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The bread maker is an exemplary emerging Social Firm operating in Aberdeen City; a commercially focused enterprise producing high quality breads and confectionery. The purpose of their business activities is to provide a range of meaningful employment, training, educational opportunities and social activities to Adults with Learning Disabilities who are excluded in mainstream society.

The ethos of the bread maker is that of fully supporting and enabling Apprentices to work in a holistic and innovative way, offering a stimulating and positive experience to each individual, valuing and recognising their contribution and input as a team player within their thriving bespoke business.

The Apprenticeship Scheme offers 24 adults with learning disabilities a range of work experience and job opportunities within a dedicated bakery unit and welcoming coffee house – 12 of the apprentices work in the bakery and 12 work in the coffee house. Additionally they are supported to fully participate in the life of the city and engage in a range of social activities and learning opportunities out-with their job requirements. A continuous personal development programme ensures that everyone has the opportunity to maximise their own potential to become a fully active member of society valued for their abilities, skills and experience.

The bread maker has invested in undertaking an evaluative Social Return on Investment (SROI) analysis and the scope of this analysis focuses on the bread maker’s Apprenticeship Scheme during the financial year April 2009 – March 2010. This one year of the Apprenticeship Scheme was made possible by the £58,615 contract for Support Services from Aberdeen City Council.

The principles of SROI were used as a framework to support the evaluation exercise and a range of stakeholders were identified and fully engaged with during the whole process. The focus was on measuring the changes that are brought about in the lives of those affected by the Apprenticeship scheme – in particular the key stakeholders, 24 Apprentices working in the bakery and/or Coffee House. Additional stakeholders included, Volunteers, Parents and Key Workers, NHS and Local Authority Representatives. A range of methods were used to engage with stakeholders to capture information and evidence to fully support any findings.

In society, work is widely recognised as having a huge impact on people’s wellbeing and health and as such the bread maker strives to make this a reality for adults who would otherwise be denied the opportunity of having a real job within a real business.

The changes that have been experienced by all the stakeholder groups have been captured and recorded within the SROI report. There is a wealth of positive change reported amongst all stakeholders including; huge levels of increased confidences, increased levels of independence, skills attainment, and knowledge, a feeling of being valued in society and improved health and wellbeing. In particular Apprentices engaging in the bread maker are much healthier, happier people contributing more fully to society.

The bread maker is reported by the Local Authority as offering a stimulating experience and deeper integration into everyday life for adults with a learning disability who otherwise may be at home and/or possibly on their own. The bread maker is the foremost positive destination as a Learning Disability Service provider; it provides a positive place for people to go to work in an empowering environment.

The range of training and work experience offered by the Apprentice Scheme enhances efforts to increase an individual’s capabilities and personal development and the bread maker is a great example of the type of service needed. The provision of the rewarding experience of working in the successful business, that is the bread maker, is far more preferable than only offering adults the alternative option of spending their week doing arts and crafts.

The bread maker is a ‘fit for purpose’, progressive and sustainable organisation, that is professional and proactive in its approach to business on all levels of service and product delivery.  The detailed impact map developed captures the key outputs and outcomes measured as determined by the scope of the evaluation. The impact and supporting documentation provides detailed information on what financial proxies have been used, sources of evidence and values attributed against each outcome. Calculations have also been made to ensure that the true value of impact has been recorded.

The comprehensive evaluation and study has resulted in an SROI calculation ratio in £4.50 of added value for every £1.00 of investment made by Aberdeen City Council through their Service Level Agreement. (Under sensitivity analysis, this ratio would reduce to £4.25).

The Scotia Clubhouse is part of the worldwide movement of ‘Clubhouses’ offering an important different way for people who suffer with severe and enduring mental health problems to contribute and engage with the world. Scotia is more than a “service” for this group of people. It provides an accepting environment which is to all intents and purposes a physical work place. People who access Scotia become its members and they are responsible for the operation of the Clubhouse. Staff are also members and there is a deliberate blurring of the boundaries between staff and other members. Areas of work include a cafe, learning activities, administration, finance and care for other members. There are deliberately not enough staff for the project to run, thus members have to be the main workforce, with staff being mainly facilitators. There
is an active membership of around 160 people at any one time.

Scotia is set in the heart of the East End of Glasgow where the assumption is commonly held that the hope of employment is scarce for most people. It quickly became apparent during the course of this study that Scotia’s culture is one of hope in a difficult environment.

Moreover, the facts indicate that Scotia is actually successful in placing people in work situations and helping people gain employment. This SROI study focuses on measuring ‘the value to society of the impact of the relationship between members and the Clubhouse as a multi-faceted working environment on mental health, social integration and work readiness.’ The study was conducted between April – November 2010. The research explored the story of change as experienced by members, using in depth one to one semi-structured interviews. The following key findings are evidenced by this work:

1. There are significant improvements in the quality of relationships for members that last a long time. This improves and contributes to mental health recovery through maintaining members confidence and self esteem and was highly valued by members.
2. A sense of regular place (workplace) is key to the impact of re-accessing skills and mental health recovery. Members use Scotia to practice the more subtle arts of workplace survival and thriving, such as developing
   team working, cooperative working and social competence. Without these skills, most prospective employees do not prosper.
3. The longer term nature of Scotia membership is important to ongoing mental health. Mental health recovery is not a uniform upward curve. There are dips and set backs along the way. Scotia is there for members at these times, providing a safety net that is as valuable to members as it is to the state in preventing resource draining relapse into poor mental health, with all the associated implications.
4. Scotia is by far the main contributor to change in members lives. The concept of attribution of credit for change is a key SROI technique and this study measured this thoroughly, with the above result.
5. The model of facilitated peer support consistently came out as a valued experience in members mental health recovery. Highly valued by members was the sense of self esteem and self worth they felt as a result of
   feeling needed by Scotia and other members within it. This is a unique finding. Most other services provide support to people, rather than facilitate people to sup-port each other. Making members responsible for aspect of Scotia’s operation was also key to this.

The total present value of Scotia Clubhouse is calculated as £1,621,891 over five years. The total invested to generate the total present value was £301,197 per year invested in the main by the Mental Health Partnership. Therefore the net present value is £1,320,694.The SROI index value is that for every £1 spend on this project our society gets back £5.38 in a variety of ways.

This report uses the Social Return on Investment (SROI) methodology to explore the value of the Community Safer Sex Project (CSSP) in terms of who is affected by the project and what changes for them. It brings together softer intelligence from those using the services with hard data on outcomes. The stakeholder consultations initially provide an understanding of what matters most to those affected. This then informs the process of identifying indicators and measuring outcomes to understand the social value that can be attributed to the project.

This SROI evaluation of the Leicestershire and Rutland Community Safer Sex Project (CSSP) found that, for each £1 invested in CSSP supporting Connexions Leicestershire to deliver sexual health services between approximately £7 and £9 is returned in social value. This is based on analysis of outcomes for young people visiting CSSP sites at Connexions between June 2009 and June 2010. Various sources of data were analysed to understand the nature and scale of need for the young people whom CSSP is designed to support. Examples of some of the findings were:

Approximately

• One in ten 14-16 year olds in Leicestershire have had unsafe sex
• One in ten females in the county become pregnant before they reach 20
• One in ten pregnancy tests taken at Connexions are positive
• One in ten young people with a negative test on their initial visit then go on to become pregnant within 12 months

Research also suggested that risks associated with becoming a teenage parent can have significant impacts on future outcomes, regardless of whether a birth occurs. Understanding more about young people’s attitudes to risk-taking has identified areas that are important to address such as supporting young people to make more informed choices, promoting healthy relationships and building confidence and autonomy.

The Leicestershire and Rutland Community Safe Sex Project (CSSP) supports the delivery of sexual health services for young people in community settings that they would typically access e.g. school, youth services, Connexions centres. Each year, approximately 500 staff working with young people are trained by CSSP. Sexual health services are then accessed through these sites by around 10,000 young people each year.By consulting with stakeholders, it was found that benefits of CSSP extended beyond contraception information and provision. Increased confidence in young people to engage with health services and improved emotional health, as a result of the one-to-one support, were felt to also be direct benefits of providing sexual health services for young people.The service was also found to contribute towards reducing risk-taking and increasing engagement for more vulnerable young people.

Analysis of the data suggests that females under-18 using Connexions for sexual health support were less likely to become pregnant a year after their first visit than would be expected if the service did not exist, although the difference was not large enough to be statistically significant. However, around 12% of females who initially used the service for a pregnancy test were estimated to then continue to use the service proactively for advice or contraception without any further pregnancy tests, or becoming pregnant, that year. Such changes in behaviour, as evidenced by case studies, can significantly benefit young people, their families and public services. This suggests that benefits of the service extend further than simply preventing pregnancies by also addressing the behaviours associated with becoming a teenage parent, such as lack of autonomy and risk-taking.

The SROI process identified that addressing these behaviours has a significant benefit to both young people and public services. However, it was also recognised that a number of different factors, outside the scope of CSSP, contribute to such risk-taking and a number of different agencies may need to be involved in supporting young people to feel more in control of their lives.