ODS contributes £37m to the economy of Oxford

An Oxford City Council-owned social enterprise-inspired organisation has contributed over £37 million to the economy of Oxford and Oxfordshire in its first year.

ODS, created by Oxford City Council to deliver outstanding public services, contributed £37.6 million to the Oxfordshire economy and supported 1,131 jobs across the county, according to a new, independent Economic Impact Assessment report.

The paper also highlights that the organisation allocated £19.5 million of its total £26.4 million annual goods and services expenditure to Oxfordshire businesses, with £14.7 million spent with Oxford suppliers. This equates to 74p in every pound of goods and services expenditure being spent with suppliers in Oxfordshire, and 56p in every pound with suppliers in Oxford.

Nigel Chapman, cabinet member for Customer Focused Services, said: “This shows that the city council's decision to establish ODS on social enterprise principles is paying off. It is forging new revenue streams for the city council, which in turn creates new jobs, encourages wider spending with local businesses in the area and returns a dividend to the City Council to fund local services directly.”

“The council has created an ‘Oxford model’ that has allowed us to retain and increase investment in communities at a time when many other local authorities are being forced to reduce their expenditure after outsourcing services. I hope more organisations will invite ODS to work for them and support the business model we have pioneered, which delivers high quality results and community value at the same time.”

Simon Howick, managing director of ODS, added: “Our first Economic Impact Assessment highlights that a great deal has been achieved in our inaugural year, and we can confidently say we are a ‘doing good’ business. ODS contributes to Oxford City Council’s revenues but also, through its commercial operations, is doing good across the wider region.

“But there is still some way to go. The more revenue we can generate, the more Oxford City Council can plough back into our communities. That’s why we’ve created a new look for the organisation, to help businesses and householders in Oxford and the surrounding county understand that we’re a successful new type of business; one which, as the Economic Impact Assessment Report has shown, is doing good for the whole area.”