Our Credentials

At the Growth Company we’ve worked hard to cement our position as a leading social enterprise and back in 2021 we gained the ‘Social Enterprise Gold Mark’.

The Social Enterprise Gold Mark is a prestigious accolade, which demonstrates your organisation has been through a rigorous external assessment process to achieve a recognised social enterprise quality standard.

It offers enhanced accreditation to social enterprises which can show best practice across several key business areas that are central to social enterprise excellence:

• governance
• stakeholder engagement
• business ethics
• financial transparency
• social impact

The Growth Company is proud to be joining Business Declares and the fast growing
network of businesses who acknowledge the Climate and Ecological Emergency.
Our aim is to reach Net Zero by 2030 by reducing our emissions and improving our
impact on biodiversity. Concern for both people and the planet are not new to us
and we look forward to continuing to share our journey and ensuring our voice is
part of the collective, resounding call for change. We are certainly not claiming to
be perfect, neither are we judging others, instead we are part of a coalition of the
willing looking to collaborate and accelerate action while continuing to highlight the
challenges and uncomfortable truths.

A Charter member of the Responsible Finance trade body, the CDFA;
Community Investment Tax Relief accredited (BEIS);
British Business Bank - Enterprise Finance Guarantee (EFG) accredited;
Member of European Microfinance Network. (EMNFN);
Formally certified to ISO 9001:2015 and ISO 27001:2013 by an international UKAS Accredited Certification Body

• GC Business Finance

• GC Business Finance also operates a wholly owned subsidiary - BFS Funding Managers Limited, FRN 608682 which has permissions to operate as an Authorised Investment Fund Manager (Sub-Threshold).

To achieve the certification, businesses must demonstrate a commitment to the protection of personal information and be assessed for preparedness in dealing with common security threats including malware infections, social engineering attacks and hacking.

Disability Confident is a government scheme designed to encourage employers to recruit and retain disabled people and those with health conditions. It has replaced the previous Two Ticks Positive About Disabled People scheme.

It is voluntary and has been developed by employers and disabled people’s representatives. The Disability Confident scheme has three levels that have been designed to support organisations:

• Level 1: Disability Confident Committed

• Level 2: Disability Confident Employer

• Level 3: Disability Confident Leader

It aims to help employers make the most of the opportunities provided by employing disabled people.

The Growth Company

We’re thrilled to let our Growth Company colleagues and our business partners know that we’ve achieved the ‘We invest in people gold accreditation’. This is a great achievement and was only achieved with the contribution and dedication of all our colleagues.

We’re pleased to announce that we’ve been accredited as a Real Living Wage Employer and every colleague working in our organisation will earn a real living wage.

In July 2022, the Growth Company joined the Armed Forces Covenant. It’s a pledge which ensures no member of the Armed Forces community is unfairly treated, or left disadvantaged in their day-to-day lives.

As an organisation, we recognise the value serving personnel, reservists, veterans and their families bring to our business, and to the businesses and communities we serve across the UK. As part of our commitment, we have pledged to:

• Raise awareness among our colleagues and create focused training for colleagues who directly support veterans and those transitioning from the Armed Forces.
• Continue offering mental health support to colleagues.
• Build relationships with local communities.
• Review and improve policies relating to reservists, and extend our support to family and dependants of Armed Forces personnel.
• Attract veterans to work for The Growth Company by looking at guaranteed interview schemes for ex-Armed Forces, advertising vacancies through the Resettlement Programme and promoting The Growth Company as an Armed Forces friendly organisation.
• Promote and offer our suite of cross-group products and services to those who are leaving the Armed Forces – including support with starting their own business, access to training and qualifications, employability support, and transition support (such as help with budgeting, cooking and finding accommodation).

We’ve also achieved the ‘bronze award’ in the Defence Employer Recognition Scheme, which further reinforces our commitment to supporting ex-Armed Forces personnel, while encouraging other businesses we work with to do the same. Going forward, we’ll be working towards achieving the ‘silver award’.

We’re proud to pledge our support for the UN’s Race to Net Zero through Business Declares, a fast-growing network of businesses who acknowledge the Climate and Ecological Emergency. Our aim is to continue to reduce our emissions and impact on biodiversity year-on-year, off-setting the remaining carbon through a recognised carbon off-setting scheme, to the point of becoming Net Zero by 2035.

ISO 9001 is the world’s most recognised quality management system standard, established by the International Organisation for Standardization (ISO).

ISO 9001 helps organisations implement clear, repeatable processes to maintain a quality service for their customers every time.

• Corporate Services (all)

• GC Education & Skills

• GC Employment

• MIDAS

• GC Business Growth Hub

• GC Business Finance

• BFS Funding Managers Limited

• Business Support Solutions (ChamberLink Limited)

• The Manufacturing Institute

• Marketing Manchester

• Aspire Recruitment

ISO 14001 is an internationally agreed standard that sets out the requirements for an environmental management system. It helps organizations improve their environmental performance through more efficient use of resources and reduction of waste, gaining a competitive advantage and the trust of stakeholders.

• Aspire Recruitment

• Business Support Solutions (ChamberLink Limited)

• BFS Funding Managers Limited

• Corporate Services (all)

• GC Business Finance

• GC Business Growth Hub

• GC Education & Skills

• GC Employment

• Marketing Manchester

• MIDAS

• The Manufacturing Institute

ISO 27001 is an internationally recognised specification for an Information Security Management System, or ISMS. It's the only auditable standard that deals with the overall management of information security, rather than just which technical controls to implement.

• Corporate Services (all)

• GC Education & Skills

• GC Employment, MIDAS

• GC Business Growth Hub

• GC Business Finance

• BFS Funding Managers Limited

• Business Support Solutions (ChamberLink Limited)

• Marketing Manchester

• Centre for Assessment Ltd

• Improvement Development Growth Ltd

• Aspire Recruitment

• The Manufacturing Institute 

Matrix Standard is the international quality standard for organisations that deliver information, advice and/or guidance (IAG). Either as their sole purpose, or as part of their service offering.

The matrix Standard is the Department for Education’s (DfE) standard for ensuring the quality of the delivery of high-quality information, advice and guidance. The DfE supports the matrix Standard as the quality framework for accrediting information, advice and guidance contracts including the National Careers Service, its subcontractors and other services delivered on behalf of the Education Skills Funding Agency.

It helps providers to improve their services by benchmarking against best practice and it offers accreditation to those that meet the full standard.

• GC Employment

• GC Education & Skills

Ofsted is the Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills. They inspect services providing education and skills for learners of all ages and inspect and regulate services that care for children and young people.

Here at the Growth Company Education & Skills, we currently hold an Ofsted Grade 2, which classifies us as ‘Good’ - which means that you're in safe hands learning with us.

• GC Education & Skills

• National Careers Service