social enterprise

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Birmingham, Leeds and Liverpool have topped a list of local authorities likely to suffer the biggest impact of the government’s housing benefit cuts, according to Crisis.

The charity has warned that planned cuts of £1.8bn to housing benefit will lead to tenants falling into rent arrears, building up debt and, in the worst case scenario, facing homelessness.

Urging the government to ‘totally rethink’ the cuts, Crisis has today published a list of local authorities with the highest numbers of households affected.

Birmingham tops the list with 18,870, while Leeds has 15,610. Liverpool, Brighton and Blackpool all have more than 12,000 households each, while 11,180 in Cornwall are likely to be affected and more than 10,000 households in Bradford and Manchester are identified as at risk.

Cardiff will bear the brunt in Wales, according to Crisis, with 5,900 households. In Scotland, 9,660 households in Edinburgh and 8,110 in Glasgow will feel the impact of the cuts.

According to an impact assessment by the Department of Work and Pensions, almost a million UK households reliant on Local Housing Allowance will be affected. On average, over £600 a year will be lost from some of the poorest households.

Crisis chief executive Leslie Morphy said: ‘The government promised that in cutting the deficit it would protect the most vulnerable, but these figures show that thousands of those who are in greatest need will have their income hit when they can least afford it.

‘Far from hitting just expensive areas in London, these cuts will have a massive impact across the nation, including on households in areas which rank amongst the most deprived in the country.

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A social enterprise in Mansfield is to deliver housing support services to vulnerable people, and teaching and administrative staff will set up a trust to run a Cumbrian college after the government gave the green light to the first round of Pathfinder mutuals projects.

Cabinet officer minister Francis Maude today revealed 12 fledgling public service spin-offs which will enable entrepreneurial public sector staff to take control of the services they run and which are expected to act as ‘trailblazers’ for the rest of the sector.

The list includes the integration of community health and adult social services into a cooperative in Swindon, North East Essex PCT becoming a Community Interest Company and Westminster Council working with employees in children’s services and neighbouring local authorities to move towards creating an arms-length mutual organisation.

Mr Maude described the move as ‘a Big Society approach, decentralising power so people can deal with the issues that concern them’.

He added: ‘Today’s announcement is the first step in creating a genuinely ground-up movement where staff, who are the real experts, can come together to take over and deliver better services.’

The government will enlist the help of big brand names ,including KPMG and PWC, and leaders in employee ownership models, such as John Lewis and Co-operatives UK, to offer Pathfinders free mentoring on issues including business planning, tendering and procurement and building an entrepreneurial culture.

Other examples of the first round of Pathfinders range from The Lambeth Resource Centre exploring options with its employees, service users and third sector organisations for co-producing rehabilitation support services, and NHS employees forming a social enterprise to provide services for homeless people in Leicester.

The announcement was described as ‘a welcome step’ by Co-operatives UK.

Secretary general Ed Mayo said: ‘Whilst we think that all business can benefit from being more cooperative, to be recognised as a cooperative business means signing up to certain principles such as equality, autonomy and open membership.

‘One of our priorities is to ensure that new businesses that enter the cooperative economy, which last year turned over £33.5bn and employed 237,000 people, are guided by these principles.

‘We are delighted that several of our members have volunteered as mentors for the Pathfinders, helping to ensure that these core principles are implemented.

'Alongside our members we are committed to enabling government – both national and local – to draw on the expertise and experience of Co-operatives UK and our members, so welcome enquiries from public sector bodies interested in exploring the cooperative model.’

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• Social Enterprise East Midlands (Seem) has appointed a new chair and vice chair. New chair David Brazier is the current chief executive of social enterprise Stride, and a member of the Cabinet Office’s expert panel on business advice for social enterprise. Chris Mahon, newly-elected vice chair of Seem, has helped set up several businesses, including Thirdkey Enterprise Solutions, and lectures on social entrepreneurship at Nottingham University Business School.

• Julia Ellis will next month step down as chief executive of Made, the architecture centre for the Midlands, to pursue new ventures. David Tittle, current head of design excellence, will take over as interim chief executive.

• The Northern Housing Consortium has appointed Jo Boaden as chief executive. Ms Boaden joins from her role as director of information at Business Enterprise North East and will start the new post in October. She will succeed John Moralee who is retiring after more than 30 years at the helm of the consortium.

• Vince Lucas has become the new chair of regeneration partnership Ashford’s Future. The service delivery director for Southeastern railway, Mr Lucas has been an Ashford’s Future company board member since the company launched in spring last year. Former chair Robyn Pyle stepped down to take up a role in the new Government Property Unit, but will remain a director of Ashford’s Future.

• David Grady has been appointed chief financial officer of Midlands Co-operative Society. Most recently head of finance at Tarmac, he succeeds Martyn Cheatle who took up the position of chief executive at Midlands Co-operative Society earlier this year.

• Glyn Jones is the new chair of Pennaf Housing Group. Mr Jones joined the management board of Clwyd Alyn Housing Association - part of the Pennaf Group - in 2001 and became chair of Clwyd Alyn in 2006. He has stood down from Clwyd Alyn to take on the new Pennaf Group role.