Age UK Enterprises*, the commercial services arm of charity Age UK, has joined an elite group of businesses to be awarded the Social Enterprise Mark for trading in a way that is beneficial to society and the environment. Now in its 27th year of trading, the organisation provides products and services designed to meet the needs of those in later life which already benefits over 1.1 million customers. All surplus income is paid by way of gift aid to the charity Age UK.

Last year, Age UK Enterprises paid by way of gift aid income of over £21 million to Age UK and this unrestricted income was used at both a national and local level.

The Social Enterprise Mark was officially launched in February 2010 and exists to raise the profile of ethically and responsibly trading businesses. It provides recognition across industry for the contribution individuals and organisations make towards society.

Gordon Morris, Managing Director of Age UK Enterprises said: "I am delighted that Age UK Enterprises Limited and our Trading Alliance have has been awarded the prestigious Social Enterprise Mark. It recognises our historic and continued commitment to customers, providing products that address market failure and great value with award winning customer service via our trading network, call centres and website. We are very proud to be the first national, customer facing, financial services organisation to be awarded the mark."

He continued: "The mark recognises the strength and depth of our UK wide network made up of 150 trading alliance members (TAMs), 280 sales offices, 600 individual TAM arrangers and 269 Personal Alarm Services and Enterprise staff. We listen to our customers, involving them in the design of our products and services to ensure we best meet the needs of those in later life. Our loyal customer base and consistently high customer satisfaction ratings evidence our ongoing success."

Lucy Findlay champion from the Social Enterprise Mark Company advised: "We are delighted to award the prestigious Social Enterprise Mark to Age UK Enterprises, as they are one of the longest established and largest social enterprises in the UK. It is particularly exciting to award the first financial services company the mark which will hopefully restore some of the confidence which has been lost during the recent, difficult economic climate. We hope that the Social Enterprise Mark will do for social enterprise what the Fair Trade Mark did for fair trade. Having Age UK Enterprises on board, will go some way in helping to achieve this goal as it gives them an opportunity to highlight the mark within the over 147 million customer communications distributed each year."

Age Concern and Help the Aged joined together in April 2010 to form a single, new charity, Age UK dedicated to improving the lives of older people in the country. The commercial services arm, Age UK Enterprises, provides over 15 products and services including energy services, home and travel insurance, to over 1.1 million customers.

Age UK Enterprises joins other mark holders such the Eden Project and the Co-operative Group South & West. The Social Enterprise Mark builds off the pilot work run by RISE, the voice for south west social enterprise. For more information on Age UK or the SEM visit: http://www.ageuk.org.uk/buy or http://www.socialenterprisemark.org.uk/

*This is the trading name for Age Concern Enterprises Ltd which is part of the trading arm of Age UK