Health secretary Andrew Lansley has announced that an additional £4.4m will be made available for NHS projects which want to become social enterprises through the NHS ‘Right to Request’ scheme that gives public sector workers the opportunity to become their own bosses.
The funding will be distributed through the Social Enterprise Investment Fund (SEIF), which is managed by Social Investment Business on behalf of the Department of Health.
The SEIF fund will now have £26m in capital, £3.3m in revenue and an additional £4.4m this year. It has had £100m over its four-year span.
There are currently 29 ‘Right to Request’ schemes running and this week 32 NHS projects announced they wanted to be set up as social enterprises.
Together these schemes will transfer an estimated £900m of services and almost 25,000 NHS staff into the social enterprise sector.
The schemes span nine of the ten strategic health authorities and include services like primary care access for the vulnerable and homeless, sexual health services, and support for bereaved children and families.
Jonathan Lewis, chief executive of the Social Investment Business, said: “We’re delighted that the Department of Health is making more money available to successful Right to Request schemes and those wishing to spin out health and social care services into social enterprises through the SEIF.
"Our experience managing the fund tells us there is unmet demand from existing and start-up social enterprises who are really keen to play a greater role delivering health and social care services.
“This presents an opportunity to bring the innovative work of more social enterprises into the mainstream of public service delivery. We have already supported over 150 social enterprises via the fund and look forward to supporting many more.”
Chief executive of the Social Enterprise Coalition, Peter Holbrook, added: "It is incredibly encouraging that so many organisations will soon be operating as social enterprises as a result of the Right to Request scheme, transforming the way that health services are delivered to local communities in England.
"For the broader social enterprise movement this is a significant milestone, and clearly demonstrates the positive role that social enterprises can play in a sector as vital as healthcare to our society."
