Guidance for Businesses

See below for guidance and support for getting started as a Business on the Community Benefits Hub.

What is the website for and how does it work?

The Community Benefits Hub website brings together our local Communities with Businesses delivering contracts for participating councils and organisations across Glasgow City Region.

Community Groups and eligible not-for-profit organisations can post Requests for specific goods, services or resources that can then be met by Suppliers delivering public sector contracts.

Community Groups and Businesses need to register to join the website and meet certain conditions.

Eligibility: Which Businesses can register?

You must be a Business with an existing live contract with one of the councils or organisations participating in the Community Benefits Hub at this time.

These are:

East Renfrewshire Council
Glasgow City Council
Inverclyde Council
North Lanarkshire Council
The University of Strathclyde

At this time, only Businesses with a current, live contract are eligible to join.

If you would like to receive updates on the progress of the Community Benefits Hub, including updates on Business eligibility and participating councils, please email us at: communitybenefitshub@glasgow.gov.uk

Eligibility: Who can make a Request?

Requests can be made by not-for-profit organisations such as schools and constituted Community Groups providing services within one of the following council areas across Glasgow City Region:

East Renfrewshire Council
Glasgow City Council
Inverclyde Council
North Lanarkshire Council

Requests can be made for equipment, labour, services, sponsorship or financial contributions^{^[1]},skills, development or training^{^[2]}.

[1]Individual Councils may apply a cap on the amount of financial contribution which can be requested.

[2] Political parties or party-political activities, foreign travel and organisations based overseas will not be supported.

What is the benefit to my Business?

The website makes it easy to deliver Community Benefits that will have a real impact on local people.

You can choose to deliver Requests which are part of Community Benefits on a live contract or not. If you choose to deliver a Request as part of Community Benefits, the information will be sent directly to the participating managing council or organisation for approval, giving them all of the information they need to monitor the benefit and allocate Community Benefit points.

The Community Benefits Hub allows local Community Groups to ask for the goods, services or support that will have the biggest benefit to them and their local area. This also gives you the freedom and choice to browse a wider list of Requests to find one that:

Best suits your business’ needs at the time – based on criteria such as location, cost or time;
Aligns with your business’ goals or priorities;
Supports local causes that are important to your business; and
Provides the biggest reputational benefit for your business.

You can also use the system to deliver Requests that are not part of contractual Community Benefits. For example, you may want to use the Community Wish List to deliver social benefits as part of corporate social responsibility ambitions. Or you may use the Community Wish List to find benefits to deliver as part of contracts with organisations not yet registered (and share the details of delivery with the contract holder).

Ratings and Publicity

Once a Request has been delivered, the Community Group will be asked to mark it as delivered and to provide some brief information about the Request, including a 1-10 rating for your business, a 1-10 rating of the overall experience, and any feedback.

These ratings will not be made public but will be reviewed and monitored to make sure Requests are being delivered to a satisfactory standard.

Glasgow City Region and participating councils and organisations may also use delivered Requests for case studies and positive publicity, with credit given to the Business. Businesses are also welcome to use Requests, with the Community Group’s permission, for media or social media activities.

What information will we need from you?

To register to use the website, you will be asked to provide details, including name, email address and phone number, for at least one contact within your organisation.

For more detail on how this information will be used please see our Privacy Policy.

We will also ask for some details about your business including which council/s or organisations you have a live contract with and the name of these contract(s). This is to allow us to link your account to these contracts and provide this information to the council or organisation.

When you choose to deliver a Request, we will ask you which contract you would like to deliver it as part of (or if you would like to deliver it independently), from a drop-down of your added contracts. This allows us to assign the Request, and Community Benefit points, to the correct contract.

What do we expect from your Business?

Once you have been approved to delivery your selected Request with the Community Group, please contact the community group promptly.
Deliver the Request to a satisfactory standard and timescale.

How does it work?

It is easy to fulfil a Request from a Community Group.

Check if the council or organisation you have a contract with is using the system.
Register and set up your Business’ account.
Provide the required details of your Business, a main contact and the name and reference number of at least one live contract/s. This will be sent to the relevant council or organisation for approval.
Once your registration is approved, view eligible Requests from Community Groups on the system and match with any you would like to deliver, indicating if you will deliver it as part of a contract or not. This will be sent to the relevant council or organisation to approve.
Once you are approved to match a Request, you will be given the Community Group’s contact details to get in touch and facilitate delivery of the Request.