The State of Social Enterprise Survey Finally Confirms What We've Known for Years

Every two years, Social Enterprise UK publishes the State of Social Enterprise survey. It’s the most comprehensive picture we have of the sector — who’s operating, how they’re structured, what they’re achieving, and where they’re struggling. I’ve been reading these surveys since they started, and the 2023 edition is the most revealing yet.

The headline finding — CICs as the most popular legal form — is the one that will get the attention. But there’s more in the data that’s worth unpacking.

The diversity of the CIC sector is striking. CICs operate in every sector of the economy, from social care to renewable energy, from the arts to community transport, from housing to employability. The survey shows that 90% of NHS community health spinouts — representing £900 million in budget — chose the CIC structure. That’s not a niche. That’s a significant part of the health infrastructure.

But the survey also confirms the challenges. Access to finance remains the number one obstacle. Social investment accounts for only 2% of the average community business income. Most CICs operate on thin margins with minimal reserves. The cost-of-living crisis is putting additional pressure on organisations that were already stretched.

The survey also captures something that the raw data doesn’t. The CIC movement has matured. The organisations responding to the survey are more established, more professional, and more confident than they were a decade ago. They know what they are and what they want to achieve. They’re less concerned with explaining the CIC model and more concerned with getting on with their work.

The State of Social Enterprise Survey 2023 is a document of pride and frustration. Pride in what CICs have achieved. Frustration that the support system still hasn’t caught up. Eighteen billion pounds of economic contribution, and we’re still having to make the case for basic infrastructure.

At some point, the data has to speak for itself.