Impact of Public Policy on Small Third Sector Social Enterprises

Abstract

This chapter provides important perspectives from key informants about their experiences of the impact of public policy on small social enterprises. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with the 10 Chief Executive Officers (CEOs), 8 HR managers, and 46 operational managers working in small third sector social enterprises in four UK regions to ascertain how government policy framework poses challenges and/or encourages small third sector social enterprises growth and success. There is clear evidence that changes in public policy have had some challenging effect on services development and in several regions, with core services, training and employment support and preventative services are showing a net deterioration.