whilst maintaining a close relationship (e.g. NESTA, Innovation Unit). There are also a host of agencies using design methods to advance social innovation (e.g. IDEO, Thinkpublic)[3].
However, despite ongoing support there are major barriers to the growth of social innovations and enterprises in the UK. Finance remains an ongoing concern for those wishing to take an innovative idea to fruition, especially where social enterprise is the delivery model. In 2015 it was reported that almost half of social enterprises sought funding and finance in the last 12 months, more than double the proportion of SMEs (19%). 39% of social enterprises believed a lack of available funding is a barrier to their sustainability, compared to just 5% of SMEs[4].
An important aspect of income for social enterprise is from the public sector, and in the UK the Public Services (Social Value) Act dictates that local authority procurers must consider how they can improve the social impact of their public service contracts before they start the procurement process[5]. This was anticipated to improve opportunities for social enterprises to deliver public services. However, whilst 67% of social enterprises whose main source of income is the public sector know about the ACT, almost half (49%) of social enterprises in these markets say they are yet to see it arrive in commissioning – there is more to do before the Act works as intended[6].
The current state of the public finances creates an especially urgent need for innovation in the UK. In the forthcoming decade it is expected that some of the key growth sectors of the UK economy will be ones in which social enterprises and charities play crucial roles. More needs to be done to reconfigure infrastructures which are hindering progress as well as unlocking financial and institutional support. Foundations could also do more to understand how social innovation happens and therefore how can they propel it. There is also a need to develop the skills and capacity to design, grow and scale social innovation.
In this wider context the Young Foundation plays an important role in fostering social innovation in order to disrupt structural inequality. The organisation supports creativity and innovation, rigorously analysing what works and exploring new financing models that deliver sustainability and value for money. Work has been undertaken on a number of large research projects seeking to better understand social innovation and practical programs to support social entrepreneurs and social ventures. The Young Foundation also incubated and helped spin out the Social Innovation Exchange (SIX), the leading global network of social innovators.
There are numerous social innovations that have successfully achieved impact in recent years in the UK across all policy areas. They are diverse in their aims, models and outcomes and include: Dementia Adventure
Dementia Adventure connect people with dementia with nature through the provision of training and consultancy services to charities, care home networks, green space and other organisations. They also arrange tailored holidays for people living with dementia and their carers in the UK. Income from activities, donations and grant funding mean they can provide Dementia Adventures from park walks to sailing holidays.
They work in partnership with individuals and organisations across the UK (including charities, care home networks and green space organisations) so that all people living with dementia can have a sense of adventure in their lives regardless of where they live.
Dementia Adventure has identified its first early adopter and funder of Dementia Adventure in a Box, a local authority in Scotland. A comprehensive initial one-year programme of support has started for a group of 8 ‘sub-licensee’ organisations, aimed at creating a lasting legacy of participation by staff and volunteers, all geared towards ensuring people living with dementia can exercise their personal choice to remain active, outdoors and socially included in their communities – a positive alternative to the ‘medical model’.
BlingYaBike Young Entrepreneurs Project
BlingYaBike’s goal is to engage the disruptive powers of broken bicycles to create youth-led opportunities for social and economic innovation. They run bicycle Art Workshops for young people to decorate a bike and learn basic maintenance. The aims are to introduce basic bicycle maintenance, develop creative skills by transforming an old bike through respraying and stencilling, and to introduce the idea of recycling.
The approach begins with the principle that working as part of a diverse team strengthens relationships in the community. Therefore they always try to bring young people from diverse backgrounds to work together on the project. Efforts are made to site the project in a neutral community space, such as a park, so that the project is genuinely accessible to all young people. This works especially well in urban contexts with gang issues.
Moving forward there is huge potential for social innovation to impact on societal challenges in the UK. It is important however, to acknowledge that the sector is always evolving. We are seeing a growing number of younger organisations active in the social enterprise field in particular, and these have a number of finance, skills and support requirements to help them sustain, grow and expand their work. Policy makers and other support bodies must always be ready to adapt to the needs of the fluid social innovation community. There is also scope for a more creative view of how social innovations can achieve impact. For example, social ventures, funders and intermediary bodies aren’t fully engaging with or addressing gender inequality as something central to creating sustainable change. Integrating such cross-cutting challenges into the vision for and application of social innovation support could lead to interventions with more inclusive and widespread impacts. And finally, appreciating the place-based nature of inequality could prompt a focus on social innovation strategies that analyse the needs of a given place then build interrelated interventions to address them, as opposed to the traditional emphasis on individual often isolated projects of ideas.
Author: Dr John Dodd
Sources:
[1] Social Enterprise UK, (2015). State of social enterprise survey 2015. P4
[2] Edmistion, D. (2015). CRESSI Working Papers No. 19/2015 The UK Social Innovation Policy Agenda
[3] https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/socialinnovationeurope/hy/social-innovation-united-kingdom
[4] Social Enterprise UK, (2015). State of social enterprise survey 2015. P48
[5] https://www.gov.uk/government/news/significant-boost-to-social-enterprises-as-the-social-value-act-comes-into-force
[6] Social Enterprise UK, (2015). State of social enterprise survey 2015. P49
[7] Image from: http://www.brixtoncommunitybase.org/projects/bling-ya-bike/