Power of Three
To effectively support the Armed Forces community in Enterprise X-Forces has brought together key players from Government, Charity and Corporates.
Each of these stakeholders play a crucial role on an individual’s journey through enterprise learning, development and ongoing support for sustainability.
Healthy small businesses boost UK PLC across government departments, from Health to the Treasury. For every £1 investment supported through the Start Up Loans Company, we have seen a £3 return to the UK economy.
The X-Forces scheme is a fantastic programme. The skills that Service personnel can bring to business are a great asset to the UK and it is important that they have every chance to start their own firm; or to contribute to the growth of existing firms. Initiatives like X-Forces celebrate and help to grow our national entrepreneurial spirit, which will play a crucial role in driving our return to long-term economic growth.
X-Forces and HM Government
Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (Previously Business, Innovation and Skills)
In 2012 Lord Young, Advisor to the Prime Minister on Enterprise at the time, met with X-Forces, and became one of the first supporters to come on board. It was through this relationship that X-Forces became a delivery partner of The Start Up Loans Company, and were able to influence policy by lobbying the Start Up Loans initiative to expand its criteria to entrepreneurs over 30 years old.
Ministry of Defence
X-Forces work closely with the Ministry of Defence to both support Service Leavers and their families, whilst also bridging the gap between the MOD and big business. X-Forces are the official training provider for self-employment, the MOD’s Career Transition Partnership with Right Management. X-Forces is an Armed Forces Covenant signatory and works closely with Defence Relationship Management (DRM).
X-Forces and the Career Transition Partnership
Since November 2015 X-Forces have been the Official Business Enterprise Trainer for the MOD through the Career Transition Partnership.
X-Forces delivers Self-Employment Awareness and Enterprise training to Service Leavers across the United Kingdom and Germany.
Self-Employment Awareness workshops are complimented by a 2 Day Enterprise and Self-Employment Course that goes into more granular detail, preparing Service Leavers for their business start-up journey when they leave the Forces.
Department of Work and Pensions
The links between X-Forces and DWP are strong both as referral partners and for knowledge exchange. X-Forces works with the Department’s Armed Forces Partnership Manager to ensure that X-Forces provision is disseminated throughout the UK through the Job Centres. This relationship also means X-Forces has up to date access to the latest policy and legislation that may impact beneficiaries entering self-employment.
The Cabinet Office
The Cabinet Office has featured heavily in the planning and on-going strategy for the X-Forces Community. X-Forces has been able to work with a number of their initiatives from Start-up Loans to the movement and expansion of Social Enterprise organisations in the UK.
X-Forces continues with dialogue, knowledge exchange and putting forward ideas for our cohort of businesses as they expand from start-up to scale-up. For example, a majority of our businesses are now starting to employ staff, expand their premises and take on large clients. Through X-Forces management and support we aim to work closely with the Cabinet Office initiatives to ensure that provision from start-up and to scale-up is more efficient for the UK economy.
British Business Bank
Start Up Loans is a Government-funded scheme which provides fixed-interest loans and mentoring support to aspiring business owners from across the UK who might be struggling to access other forms of finance. A subsidiary of the British Business Bank, the scheme supports employment, enables economic growth, and has a transformational impact on the lives of thousands of people.
