Government policies helping social enterprises

Government policies can help to create the settings that allow social enterprises to thrive.

Governments of all levels (local, state and federal) can implement frameworks, policies and laws that make it easier to run a business for good, make it more likely that government bodies will buy from them, and/or take the full social, environmental and economic value of a business’ outputs (goods and services) into account.

In NSW and ACT:

Some government policies that may be relevant to social enterprises in NSW and ACT include:

  • Published April 2022.

    In particular:

    “The government uses procurement to support small and medium sized businesses, Aboriginal businesses, regional businesses, disability employment organisations and social enterprises.” (p.31)

    “You are encouraged to procure from social enterprises to support economic and social change for disadvantaged people” (p.33)

    Currently there are no mechanisms in place to preference social enterprises in NSW government procurement processes, but if your social enterprise is also an Aboriginal business, a small and medium business, a regional business and/or an Australian Disability Enterprise, there are more favourable terms. See page 33 of the framework for more details.

    See NSW Procurement Policy Framework

  • Updated July 2021

    In particular:

    “For goods and services contracts valued at $3 million or more, a NSW Government agency must include in the non-price evaluation criteria as a minimum:

    • 10% allocated to SME participation, and

    • 10% allocated to support for the NSW Government’s economic, ethical, environmental and social priorities.”

    See SME and Regional Procurement Policy

  • Updated November 2023.

    The ACT procurement legislation does not give any preference to social enterprises, but does state that:

    “In pursuing value for money, the ACT Government will consider:

    • probity and ethical behaviour…”

    In the ‘Supplying to the ACT Government guide’ social enterprises are mentioned, but there are no mechanisms in place for procuring officers to buy from social enterprises more easily.

    See ACT procurement website, the Supplying to the ACT Government guide, and the Government Procurement Act.

  • This strategy has five priority areas:

    • Improve the business experience when dealing with government

    • Support for business to start, operate, grow and innovate

    • Showcase and promote local small businesses

    • Futureproofing small businesses

    • A one-government approach to business

    Specifically, the ACT Government identifies delivering social enterprise grants to provide more opportunities to start a social enterprise as a key action of the Strategy. There are also other action items for ACT focused on supporting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander businesses and supporting entrepreneurship amongst women, LGBTIQ+, young people, people with a disability, and CALD (Culturally and Linguistically Diverse) people.

    “2.6 Deliver social enterprise grants to support start-ups in this sector.” (p. 19)

    See ACT Small Business Strategy 2023-2026.

In other states:

Victoria and Queensland have been leading the way in social enterprise strategies.

  • See Victorian Social Enterprise Strategy

  • Published September 2019.

    The strategy has three focus areas:

    • “building capability and capacity in the sector including access to financial support

    • making connections across the sector to increase collaboration and promotional opportunities

    • improving market access by linking social enterprises to procurement opportunities.”

    See Queensland Social Enterprise Strategy

In Australia:

Some government policies, frameworks and inquiries that may be relevant to social enterprises nationally include:

  • Published July 2023.

    This is Australia’s first wellbeing framework, which outlines 50 measures of progress across five themes:

    • Healthy

    • Secure

    • Sustainable

    • Cohesive

    • Prosperous

    The Australian government has indicated that they will be monitoring and tracking the progress of these 50 measures over time.

    See Measuring What Matters

  • Published September 2023.

    This once-in-a-generation paper outlines the government’s vision for the future and a roadmap to get there. It includes five key objectives:

    • “Delivering sustained and inclusive full employment

    • Promoting job security and strong, sustainable wage growth

    • Reigniting productivity growth

    • Filling skills needs and building our future workforce

    • Overcoming barriers to employment and broadening opportunity”

    and names Social Enterprise 29 times, indicating a strong interest in and future support for social enterprise.

    See Australian Government's White Paper on Jobs and Employment

  • Published November 2023.

    This report from the inquiry into employment services recommended a full reform of the system, including:

    • Establishing a new entity - Employment Services Australia (ESA)

    • Establishing a regulator - Employment Services Quality Commission

    • Significantly enhancing social procurement

    • Entry level job opportunities

    • Formalised governance arrangements

    The report mentions Social Enterprise 191 times and calls for a national social enterprise strategy.

    See Rebuilding Employment Services report

  • Published December 2016.

    This includes 13 focus areas across three priorities:

    • Stimulating social enterprise

    • Developing stronger organisations

    • Realising market opportunity

    See Scotland's Social Enterprise Strategy 2016-2026

  • Published June 2016.

    Following Ontario’s initial three year social enterprise strategy, this province of Canada then prioritised:

    • Equipping social enterprises with solid business fundamentals.

    • Connecting social enterprises to markets and capital to grow and scale.

    • Demonstrating the value of social enterprise and social finance.

    See Ontario’s Social Enterprise Strategy 2016-2021

  • Published November 2023.

    This report, funded by the European Union, provides recommendations to all levels of government for why and how to prioritise social procurement.

    Specifically, “it explores the potential of procurement from the social and solidarity economy in creating social dividends, takes stock of global trends in social procurement among both public and private buyers, identifies challenges in access to markets for social and solidarity economy entities, and finally, provides concrete recommendations for policy makers on how to overcome them.”

    See Buying social with the social economy report

  • The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development strongly supports the “social and solidarity economy” which includes social enterprises and cooperatives.

    This toolkit contains information for policymakers around nine key areas:

    • Foster a social economy culture

    • Create supportive institutional frameworks

    • Design enabling legal and regulatory frameworks

    • Support access to finance

    • Enable access to public and private markets

    • Strengthen skills and business development support

    • Encourage impact measurement and monitoring

    • Support the production of data

    • Encourage social innovation

    See OECD Toolkit for the Social Economy

Further afield:

Governments and intergovernmental bodies around the world are setting policy direction to support social enterprises, including: