Evaluation of the Social Impact Bond Trailblazers in Health and Social Care, Final Report

In the field of health and social care, nine projects across England, collectively known as the SIB ‘Trailblazers’, have received seed funding from the government’s Social Enterprise Investment Fund to evaluate and potentially implement a SIB. The Department of Health’s Policy Research Programme commissioned an independent evaluation of these projects from PIRU, in partnership with RAND Europe, to explore their potential benefits and costs.

This is the final report on PIRU's evaluation of the SIB Trailblazers. The report concludes that the SIB Trailblazers in health and social care appeared to encourage a stronger emphasis on demonstrating results than comparable non-SIB services but it is not possible to ascertain whether this was translated into better client outcomes. It was difficult to reach a clear verdict on the costs and benefits of SIBs in this field over the three years of the evaluation.