Support and Facilitation for establishing a Social Enterprise
Commissioned by a group of 10 GP Practices in North Bradford, Acton Shapiro’s work began in August 2007 and was completed in November 2007, once the Social Enterprise was established.
 
The 2 main objectives for the project were:
  • Firstly, to facilitate the process of legal establishment of the Group as a bona fide Social Enterprise
  • Secondly, to assemble a bid to attract additional funding support from the Department of Health for the work as a Social Enterprise.

Funding for the consultancy project was obtained via a “levy” from all the participating GP Practices.

Social Enterprises are increasingly seen by central Government as a practical and publicly acceptable way in which provider-side organisations can participate in the delivery of health and social care.  This project was thus directly in line with Department of Health policy to establish formal and accountable governance arrangements for embryonic provider-side organisations, thus enabling full participation in the ever more diverse and pluralistic “market” for health and social care.

An early priority was to establish clear lines of communications between the 10 participant GP Practices.  A working group was established that met regularly to spearhead the work and to act as an “umbrella” for taking key decisions.  A small executive team was also set up comprising those members/Practices particularly wishing to drive this initiative forward. 

A key focus of the work was to assemble a bid for funding from the Department of Health under the “Social Enterprise Initiative Fund” (SEIF).  In addition to preparing the actual SEIF bid document, Acton Shapiro was able to help by:

  • giving independent advice based on experiences from elsewhere
  • facilitating input by legal advisers on the formalities of Company formation and registration as a Community Interest Company
  • developing clear objectives for the organisation and specifically developing a Mission Statement
  • facilitating identification of risks and management plans to address these
  • clarifying the areas of innovation and added-value that would underpin the work of the Social Enterprise. 

Important learning points from this project were:

  • To recognise that establishing a Social Enterprise is a means to an end, rather than an objective itself.
  • To appreciate that the Social Enterprise registration process and formalities take time (and effort), and need to be timetabled carefully.
  • To identify individual(s) who will be prepared to act as office holders and directors of the new Social Enterprise.
  • To ensure that appropriate cash-flow and Income and Expenditure statements are available and updated regularly throughout the process.