A number of co-ops and community interest companies (CIC) have picked up prizes at the Social Enterprise UK (SEUK) Awards.
The winners were announced on 26 November at the Queen Elizabeth Hall on London’s Southbank, at an event dubbed the Festival of Hope, celebrating social entrepreneurs across 15 categories.
Co-owned public service mutual City Health Care Partnership (CHCP) was named Social Enterprise Innovation of the Year for its healthcare services delivered across Hull, the East Riding of Yorkshire, and Merseyside. CHCP operates independently within the NHS and employs over 2000 people to provide over 50 services in community settings, including palliative care, psychological wellbeing, and dental services and many more.
Another co-op, Zaytoun, went home with the award for Consumer Facing Social Enterprise of the Year. Zaytoun is a UK-based business that sources Fairtrade products from Palestine, with 100% of profits being reinvested into its mission of supporting the resilience of Palestinian communities facing challenges of farming under occupation.
Multistakeholder co-op Social adVentures was highly commended in the category of Community-Based Social Enterprise of the Year. Jointly owned by service users, its employees and local people of Salford, Social adVentures specialises in public health, residential childcare and social care contracts including nurseries and forest schools.
Also highly commended, in the category of Building Diversity, Inclusion, Equity & Justice, was Signalise, a sign language interpreter co-op owned by its service users and workers. Signalise’s service is co-designed by its members – Deaf people and communication professionals.
The winner of this award was the Tax Academy, a CIC that provides tax support, education and training to unrepresented taxpayers, in particular to those with criminal convictions, including prisoners and ex offenders.
A number of other CICs also received awards, including physical education CIC EcoCoach, winning the One to Watch Award, support organisation Social Enterprise Kent CIC named as Education, Training & Jobs Social Enterprise of the Year, and research body the Centre for Information Resilience CIC receiving the International Impact Award.
The Social Investment Deal of the Year went to a collaboration between the Community Impact Initiative and Tai Heulwen. Wales Council for Voluntary Action brought the two CICs together to reduce its risk as a lender, enabling WCVA to finance the development of Tai Heulwen’s childcare service and Community Impact Initiative’s property purchase for community use.
“Joy, unity, hope and resistance” were the themes of its Festival of Hope, said SEUK, adding: “This year’s winners really showed how these attributes are at the heart of the social enterprise movement.
“From creating life-changing jobs for people experiencing homelessness or leaving prison to supporting those affected by conflict, delivering people-powered public services to breaking down barriers of access – these businesses show the power of social enterprises to take on some of the biggest challenges we face, and doing so in a way which is innovative, entrepreneurial and rooted in communities.”
