Building Britain for Generations: A Policy Agenda for Family Businesses
Investing in our Communities
Local Procurement Family businesses consistently report that public procurement processes are overly complex, resource intensive and unintentionally biased towards large, multinational suppliers. While transparency and value for money are essential, the cumulative administrative burden acts as a barrier to entry for many capable family firms. Preparing bids often requires significant time,
legal input and repeated submission of the same information across multiple portals. For family businesses without dedicated bid teams, the cost of participation can outweigh potential returns, discouraging engagement. As a result, many family businesses are deterred from bidding altogether, despite often being well placed to deliver high quality, value for money services rooted in local communities.
Family firms are uniquely placed to invest in their local communities because they are rooted in their local areas for the long term. This long-term investment has helped build Britain’s communities for generations. It is with that in mind that we recognise the civic role of family businesses to our high streets and our social fabric – and how we must champion and support them. Fig.3 shows that 87% of family businesses actively support their local community in at least one key area: from charitable, philanthropic or wider community initiatives, to strengthening local supply chains, protecting the environment, investing in local skills, or supporting socially or economically disadvantaged groups.
Fig.3 Thinking about your local community, which of the following roles, if any, does your family business currently play?
40.6%
Providing stable, long-term employment
31.5%
Creating and sustaining local jobs
Recommendations Simplify the procurement system to
31.5%
Supporting community organisations or initiatives
place greater weight on social value, local presence and long-term delivery capability in Government and local Government tenders. The new Office for the Impact Economy 18 should work closely with Department for Business and Trade and the wider Cabinet Office to make these changes. Introduce proportionate financial and insurance thresholds aligned with contract risk, and improve transparency and feedback mechanisms to support continuous improvement by family business bidders.
31.0%
Supporting local supply chains
27.4%
Supporting the local green transition
23.8%
Supporting local charities or philanthropic causes
23.1%
Investing in local skills or training
7.0%
Supporting socially or economically disadvantaged groups
3.4%
None of the above
0.5%
Not sure
0
5
15
20
25
30
35
40
10
18 Office for the Impact Economy – provides a single front door for impact investors, philanthropy and purpose-driven businesses to partner with the Government and grow their social impact across the UK
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