The Social Business

Reason 5 - older people deserve better

I've been doing some market research recently, finding out about home care and other domestic services for older people and disabled people.

The research I'm doing - talking with older people and some people who work with them, confirms to me that all too often the services that people receive just aren't good enough. I'm sure there are budget issues - we could certainly do with more money being spent. But I also think that there are big problems with the way services are delivered - which wouldn't be solved however much money you threw at them.

I've heard about people getting put to bed by home care staff at 5pm, or having four different members of staff visit them in one day. And of lunch arriving late - and then an evening meal arriving early.

All in all, it's a classic case of people having to fit in with a system, instead of the system responding to the needs of the people it's there to serve. So I welcome the Government's announcement of what's being heralded as a revolution in provision of home care.

I need to read the detail (for starters there's a good 10 minute radio piece here) - but the basic idea appears to be that older people will be given the money to pay for their own care. They can decide what their own priorities are.

I've done a fair bit of work with social enterprises and voluntary groups which work with older people and disabled people, primarily through the Keeping House project. Keeping House is a Leeds City Council initiative to encourage social enterprises to set up to deliver domestic services - things like shopping, cleaning and gardening. These are the kinds of services that local authorities are increasingly finding it hard to provide. They're also vital services which can help people to stay independent for longer.

I think what the Government is suggesting represents the right direction to be going in. I also think that there's a real opportunity for social enterprises here, as not everyone will find it easy to choose and manage the care that they want. For example Keeping House helps by giving people a list of providers in their area - with information about CRB checks and the like.

The relatively poor uptake of Direct Payments up to now should serve as a warning that there's a long way to travel between Government pronouncements and implementation on the ground - but that shouldn't hide the fact that this is a big step forward.

This post is part of the 100 reasons why series.

Reason 4 - 663,000 empty homes

It's National Empty Homes Week this week.  I was shocked to read that there are 663,000 homes in this country which have been empty for twelve months or more.  I say that I was shocked, but like most of you I often see houses - even whole streets - which are inexplicably empty, so I suppose it wasn't that much of a surprise. 

It's a problem which merits socially entrepreneurial solutions.  I love what Urban Splash are doing at Chimney Pot Park in Salford - literally turning the traditional approach to physical regeneration on its head.  We need more of the same from developers. 

I also came across Canopy Housing Project the other day.  They renovate houses which have been derelict for years.  I read last week that they've done a deal with an ALMO in Leeds to renovate ten houses.  They'll work with volunteers to do the houses up - and the volunteers then have the chance to live in the houses.  I think it's a great idea. 

If you want to report a long-term empty property in your area, contact the Empty Homes Agency. 

This post is part of the one hundred reasons why series. 

Reason 3 - It's getting harder to get from A to B

I've had a couple of days of transport hell. I've been out and about a fair bit and seem to have spent as much time in traffic or at windswept bus stops as I have in meetings.

I've always lived in cities, and as much as I love the countryside, I doubt I could live there. But city life, to be bearable, needs certain basics. Like a decent transport system. I live in a city which fancies itself as a major european city and it hasn't even got a tram system. Its politicians have spent the last ten years promising us one and they've failed spectacularly to deliver. So if you do go on public transport, you go on the bus and all too often that service isn't good enough.

The buses are run by what has become a private sector monopoly, as is the case in most cities outside of the capital (don't get me started on Londoners moaning about their transport system). Privatisation was supposed to bring better services - I suppose in some ways it has, but I'm really not convinced. For me part of the problem is that the private companies run the buses as pure and simple businesses. If a route isn't making much money, then they stop it. Stuff the people who rely on that bus - usually older people or people in the poorer parts of town. There's no appreciation of the social impact of good or bad transport - all they care about is the impact on the bottom line. That's mainstream business for you.

Once again, I'm not pretending that social business can sort it all out, but it must play a key part. As in recycling, ECT is leading the way, running the 195 service in London amongst other services. The community transport sector seems to be enjoying a new lease of life too, and I'm pleased to see that Hackney Community Transport have moved in to our area and are shaking things up a bit.

I was also pleased to read that Big Invest have teamed up with the Community Transport Association to develop a loan fund fund for the sector. The idea is to enable community transport organisations to bid for contracts, get them, and then secure a loan on the back of the contract. Simple really, but a big and welcome culture shift. As the draft Local Transport Bill is weaving its way through Parliament, with its opportunities for the community transport sector, their timing is spot on.

This post is part of the one hundred reasons why series.

Reason 2 - I can't remember when to put my bin out

Every Thursday evening I walk my wheeliebin to the end of the drive. I then look up and down the road to see if anyone's put their green bin out. If only one or two are out, I'll decide that it's not getting collected this week. But if a tipping point is reached, and a majority of neighbours have put their green bin out, I'll put mine out too.

The Council collects our recyclables. Or at least they collect some of them. Once a month, all in the same bin. And I can never remember which Friday of the month that is, so by the time the bin's collected it's usually full to the brim with two months of paper and plastic.

There are two issues here. One is about innovation in recycling. I can hardly believe that one of the UK's major cities has a recycling system as unsophisticated as chuck it all in the same bin and collect it once a month. Thankfully there are social enterprises which are leading the way in recycling, such as ECT.

Bulky Bobs is another great example of how a socially enterprising approach to collecting what people no longer want can bring numerous social benefits.

The second point I'm making here is about marketing. Here's a sweeping statement for you - local authorities are rubbish at marketing. I see marketing as building relationships with customers, and that's clearly not happening here. All I need is a sticker on the bin, or a fridge magnet, or something else which reminds me which day my bin gets collected. Yes, I could just stick it in my diary, but to be honest I've got other things to think about.

Social enterprises aren't always brilliant at marketing either, but at least in the social enterprise sector marketing is no longer a dirty word.

This post is part of the 100 reasons why series.

Reason 1 - ownership matters in football

I heard on the news this morning that fans website MyFootballClub has agreed to take over Blue Square Premier Club Ebbsfleet United.

20,000 members have each paid £35 in order to provide the £700,000 needed to take over the club. I don't know the detail, but I'm pretty sure that the website is run as a Supporters Trust, with a not-for-profit (Industrial and Provident Society) structure.

I've blogged a few times before about football and its gradual takeover by people interested in nothing more than making money. Football clubs are too important to local communities to allow that to happen, and it's great to see a number of Supporters Trusts getting their act together and either getting a seat on the Board, or in some cases taking over the club. When Leeds United's troubles started a few years back I got involved (in a vaguely uncomfortable way as I'm a Liverpool supporter) in helping to set up Leeds United Supporters Trust , which has had an important role to play in challenging times for the club.

As the great man Bill Shankly once said

Some people think football is a matter of life and death. I assure you, it's much more serious than that.

In terms of the long term health of a football club, I'd say ownership matters that much too.

One hundred reasons why

In twelve months I've reached my one-hundredth blog post, which isn't bad going. I remember not being 100% sure that I'd find enough to write about, but clearly my fears were unfounded. Personally I've found it a really useful way to reflect on my work, and I'm pleased to say that a number of other people have enjoyed reading the blog too.

My other blog, social business plans, has been pretty popular too - and has more of an international audience. Someone in Canada found the blog yesterday by googling social impact of mayonnaise, which I have to say has baffled me a little.

To mark my one-hundredth post, and to celebrate Social Enterprise Day on Thursday, I've decided to start a new series of posts with the theme one hundred reasons why. The idea is to blog about a social problem which I've come across, either in my work or on the news, and point you to a social enterprise that's doing something about it. The plan is that over time it will build up a bank of stories which I can return to for inspiration when I ask myself, or someone asks me, "Why do we need social enterprise?"

I believe we face plenty of big social problems, and we need creative, can-do solutions to them. That doesn't mean that social enterprise can solve everything, but I believe that a socially entrepreneurial approach is often the best chance we've got to tackle some of society's big problems.

So here goes.... with a post about what's been called the most important unimportant thing in the world, football.