The government has announced it will create the Office for Impact Economy to provide “a single front door” for impact investors, philanthropy and purpose-driven businesses to partner with the government and increase their social impact.
It will be housed in the Cabinet Office, with chief secretary to the prime minister, Darren Jones, as its ministerial lead. Emily Braid will take on the role of the office’s director.
The office is intended to enable the government to work in collaboration with the impact economy to better harness public funding, impact capital and purpose-driven business.
The announcement yesterday came a week after the final report published by the Social Investment Advisory Group recommended its creation. Labour MP Stephen Timms also proposed a similar idea before the general election last year.
Cabinet Office to operate as ‘central hub’
The office’s remit will include driving cross-government strategy on the impact economy; serving as a “front door” for new impact economy relationships and general strategic relationships; driving capacity and capability building; and identifying and supporting partnership demands.
It will partner with philanthropists, investors and businesses to unlock impact capital and is understood to now be working to source and create these partnerships.
To achieve this, the office will work with the Office for Investment’s “dedicated impact capital function”, which in turn works with impact-aligned investment from place-based initiatives and catalytic philanthropy to large-scale impact capital.
The Cabinet Office will operate as the office’s “central hub”, while a wider virtual hub will reportedly unite departments and units with key interests, such as the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and HM Treasury.
Office will ‘unlock billions in capital and drive inclusive growth’
Reacting to the announcement, Jonathan Simmons, chief executive of think tank NPC, said: “The creation of the Office for the Impact Economy can unlock billions in capital and drive inclusive growth.
“At NPC, we’re proud to have helped map this movement and will continue to champion collaboration across sectors to deliver real outcomes for people and planet.
“We welcome this launch, following the recommendations of the Social Impact Investment Advisory Group report, and look forward to working with government, civil society, and investors to shape the next chapter of the impact economy.”
Neil Heslop, CEO of the Charities Aid Foundation, said: “This is an important step towards the government learning how to partner more effectively with philanthropy, impact investing and responsible business.
“The office should help to mobilise more impact capital to tackle some of the biggest social challenges we face, and crucially, all of us must take the necessary steps to grow giving in the UK.”
