Fram Farmers and Unicorn Grocery star at UK Social Enterprise Awards

Fram Farmers was named the first-ever Co-op of the Year at the UK Social Enterprise Awards, while Unicorn Grocery – in its 30th year – won Consumer Facing Social Enterprise of the Year.

The ceremony was held at New Century Hall in Manchester last night (Thursday 12 November). Co-produced for the first time by Co-operatives UK and Social Enterprise UK, it was also the first time the awards had been held outside London, bringing them to Manchester, just down the road from Rochdale, where the modern co-operative movement began in 1844.

Two further Co-operatives UK partner members were highly commended: Channel Islands Co-op in the Co-op of the Year category, and Community Dental Services in Public Services Social Enterprise of the Year.

Peter Holbrook CBE, Chief Executive of Social Enterprise UK, said: “At a time of economic uncertainty, inequality, climate challenge and increasing social polarisation, this year’s finalists offer something powerful: practical reasons for hope.

“They are creating good jobs, sharing ownership and opportunity, keeping wealth rooted locally and proving that commercial success driven by a social purpose can strengthen communities the length and breadth of the UK.”

Co-op of the Year: Fram Farmers

Founded in 1980, Fram Farmers is a co-operative owned by more than 1,400 British farming businesses rather than outside investors, giving farmers a direct say in how it is run and a share in the value it creates. From securing competitive prices on seed, fertiliser and fuel to marketing grain, its services help farmer members reduce costs and strengthen resilience. It has recently invested in digital technology and launched its own livestock veterinary practice, while supporting sustainable farming and rural communities.

Fram Farmers is one of 533 agricultural co-operatives in the UK, which together generate £9.2 billion a year, according to our Co-operative and Mutual Economy 2026 report.

Consumer Facing Social Enterprise of the Year: Unicorn Grocery

Celebrating its 30th anniversary, Manchester’s Unicorn Grocery is a worker co-operative serving around 6,500 customers each week with affordable, sustainably sourced plant-based food, and turns over more than £9 million a year. Owned and democratically run by its workers, Unicorn champions equal pay, fair trade and sustainable farming, while supporting growers, co-operatives and projects working towards food justice. Winning in its home city made it a night to remember.

Highly commended

• Channel Islands Co-op (Co-op of the Year): the consumer co-operative serving members across Jersey and Guernsey. [Add one line on its scale or impact.]
• Community Dental Services (Public Services Social Enterprise of the Year): [Add one line, for example: an employee-owned social enterprise providing NHS dental care to people who find it hard to access mainstream services.]

All the winners

• Social Enterprise of the Year: Breadwinners. Through market stalls and wholesale partnerships across London and Brighton, Breadwinners sells organic bread to create employment and training opportunities for young refugees and people seeking asylum. Since launching in 2016, it has supported more than 1,000 young people into their first UK work experience, new skills and onward routes into employment, education and volunteering.
• Public Services Social Enterprise of the Year: Turning Point. More than 200,000 people received support from Turning Point across England last year, through services spanning mental health, drug and alcohol treatment, learning disabilities and autism. With 94% of its CQC-registered services rated Good or Outstanding, it also invested £10.79 million in local voluntary, community and social enterprise organisations.
• Prove It – Social Impact: Migrateful. Migrateful’s cookery classes help refugees and migrants build skills, confidence and routes into employment, while bringing people from different backgrounds together. Last year, 54 refugee and migrant chefs delivered 860 classes to more than 10,700 participants.
• Buy Social Market Builder: Willmott Dixon. The family-owned construction company is helping social enterprises win contracts in a hard-to-enter industry, spending more than £22.7 million with social businesses since 2020 and supporting them through its National Social Enterprise Directory, mentoring and Building Blocks programme.
• Social Investment Deal of the Year (shared): A £1.93 million loan from Social and Sustainable Capital and a £400,000 grant from Access enabled Wigan homelessness charity The Brick to buy 40 housing units. A £144,000 loan and £15,000 grant from Livv Investment helped Liverpool charity The Reader expand at Calderstones Mansion House, creating 15 new jobs.
• Education, Training and Jobs Social Enterprise of the Year: Connection Crew. Connection Crew creates events industry careers for people affected by homelessness, providing more than 300,000 hours of paid work since 2005, at or above the London Living Wage.
• Environmental Social Enterprise of the Year: Changeworks. Between 2022 and 2025, Changeworks helped more than 40,000 Scottish households install energy-saving measures and advised 164,000 more. With its Warmworks joint venture, it reports saving 1.2 million tonnes of carbon over that period.
• One to Watch: Jaskulla Mentoring. The Oxford social enterprise helps children at risk of school exclusion stay connected to education through trauma-informed mentoring, family support and training for educators.
• Social Enterprise Building Diversity, Inclusion, Equity and Justice: Foundervine. Founded by Izzy Obeng MBE and Cecil Adjalo, Foundervine supports women, Black, disabled and other under-represented entrepreneurs. Founders it has supported have raised £103 million since 2018.
• Social Enterprise Women’s Champion: Areej AbuAli, Women in Tech SEO. Since 2019, Areej has built a community of more than 12,000 members in over 100 countries, helping women and people of marginalised genders advance their careers in tech.
• International Impact: WildHearts Office. WildHearts uses profits from its office supplies business to tackle period poverty in South Africa, where local women have manufactured and distributed more than 220,000 reusable pads.
• Community-Based Social Enterprise: Social Enterprise Kent. Its social supermarkets, training and health projects reach more than 10,000 people a year. In 2025/26 it trained 2,764 learners and recorded more than 55,000 social supermarket transactions.
• Social Enterprise Innovation of the Year: Outcomes Star. The employee-owned business’s software helps more than 1,500 organisations measure the progress of people using support services, from housing and homelessness to domestic abuse.