Growth plans worth millions for leading social enterprises

Two leading social enterprises are tackling the recession head on with expansion plans worth millions of pounds.

Speaking Up, an England-wide social enterprise giving a voice to people with disabilities and mental health problems, is currently finalising plans for a merger with Surrey-based advocacy service Advocacy Partners, an organisation with a £2m turnover.

The move, which would form a new company with a turnover topping £7m, is likely to mean big changes for Speaking Up, including a new company name and branding.

And P3, which provides housing solutions and other services for disadvantaged people in the West Midlands and London, has announced a takeover of the Rugby Portobello Trust (RPT) to further develop its social inclusion services for the under-25s in west London.

The takeover will add £1.2m to P3's £7.3m turnover.

Kathleen Cronin, chief operations officer at Speaking Up, said the merger with Advocacy Partners should be complete by the autumn.

'It means that we'll be operating from South Yorkshire down to Kent,' she said.

'We're two businesses with shared values coming together, so it will probably mean a new identity for a new unified company. It's very likely that we will not be Speaking Up any more.'

Cronin added that the merger would strengthen both organisations in the economic downturn and at a time when NHS health services were being modernised with such initiatives as personal budgets for patients.

'We're putting our resources together so we can respond to the changes in the environment. We want to provide a more robust service,' she said, adding that Speaking Up's 140 staff and Advocacy Partners' 90 staff were excited at the prospect of the merger.

'The growth agenda is something that's prominent and this gives us a chance to be innovative.'

P3 CEO Martin Kinsella said his company's take over of RPT, which keeps its own identity, would strengthen both companies during the recession and improve their youth services.

'We thought merging with RPT was a real opportunity for the people we serve,' he said.

'RPT had been thinking of a merger for some time and this was provoked by the credit crunch. It's a forward move for both of us and ensures that we can continue to deliver life changing services to the young people of west London.'

Both Kinsella and Speaking Up CEO Craig Dearden-Phillips are Social Enterprise Ambassadors.