Social Firms UK

The Social Enterprise Coalition has unveiled its new visual identity and has started trading under its new name, Social Enterprise UK.

The organisation changed its name and identity to better reflect its role as the national body for social enterprise and better represent the UK’s social enterprise movement. The team, based in London’s Old Street, worked with creative brand agency Spencer Dubois to create the new brand, which will be gradually rolled out over the summer, starting with the release of  Fightback Britain – a report on the largest analysis of the UK’s social enterprise sector.

The board of Social Firms UK have announced they have reluctantly accepted the resignation of CEO, Sally Reynolds, who will step down at the end of the year. Sally has been committed to the sector since the inception of Social Firms UK in 1999 and as co-founder has worked tirelessly to champion fair employment opportunities for the most disadvantaged in society.

Reynolds stated “Social Firms UK is at a very exciting point in its development as an organisation. We have a highly capable, competent and committed staff team and a strong board – because of this I have no qualms about handing the reins over to someone else to lead it into the future. Unfortunately, exceptional personal circumstances means that I am no longer in a position to continue in this full time post.”

 Social enterprises are outperforming the rest of the UK economy in terms of growth, according to the RBS SE1001 Index unveiled at an event in London this week.

According to the index, which was set up to track the performance of the sector in the UK, the top 100 social enterprises in the index grew on average by 91% (compared to 79% last year).

Meanwhile, the total combined revenue of the top 100 enterprises on the index grew by 51% and the revenue growth of all those on the index who submitted figures was 14%. This compares well with revenue growth of the FTSE 100 in 20103, which was around 5%. It also compares well against the fastest recorded growth period of UK SMEs4 (in 2006) when their revenue growth was 8.4%.

This year a total of 409 social enterprises entered the RBS SE100 Index and 18 organisations were shortlisted across three awards.

The most established and prestigious programme recognising UK entrepreneurs and growing businesses is now open for entries. This year's awards have moved to a new level. The Growing Business Awards will still honour the UK's top entrepreneurs and SMEs, but we've also: