England now has 9,000 community businesses Power to Change’s Community Business Market Report reveals the sector owns assets worth £950m

HOME 5 News 5 England now has 9,000 community businesses Power to Change’s Community Business Market Report reveals the sector owns assets worth £950m
Power to Change, the independent trust which supports community business across England, has released its 2019 market report, which gives a snapshot of the growing sector.
5 Dec, 2019

The report reveals there are now 9,000 community businesses in England which are worth £890m and have assets of £950m.

Community businesses can take many forms, from cafés to ferryboats, solar farms to leisure centres. What they all have in common is they are locally rooted, trade for the benefit of their community, are accountable to the local community and invest their profits in the area.

This latest research shows the sector is performing strongly across almost 20 economic sectors. The average business in 2019 employs 14 people and engages 32 volunteers.  However, the proportion of those in the sector feeling confident about the future has fallen from 63% last year to 58% in 2019, largely driven by uncertainty surrounding Brexit.

Ailbhe McNabola, Power to Change’s Head of Research and Policy said: “Community businesses do incredible work, reducing social isolation, increasing community cohesion and boosting the health and wellbeing of local people. For this year’s report we have accessed even better data to give us the most robust picture of the community business market to date. We have found that community businesses own a large number of assets that are valued by local people, and mobilise a significant workforce to provide important local services.”

Read the report in full here.

 

About Power to Change

Power to Change is the independent trust that supports community businesses in England.

Community businesses are locally rooted, community-led, trade for community benefit and make life better for local people. The sector has an income of  £890m, and comprises 9,000 community businesses across England who employ 33,600 people. (Source: The Community Business Market in 2019)

From pubs to libraries; shops to bakeries; swimming pools to solar farms; community businesses are creating great products and services, providing employment and training and transforming lives. Power to Change received its endowment from the National Lottery Community Fund in 2015.

www.powertochange.org.uk @peoplesbiz

For more information please contact: Alex Valk 07384 812777 alexv@www.powertochange.org.uk

About The National Lottery Community Fund

We are the largest community funder in the UK – we’re proud to award money raised by National Lottery players to communities across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Since June 2004, we have made over 200,000 grants and awarded over £9 billion to projects that have benefited millions of people.

We are passionate about funding great ideas that matter to communities and make a difference to people’s lives. At the heart of everything we do is the belief that when people are in the lead, communities thrive. Thanks to the support of National Lottery players, our funding is open to everyone. We’re privileged to be able to work with the smallest of local groups right up to UK-wide charities, enabling people and communities to bring their ambitions to life.