Transforming adult social care, growing enterprise, creating jobs and maximising outcomes with Nathan Atkinson

Vitalising Purpose: The Social Enterprise Difference in Public Services

This interview covers pioneering work by Rotherham Council to develop a local ecosystem of social and micro enterprises to maximise outcomes for people with a learning disability and autistic people.
Some considered it brave or bold to put faith in micro and social emterpises to develop an extensive "offer" (of excellent services which reflect a person’s interests and passions, not their disability) as the council moved away from building-based services.
But the results speak for themselves, as you can hear from Nathan. The programme has been a "fantastic contributor to Rotherham Council's commitment to social value." It has also created more than 100 new jobs in Rotherham.
A "partnership" approach was a critical success factor. How did the council and its partner, Community Catalysts, create and nurture an environment where both social and micro-enterprises would flourish? And how does the programme support independence and offer affordable, personalised services that people want to choose? Nathan explains.
He believes social enterprises are purpose-aligned, natural partners to local authorities and he tells us why in this episode. And he has great ideas about what can we do to turn exemplars such as this into a movement across the UK.
Nathan is now Corporate Director of Adults and Wellbeing at Trafford Council, a role he took up in January 2023, and formerly Assistant Director of Strategic Commissioning in Adult Care, Housing and Public Health at Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council. We recorded this interview before Nathan left Rotherham and joined Trafford.
What next?

• Nathan has written a chapter for Vitalising Purpose – The Power of the Social Enterprise Difference in Public Services.
• A 'must-read for chief executives, heads of transformation, commissioners and procurement officers, and social entrepreneurs,' the book is available in paperback and ebook formats here: https://e3m.org.uk/vitalising-purpose-book/
• And from Amazon here ( https://amzn.eu/d/6f25KJB )