The case of the People's Supermarket being chased for business rates by Camden council illustrates why the public services (social enterprise and social value) bill is needed and why business rate relief for social enterprises requires a much clearer set of guidelines.
Camden council is not unsupportive of social enterprises. In fact Camden is responsible for some of the most progressive commissioning in England – a model that the Social Enterprise Coalition (SEC), and many others, holds up as excellent practice.
What it seems that Camden may well be guilty of, is not embedding this approach across all of the council's functions. A case of the left hand not talking to the right. Something far too common in large institutions.
While council departments across the land responsible for public services may be incorporating some really progressive thinking to ensure that social value is optimised, the revenues departments won't necessarily be on the same page. They will be working to generate income – quite understandably in the current economic climate – but the two departments are not necessarily taking account of the impact they have on one another.
That's the problem. If a council like Camden, which has been pioneering approaches to social value and doing so much to support a thriving civil society, suffers a breakdown in communication on this scale, it simply goes to show just how hard it is at the moment.
In most local authorities this disjointed approach is very common. In the main, the community development, social care and revenue teams all work in silos with very different objectives. Thinking more broadly about how a council creates social, economic and environmental value across all their corporate functions is just not considered or on their radars.
It is for this reason that we at SEC have been tirelessly campaigning to rally support for the public services (social enterprise and social value) bill, working closely with Chris White MP and reaching out to the social enterprise business community, voluntary sector and politicians. The proposed legislation will soon go to the public bill committee, where it will be debated. If passed, it could become one of the most important pieces of legislation for our movement in a generation because it will require all public sector contracts to deliver social, economic and environmental well-being. Local authorities will have to think and act more strategically. It will also require a big cultural shift.
More urgently there needs to be a much clearer set of guidelines on social enterprises eligibility for business rate relief so that we don't have a situation where one department supports a social enterprise while the other pulls the rug from under its feet. If councils could ensure that social enterprises, like charities, had mandatory business rate exemption – particularly in the start-up stages – it would be a simple way of supporting a more sustainable economy.
Ceri Jones is head of policy at the Social Enterprise Coalition. She will be speaking at Voice11, the SEC's annual event on 30 March at the O2 in London. To find out more visit www.socialenterprise.org.uk
This content is brought to you by Guardian Professional. To get more articles like this direct to your inbox, sign up to the social enterprise network.
