Social Value Lab Competitors

We’re a worker-owned co-operative and charitable social enterprise that helps local people across the UK lead healthier, happier lives. Our journey began in 1993 as a groundbreaking co-operative initiative in Greenwich, where we became one of the UK’s first leisure services to spin out from local authority control into an independent charitable social enterprise. This innovative model combined commercial efficiency with strong social purpose, creating a template that would reshape public service delivery across the UK. Today, we manage almost 400 public service facilities nationwide, including leisure centres, libraries and cultural venues. We’ve maintained our commitment to social value while continuously adapting to meet evolving community needs. Because our staff have a stake in the organisation as a co-operative, they are directly invested in its success. We're also proud to offer good job opportunities with fair pay, excellent career development, and apprenticeships, particularly in parts of the UK where these opportunities are most needed. Our impact extends beyond traditional leisure services to encompass public health, education and cultural engagement. Through strategic partnerships with local authorities, NHS England, and national organisations, we’ve pioneered evidence-based approaches that deliver measurable social value while maintaining financial sustainability. For over 30 years, we have sought to challenge ‘the norm’ and to show how values-driven, social entrepreneurship can work effectively with government, health professionals, sport and library leaders.

Imagine a better world where organisations put people and planet alongside profit. Guess what? It’s happening. Social Value is the currency for conducting business in a responsible, sustainable way, and we are on a mission to make it count in every organisation and every local community across the world, starting with our pledge to work with our customers to deliver £100 billion of social value by 2025. Whether you are a bidder, buyer or business, it’s our people, platform and programmes that make for an altogether more successful Social Value strategy. With our endorsed measures, validation, data analytics and continual specialist support, you’re not only in the safest hands, but also set-up to create more meaningful Social Value impact today – and for the future.

We help our partners design, fund and scale solutions to complex and enduring social issues. Our pioneering work delivers lasting and widespread change that improves the lives of people and communities in the UK and globally. We’ve been doing this since we created the world’s first social impact bond in 2010 – a totally new approach to funding and delivery, in which investors are repaid only if and when services improve outcomes for people. Today, this is just one aspect of what we do. We have a team of over 120 people, diverse in skills and experiences, united in our passion for making the world a fairer place.