2 minute read
Please note that applications for the funds included below are now closed.
The Life Chances Fund (LCF) is an £80 million fund is managed by the Big Lottery Fund on behalf of the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) and was launched in 2016. It seeks to tackle issues around key themes: drug and alcohol dependency, children’s services, early years, young people, older people’s services and healthy lives.
The final and in principle awards have been granted and you can view the descriptions in this article on our site – £48 million Government funding granted for 22 new SIB projects.
Read an overview of the Life Chances Fund.
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) (formerly the Department of Communities and Local Government) established a Rough Sleeping SIB Fund. This was a programme of targeted interventions to reduce homelessness, starting with £40million of funding for local areas. Read more about the Homelessness Prevention Programme.
In August 2018, the Rough Sleeping Strategy was announced which is aimed around three pillars: Prevention, Intervention and Recovery. This strategy mentions social impact bonds and you can read more in our GO Lab article on the Rough Sleeping Strategy.
The Cabinet Office and Big Lottery Fund (BLF) came together to support the development of more SIBs. They set up two funds – the Cabinet Office’s Social Outcomes Fund (SOF) and the Big Lottery Fund’s Commissioning Better Outcomes Fund (CBO). These funds made up to £60 million available to pay for a proportion of outcomes payments for these types of models in complex policy areas, as well as support to develop robust proposals.
Read more about the evaluation of the CBO projects.
Read A tale of two SIBs and why they matter – for a summary of an in-depth reviews of two SIBs – HCT Travel Training SIB and the West London Zone.
The Fair Chance Fund is comprised of £10 million from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) and £5 million from the Cabinet Office to fund seven social impact bonds focused on improving outcomes for young homeless people.
The FCF is a three-year programme designed to improve accommodation, education and employment outcomes for homeless young people aged 18-24. The programme is targeted at young people who are not in priority need according to the homelessness legislation but who have a range of support needs which present barriers to securing, and sustaining, accommodation.
Read the Fair Chance Fund evaluation: interim reports for Year 1 and Year 2.
The Youth Engagement Fund is a £16 million social impact bond fund. It aims to help disadvantaged young people aged 14-17 to participate and succeed in education or training. This will improve their employability, reduce their long-term dependency on benefits, and reduce their likelihood of offending.
Read about the Youth Engagement Fund on the UK Government website.
Ecorys UK has been commissioned by the Cabinet Office to evaluate the Youth Engagement Fund.
The Innovation Fund was set up by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). It was a £30 million programme comprising 10 SIB pilot projects delivered between April 2012 and November 2015. The programme aimed to help disadvantaged young people re-engage in education, training and employment.
Read about the Innovation Fund on the UK Government website.
The evaluations (both quantitative and qualitative) have been completed.
Read the GO Lab response to the Innovation Fund quantitative evaluation.