Big Society Capital has been interviewing PR firms as part of a planned public tender, and it is hoping to move away from political associations and re-emphasise its independce.

“We’ve interviewed four agencies,” Alastair Ballantyne, head of communications at BSC, told civilsociety.co.uk. “We wish to re-emphasise our independence and make sure that people realise we are not connected to government.”

Ballantyne confirmed that HB Communications, who currently handle BSC’s external comms, have re-pitched against other firms in a public tender.

“We were set up by the Dormant Accounts Act, which had cross-party approval,” continued Ballantyne. “We feel we should be known for what we are: the social investment wholesaler.

“It’s important for us to establish our profile with the sector, investors and all our constituencies going forward.”

BSC officially launched in April this year, having been first announced by Prime Minister David Cameron in 2010.

It announced in September that it was on target to make £50m in investments this year. And earlier this month the organisation was named as one of the investors in a new £7m social impact bond scheme to tackle youth unemployment.