New 3SC Membership Launched

Improve your social business and join a united voice for the third sector in new 3SC membership scheme.

We have launched our new membership offer to provide advice and support to improve social businesses, give them greater access to public sector contracts, and enable them to join a united voice to raise and address issues within public procurement to ensure a stronger third sector for the benefit of us all.

Our role at 3SC, recently listed as one of the Natwest 2019 Top 100 social enterprises in the UK, is to strengthen and champion the third sector. We are already a UK leader in building specialist, local supply chains that deliver public services with social impact at their core. We have supported and enabled the third sector to access more than £69 million since our inception through our directly delivered contracts and Transforming Rehabilitation activities. In 2018-2019 alone we supported our supply chains to access in excess of £5 million.

Our membership offer provides advice and support to improve your business and your success in winning and delivering public sector contracts. Members will receive a full range of sector-specific advice and support to help them be contract ready to win and also deliver public sector contracts and to access both large and small tender opportunities both as part of a 3SC supply chain or independently. Our members only area includes self-assessment toolkits and policy and procedure templates (that can be tailored to suit your business). Members get access to consultancy support and free entry to our national and regional events. It gives you the tools and opportunities you need to build, develop and grow.

But strengthening your social business and the third sector is not enough. In order to keep delivering and increasing our social impact we need to create more opportunities for our sector to do what they do best – deliver excellent public services with social outcomes at their core. This means dealing with the problems with the public procurement landscape. We want to transform the public procurement landscape for the better.

3SC are lobbying for greater access for the third sector to deliver both central and local government contracts. We have all seen large bids and tender entry requirements that restrict the opportunities for our sector to become involved, particularly for SMEs, keeping the expert and talented third sector at arm’s reach (at best) or locked out entirely (usually). We have all seen contracts delivered ineffectively and wastefully for want of our expertise.

We want this to change and want you to join our push to change the way public services are procured to ensure a level playing field for third sector, particularly smaller, mission driven organisations (like you and us) so we can make a real difference to those in our local communities who need our support.

Together we are stronger. 3SC membership means building our shared capacity, resilience and impact.

3SC Chief Executive, Joanne Cholerton and one of the Natwest Top 100 women in social enterprise, said: “3SC has always been committed to delivering public services through local, passionate, mission driven, social organisations who deliver the crucial social impact and outcomes that are needed in these person-centred services. Our new membership scheme won’t just give third sector organisations better access to information on government contracts and how to successfully win and deliver them, but also advice and support to improve their business. It will also give them an opportunity to join us in challenging the current issues within public procurement processes that provide a barrier to so many third sector organisations – we are trying to level the playing field. We know that together we are stronger and that our passionate, mission driven organisations can deliver pioneering services that make a real difference to so many people’s lives and local communities who need their support.”

So join us, become a member, strengthen our shared voice and change the public procurement landscape for the better.

Gareth Snaith, Contract Performance Manager, 3SC