Social Enterprises in the North West

According to the Social Enterprise organisation, a social enterprise is “a business that trades for a social and/or environmental purpose. It will have a clear sense of its ‘social mission’: which means it will know what difference it is trying to make, who it aims to help, and how it plans to do it. It will bring in most or all of its income through selling goods or services. And it will also have clear rules about what it does with its profits, reinvesting these to further the ‘social mission’” (Social Enterprise Organisation, n.d.) There are many social enterprises throughout the North West, with several being set up during the NHS transition, when Primary Care Trusts (PCTs) were closed down and services transferred to otherorganisations. New social enterprises helped to ensure that the provision of certain services were sustained and even extended. This overview is intended to give a snapshot of such organisations, looking at Bolton Community Practice Community Interest Company (CIC), Spiral Health CIC, Future Directions CIC and One to One Midwives.