Research carried out by the Social Enterprise Coalition about attitudes to public service provision has uncovered a remarkable preference for community businesses that reinvest their profits above private, public and voluntary sector providers.

Community businesses like these are known as social enterprises and the UK’s social enterprise movement is growing and gaining momentum.

The survey results are an important indication of what the public wants to see happen, soon after a leaked memo referring to the government’s apparent scaling back of its plans to allow ‘any willing provider’ to deliver the country’s public services.

The YouGov figures, from a report to be launched later in the year by the national membership body for social enterprise, reveal that the public does not want businesses that seek profit for their owners and shareholders to take over the running of public services.

When asked which type of organisation is best-placed to provide public services – including leisure, health and transport services – UK adults chose the following:

· 43% chose ‘A community business that reinvests its profits to improve services’

· 36% chose ‘The government or public sector’

· 4% chose ‘A business that makes profit for its owners and shareholders’

· 3% chose ‘A charity’

The Social Enterprise Coalition’s chief executive, Peter Holbrook, said: “It’s hugely encouraging to the social enterprise movement that the public seems to instinctively understand what social enterprise offers when it comes to public services.

"Local, community-based organisations that are designed around a particular community’s needs are the future. Social enterprises across the country are delivering fantastic services in parks and gardens, leisure services, transport, nurseries, home care. You name it, there’s a social enterprise that’s delivering it and doing it really well. There’s a growing appetite for ‘community’ in the UK.

“In light of the government’s apparent scaling back of plans to use the private sector to deliver public services, it’s more important than ever that social enterprise, which has been used increasingly as a test-bed for public services by successive Governments, is widely understood and employed by commissioners.”

Safeguards needed
Holbrook also warned that there is a danger that unless social enterprises and mutuals are asset locked, they could be at risk of being taken over by the private sector as they become more successful.

“There are some dangers in the government’s commitment to bringing more social enterprises and mutuals to the public sector if the necessary safeguards are not put in place. We do not want a situation where social enterprises and mutuals are swept up by private profiteers – that would be a disaster for our communities.

“Large private sector providers may deliver a quick win to rectify the UK’s balance sheet, but when it comes to public services, it should be the delivery of better outcomes for people that are the measure of success.

"Social enterprises deliver multiple benefits that are not immediately measured in pound signs but save money in the long run. Rather than satisfy the needs of shareholders, they reinvest the bulk of their profits, simultaneously tackle social problems and support economic growth," he said.

Further commenting on the government’s apparent plans for private sector companies to work with social enterprises, Holbrook added: “We are not opposed to private sector companies working with social enterprises as long as the partnerships are fair and equal.

"The danger is because social enterprises are small they could fall into the traditional prime sub contractor model, which can leave social enterprises locked out, preventing them from delivering their real expertise about how to work with communities, for communities.”

The Social Enterprise movement is gaining momentum in the UK and around the world. Social enterprises are businesses with a social purpose whose surpluses are principally reinvested for that purpose in the business or in the community, rather than being driven by the need to maximise profit for shareholders and owners.

There are 62,000 social enterprises in the UK, contributing over £20 billion to the economy and employing nearly a million people.

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