Agenda item

To hear from external invited guests, Richard Tyrie, GoodPeople and Genevieve Maitland Hudson, Social Investment Business on the future of work and enterprise in Southwark.

To receive a briefing from Councillor Jason Ochere, Cabinet Member for Jobs, Business and Town Centres on apprenticeships, internships and enterprise support on offer through the council.

The commission received a presentation from Richard Tyrie from GoodPeople containing insights and analysis at a local level amongst employers on how Covid has displaced various employment sectors with its new work patterns. The commission heard that work and health are mutually reinforcing and that the quality of work is a key determinant of health. Richard explained to the commission that unintentional and process driven systemic barriers exist through recruitment and HR, these can be mitigated by sharing best practices, bringing together local experts to shape practical and accessible guides for employers.

The commission noted that there is a need to work with local authorities and employers to shape a place-based inclusive employment platform. Richard also explained to the commission the need for internships, work-experience programmes, mentoring networks, flexible working and a diagnostic framework for anchor organisations to identify and overcome recruitment barriers, and map opportunities for hard to reach groups.

The commission also learned that although local employers favour local recruitment but encounter issues in doing so, one of the main reasons was a lack of digital infrastructure and this could be mitigated by having a more effective local jobs platform or talent pool which offers support to both employers and local job seekers post-Covid. Richard summarised the presentation by emphasising the skills complexities within the local job market and the need for funding, resources and support in addition to a collaborative approach needed for connecting local employers to local jobseekers.

The commission also noted that creating more digital platforms like the Southwark Works website for employers and job seekers to network would build a critical mass of candidates and employers would follow, this platform could also take into account issues raised by the commission, for example child care issues specifically affecting women in the employment sector and mitigate these issues by providing flexible working and zero hours contract.

The commission also received an address from the Genevieve Maitland Hudson, Deputy Chief Executive of Social Investment Business on how her organisation provides flexible loans to social economy organisations over a 14 year loan term with flexible interest rates and terms, also further grants can be provided to businesses in need, in addition Social Investment Business also provide blended loans together with grants through organisations such as Access Foundation.

The commission heard that the trajectory of growth between a small scale start-up social business or incorporated charities and large scale fully established organisation is u-shaped due to restricted grants and investment at start-up levels, social businesses at different growth stages require different approach with regards to revenue streams and investments as they are unable to grow their business due to smaller profit margins at the early stages.

Following the presentation, Genevieve answered the commission’s questions around the following:

•  Scalability and sustainability of small scale businesses

•  Examples of, and best practices of small scale businesses from other London boroughs that have grown into large scale businesses without a u-shaped growth trajectory

•  Duplication of services already offered by large businesses which impede small scale start-ups and value in collaboration of such small-scale businesses with large scale business to create a synergy benefiting both organisations.

The commission noted that it takes a longer to grow a business delivering social services compared to businesses that operate on a business to business or a business to consumer model, for instance coffee shops such as Change Please when compared to social schemes such as Vulnerable Person Resettlement Schemes aimed at Syrian refugees. Genevieve also explained that such social schemes have benefited from injection of capital recently after a funding push from organisations nation-wide, social services delivery require a consistent source of funding. The commission also noted that there are pressures of lack of commercial spaces in Southwark and lack of skillsets to setup and deliver social services. Genevieve agreed there is value in collaboration between small and large businesses.

The commission heard from Genevieve on Local Access Partnership , a joint funding programme established by Access and Big Society Capital which has constrained capitals and is limited, it also faces some challenges due to its repayment structure which makes it unfit for investment in micro businesses, some other alternatives would be to bring in Pioneer funding to help invest in micro businesses along with established organisations such as Change Please providing repairable finances to such micro businesses.

The commission also received a briefing from Councillor Jason Ochere, Cabinet member for Jobs, Business and Town Centres on apprenticeships, internships and enterprise support on offer through the council. Councillor Ochere briefed the commission on the commitment on internships within the Council Plan 2018-22 to make sure that 500 young people from low income backgrounds get paid internships with London’s best employer delivered through the Council, schools and graduates.

The Commission also noted that the Covid-19 pandemic is having a significant impact on the council’s ability to support paid internships, however the council have now in place an embedded programme launched in early 2020 with three recruitment campaigns attracting 231 applications and has successfully on-boarded 33 interns at the council at London Living wage. Quality of internships is a challenge faced by businesses in the long term as a lot of internships at the moment are being offered virtually and schools were also less able to support their students to engage with the internship programme.

On apprenticeships Councillor Ochere explained that many were furloughed or made redundant, due to the pandemic and its effects on businesses, this mainly affected young people from disadvantaged back grounds working in level 2 apprenticeships in the hospitality leisure and retail sectors.

Councillor Ochere also briefed the commission on Southwark Pioneers fund during Covid-19 where available funding was repurposed into a Business Hardship Fund in April 2020 as financial support to businesses during the pandemic. The commission also heard from Councillor Ochere on how young people applying for apprenticeships are being offered pre-apprenticeship support through the application process as part of the Southwark Works framework.

The commission also heard from Danny Edwards, Head of Economy, that all the apprenticeship and internships programs such as Career Ready are being reviewed as we emerge from the pandemic, this is a part of the Economic Renewal Plan looking into scalability and increasing access for young people to paid internships.