Transforming Remploy through Social Enterprises

Social Firms Conference

1 - 2nd July 2010

Outline

• About Remploy• The Current Context• Our Approach• Progress to date• Our Opportunities• Opportunity for questions

Remploy

Mission: To transform the lives of disabled and severely disadvantaged people through work.

• Non departmental public body• Funded through block grant to deliver Workstep• Two approaches: Employment Services Enterprise Businesses

Context for Change

• Rationalised from 83 to 54 sites in 2008

• More than half the sites have little or no work

• Cost per person supported in the sites is rising, not falling

• Little or no progression from Remploy to Open Employment

• Impact of public sector cuts on sales

Approach

• We researched the differences between Remploy and

Social Firms model

• We identified internal and external champions

• We identified 5 Remploy sites to test the model:Aberdeen, Worksop, Bridgend, Haringey, Poole

• We employed dedicated, entrepreneurial management

• We are developing individual site propositions according

to local skills and markets

• We are exploring a number of different business models

Governance and Structures

•Nationally Driven

•Centrally loaded

•Centrally controlled

•Strong Governance

•Part of Remploy structure and systems

•Conformance culture

•Locally Driven

•Flexible,can do, customer focussed culture

•Services and systems appropriate to business and size and legal compliance

•Reduced overhead costs

•High local involvement

•Increasingly independent from Remploy systems/processes

Remploy Site

Social Enterprise 1

Social Enterprise 2

Social Enterprise 3

Progress to Date

• New Business and Governance model developed and is currently being implemented (within Remploy constraints)

• New site managers recruited• Funding level remains flat at 09/10 budget for 10/11• A Number of new enterprise opportunities identified

and implemented across the 5 sites • We have identified the first 4 individual SE businesses

achieving minimum 50% commercial revenue, with a minimum of 25% disabled people

Progress to date

Full Year Forecast

Commercial Sales

WS Tariff Funding

GIA Funding %

No. employees

Disabled Employees

Aberdeen Textiles £78,000 £28,800 £40,200 53% 6 100%

Bridgend Automotive £660,000 £110,400 £197,363 68% 26 65%

WHALE Training £48,000 £9,600 £8,600 73% 3 66%

EMA £65,000 £14,400 £32,600 58% 4 75%

First 4 businesses running to Social Firms model:

Next Steps

• As businesses become viable we can talk to employees about business ownership

• We could offer this approach to more Remploy sites• We can share our lessons learned with other sheltered

workshops• We can use the expertise and experience gained to

support disabled and disadvantaged people set up their own businesses across the UK without having to use a Remploy site and outside of Remploy ownership

Questions and Feedback

?