P3 Named Social Enterprise Team of the Year
P3 is delighted to have won the Social Enterprise Team of the Year at the UK Social Enterprise Awards, held at the Guildhall in central London.
P3 operates across the UK and delivering services for socially excluded and vulnerable people. It specialises in homelessness services, supported housing, services for people recovering from mental ill-health, community support, justice services and youth services.
The charity won the award after working in the pandemic to support 28,500 people. This included:
- Delivery of 3,106 food parcels
- Rehousing 361 single people and 12 families
- Street Outreach Teams continuing to offer frontline face-to-face support and working additional weekend hours to ensure people were safe and able to access emergency accommodation (as part of P3’s ‘Everyone In’ campaign during lockdown)
- Homemade meals delivered to people living in hotels
- Move-on packs/furniture sourced for people who were rehoused
- Provision of mobile phones to people isolated during lockdown.
P3 homelessness services enabled 3,195 people to exit the streets, including 918 additional people who were supported to access accommodation during the ‘Everyone In’ campaign. We are also increasing our property portfolio: to date, 50 properties are purchased or pending completion across the West Midlands, Lincolnshire and Gloucestershire.
Mark Simms, CEO of P3, said: “P3 people are doing a remarkable job, balancing their own anxiety, anger and worry and focussing on making good things happen for the people that we work alongside.
“Sometimes we can think all of this happens on the front line at P3. It doesn’t. We are a team, one team, made up of many teams from across the country, pushing to do remarkable things in crazy times.
“We never lose sight of the contribution that everyone makes. Every single person who works and volunteers here has made a massive impact on the lives of people that have turned to P3 for support, whether in accounts, HR, street outreach, maintenance, teaching, fundraising, youth or support work. It all matters because it’s all connected. It’s all a collective effort to end social injustice.”
The national Awards, organised by Social Enterprise UK (SEUK), recognise excellence and outstanding achievements by social enterprises, businesses set up to for a social or environmental purpose that reinvest or donate the majority of their profits to meet their mission.
From tackling the climate emergency to reducing homelessness, social enterprises are taking on some of the biggest challenges we face, using trade to change lives and protect the planet.
They have also been at the heart of community responses to the pandemic, providing essential services from food deliveries to health care with many pivoting their models to keep on supporting the people they are set up to help.
There are 100,000 of these businesses in the UK contributing £60 billion to the economy and employing two million people.
The annual celebration of British social enterprises was hosted by comedian, writer, and actress Suzi Ruffell.
Peter Holbrook, Chief Executive of Social Enterprise UK said: “In what has been an incredibly challenging year social enterprises have given us a real sense of hope. They’ve shown us what it means to put people and communities first, showing real resilience and strength without compromising on their values, integrity and impact.
"From taking on the injustices in the food system and using technology to support people experiencing homelessness to being on the frontline of supporting communities through the pandemic - this year’s winners represent not just the best of business but the future of business.”
P3 and the other winners were presented with bespoke trophies made by the social enterprise, Designs in Mind, which employs people with living with mental health difficulties.
Social enterprises also supplied all the goods and services on the night, including the catering, rigging, drinks, flower displays and goody bags.
The Awards were sponsored by Big Society Capital, British Council, Compass Group, Coop, Corps Security, eBay, GLL, ISG, Johnson & Johnson, Landmarc, Linklaters, Natwest, PwC, SAP and the Social Partnership Portal.
