Key Findings

The research found that:

While policy and strategy in the UK appears to suggest that substantial progress is being made in developing support for the social business sector, the reality on the ground is less convincing.
There appears to be a lack of coherence and integration, a degree of confusion about what support is available, and a general lack of understanding of the specific requirements of social enterprises
There is a lot of work for technical support services at all levels if they are to reach a basic level of satisfaction for the support they provide the social enterprise sector
There is nothing unusual about the support these enterprises require - they want help with renting buildings, refurbishment, accounts, tax, management of employees, health and safety and all the things that face ordinary businesses.
Their distinctive need is for support organisations to understand that the nature of the business, the motives and objectives of the entrepreneur, and the support and training needs of staff will all differ subtly to those of businesses driven exclusively by profit.
The research highlights the need for social enterprises to be more vocal about their demands, for business support agencies to be more co-ordinated and better focused towards social enterprise issues, and for the government to commit to supporting the sector more sensitively and effectively than it has done to date.