Working to Drive Change, Further and Faster

The Purpose Coalition convened its Business Leadership Advisory Council for the final session of 2025, an energising session that brought together leaders from across the UK economy to consider one central mission: how purposeful partnership can accelerate social and economic progress. 

Hosted at Sodexo’s London HQ by Jean Renton, Chief Executive Officer of Sodexo UK&I, and Angela Halliday, Director of Social Impact, and chaired by Rt Hon Justine Greening. From education to engineering, transport to housing, the Council shows the real breadth of sectors now aligned behind a shared mission to break down barriers to opportunity and boosting social mobility across the UK. 

Opening the session, Rt Hon Justine Greening reflected on a year defined by growth, deepening campaigns and strengthened impact. With a range of new organisations joining long-standing partners, 2025 has seen the Coalition broaden both its reach and influence with the expansion of our business-led campaigns and the Purpose Lab, now firmly established as a source of paid work experience and youth insight, continues to bring energy, challenge and future leadership into the Coalition’s work. 

Nick Forbes CBE provided an overview of the wider landscape, highlighting a pivotal UK Budget on 26th November, the Keeping Britain Working Review, the creation of the Office for the Impact Economy and major structural changes such as the movement of skills into the Department for Work and Pensions. 

Partners also shared updates on cross-industry initiatives, from transport and health collaboration to place-based partnerships, each reinforcing how collective action can accelerate impact. 

Jean Renton and Angela Halliday offered an inspiring overview of Sodexo UK&I’s purpose-led approach, grounded in People, Planet, Places and Partners. As long-term champions of social impact, Sodexo’s leadership in hosting the Council underscored how deeply Purpose Goal 15 – Working in Partnership is embedded across their operations. A standout example of this in action is Starting Fresh, Sodexo’s pioneering initiative supporting people with convictions into meaningful employment. The programme continues to demonstrate how purpose-driven partnerships can widen opportunity, unlock potential and deliver tangible social and economic impact across communities. 

The session was also fuelled by Fooditude, Sodexo’s workplace food services business, whose catering brought attendees together over sustainably sourced, flavour-led food. Fresh from winning a Planet Mark Award for outstanding climate action, Fooditude demonstrated how purpose can be experienced not only through organisational strategy, but through the everyday choices that shape better workplaces and better outcomes. 

As a Coalition, our strength has always come from our diversity of sectors, of perspectives, of experience. But above all, from our shared belief that breaking down barriers is not the responsibility of any one organisation, but a mission that must be delivered together. As we look ahead to 2026, partners are united in their ambition to deepen their individual campaigns to drive change and deepen cross-industry collaboration to break down barriers to opportunity and boost social mobility.  

Businesses represented at this session included: 

• Barclays 

• Bell Group 

• bp 

• c2c Rail 

• E.ON UK 

• Enterprise Mobility 

• Leonardo 

• Robertson Group 

• South Eastern Railway 

• Sodexo UK&I 

• The Wise Group 

• TP 

• Travelodge 

• UK Power Networks 

• PGL Beyond