Helping Social Enterprise

We’re working with the teaching unions to set up a teachers’ supply agency owned by the people it serves so supply teachers can get their pension rights and access to continuous professional development.

Cabinet approval was given to establish a £15m Access to Finance package for Small and Medium sized Enterprises (SMEs). We have developed a strategic partnership with Power to Change to take this work forward.

Although we account for 2.3% of the UK economy, only 1.4% of the total UK private equity and venture capital is invested here.  By having a fund to directly invest in small, local firms, start-ups and scale-ups, we can accelerate the economic recovery.  As the fund grows, the money will be recycled, supporting more local firms, and creating more jobs here.

SMEs, particularly those that are socially-trading (e.g. co-operatives and Community Interest Companies) have traditionally had difficulty in getting access to the financial backing they need. Socially trading SMEs, of which there are 5,000 in our region, employ 30,000 people and so are a crucial part of our local economy.

Together with Insights North East and Power to Change we hosted ‘Growing the North-East social economy throughinnovative finance’ at Newcastle University. This event was a chance to learn about the initial findings from the Call for Evidence and discuss how to co-design the new and innovative finance initiatives to grow the social economy.

To create wealth in an area the people must own the assets. This is why I’m committed to building the co-operative movement. I’m Labour and Co-operative Metro Mayor. Harnessing the strengths of the co-operative movement for the benefit of the North of Tyne has been at the very core of my plans.

My election manifesto included commitments on co-operative development, from housing to supporting new co-operative start-ups and much more to ensure that our region can benefit from a movement that puts people at its heart.

Our £4m Social Finance Fund, part of the £15m Access to Finance package, is to develop and transform the social economy in the North of Tyne. It will provide vital support for cooperatives and businesses trading with a social purpose.

The co-operative economy is critical to how we rebuild from the difficult recent period, where their co-operative values and principles ensure they are run in the interests of their customers, employees, our local community and the wider environment, rather than distant shareholders and investors. The aim is to get many more co-operatives and socially-driven initiatives off the ground.

As we continue to rebuild from the devastating effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, as a Co-operative Mayor I’m excited that with this dedicated funding we are taking important steps to ensuring the North of Tyne is a welcome region for co-operative development.

Related Achievements