Social Enterprise

We support social enterprises – both as advisors and as advocates for the movement.

We’re a rare mix of social enterprise lawyers and sector-leading financing, investment and impact advisers. Together, we give social enterprises the best start from day one. We help them set up governing documents in line with their values, arrange loans and approach investors. As a full service law firm we can produce people-friendly employment contracts and supplier agreements that drive sustainability, alongside providing day to day help with IP, disputes, real estate and more.

How we help

We’re here for every business with a social purpose. Over the decades, we’ve helped countless social enterprises get started, including Charity Bank and Big Society Capital.

We’ve also championed policies that make doing business easier for social enterprises everywhere. We worked with government to introduce the CIC (Community Interest Company) model and made the case for social investment tax relief.

We also helped to create Purposely, a free government-backed digital tool that helps businesses to simply embed purpose.

Explore

Purpose & Impact: your roundup

Welcome to your roundup – a monthly selection of news hand-picked to keep you up to date with what’s going on for businesses wanting to create positive impact. In this roundup you can find out what’s new in the B Corp, social enterprise, and impact investing spaces, amongst others, collated under helpful headings. We’ll also …
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The Procurement Act 2023: new regime goes live

The Procurement Act 2023 is now in force. Explore our Procurement teams’ top takeaways on the Government’s strategic priorities following publication of the new National Procurement Policy Statement. On 13 February 2025, the Cabinet Office published the long-awaited National Procurement Policy Statement (NPPS), reinvigorating a focus on public bodies using procurement to achieve public benefit. …
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New company guide empowers UK company directors to embed sustainability information in financial reporting

Bates Wells has contributed to a new guide, issued by the True & Fair Project, to support UK company directors who have decided that information relating to sustainability issues is necessary for their accounts to give a true and fair view. ‘Are Your Financial Statements True and Fair?’ underscores directors’ legal obligation to consider sustainability …
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What’s next for UK environmental protection?

On 24 January, the Climate and Nature (CAN) Bill was ‘adjourned’ to 11 July after politicians were denied the opportunity for a ‘free vote’ to advance the Bill to its next stage. Instead, the government has promised that next steps will include binding commitments to advance the CAN Bill’s objectives, including for legislation. We considered …
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“Yes we CAN”: The new Climate and Nature Bill

The Climate and Nature Bill has its second reading in Parliament on 24 January and we’re one of hundreds of organisations supporting the proposed change in legislation. Its aim is to require the UK government to put stronger policy and action in place with important principles that go much further than the existing Environment Act. …
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Meet our team