A project pairing the world’s biggest companies with social enterprises has hit a £99m spending milestone and created thousands of jobs in organisations tackling social and environmental issues.

The Buy Social Corporate Challenge (BSCC) sees membership body Social Enterprise UK (SEUK) work with 30 large businesses, ranging from pharmaceuticals to finance, to find social enterprise suppliers for products and services from hospitality to consultancy.

SEUK’s latest report shows the past year has been the biggest yet, with BSCC partners collectively spending more than £350m and social enterprises reinvesting nearly £32m since the Department for Culture, Media and Sport launched BSCC in 2016.

The BSCC blueprint of corporates purchasing from social enterprises has also created an estimated 3,400 jobs overall - often for those facing additional barriers to the labour market such as people with disabilities, people who have been in prison or people who have experienced homelessness.

Social procurement is increasingly popular among policymakers and international institutions as companies consider how they impact people and planet, with the most common category areas currently served by the social enterprises being education and skills development, consultancy and business support, HR and wellbeing, facilities management, and research.

BSCC partners include Amey, AstraZeneca, AXA, Barclays, CBRE, Co-op, Compass/Foodbuy, Deloitte, Equans, John Sisk & Son, Johnson & Johnson, KPMG, Landmarc Support Services, Lendlease, Linklaters, LV=, Mitie, Motorola Solutions, Nationwide, Nestle, NFU Mutual, PwC, Robertson Group, SAP, Siemens, Sodexo, The Crown Estate, Wates Group, Willmott Dixon, and Zurich Insurance Group.

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