Government launches £80m payment-by-results fund to tackle social problems
Adam Offord
Tuesday, July 5, 2016
Projects aimed at improving the life chances of vulnerable children and young people could gain a share of a new £80m government fund that links payments to improved outcomes.
The Cabinet Office Life Chances Fund, launched by youth minister Rob Wilson, aims to help tackle social problems by supporting projects funded through payment-by-results schemes such as a Social Impact Bonds (SIBs). ??
It will typically contribute 20p of every £1 paid to social investors for a project they have backed to deliver improved outcomes for service users. Projects must be locally commissioned, with the remaining proportion of outcomes payments being made by local commissioners.
SIBs improve the social outcomes of publicly funded services by making funding conditional on achieving results. Investors pay for the project at the start, and then receive payments based on the results achieved by the project.
Five of the six priorities for the Life Chances Fund - children's services, early years, young people, drug and alcohol dependency, and healthy lives - could be beneficial to projects supporting children and young people.
Applications are currently being taken for proposals focused on children's services and tackling drug and alcohol dependency, with a deadline of 30 September.
The remaining priority areas will open for applications over the course of 2017.
It was also announced that a Government Outcomes Lab (GO Lab) has been launched in partnership between the Cabinet Office and the Blavatnik School of Government at Oxford University. ??
The independent centre for the commissioning of public services will aim to deepen understanding of outcomes-based commissioning, including SIBs, by researching new ways for the public sector to commission services.??
"I believe that the SIB market could be worth £1bn by the end of the parliament," Wilson said.
??"This will require continued momentum, and today's GO Lab and Life Chances Fund announcements will provide the support local commissioners need to use SIBs to transform lives.??
"This is about central and local government, academia and the voluntary sector all coming together to work at tackling some of the most entrenched social challenges we face."?
Professor Ngaire Woods, dean of the Blavatnik School of Government, added: "Children in care, people dependent on drugs or alcohol, and anyone whose prospects appear bleak could stand a better chance in life if the services they need and use were more effective. ??
"Through research and support, the GO Lab will make it easier for governments to commission smarter services that focus on outcomes, working with the private and not-for-profit sectors to solve the social issues."
