Nick Clegg launches a £30m social impact bond fund to support Neets

01 May 2014 News

The Cabinet Office has launched a new £30m package to back social impact bonds to help disadvantaged young people at risk of falling into a situation where they are not in education, employment or training.

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg

The Cabinet Office has launched a new £30m package to back social impact bonds to help disadvantaged young people at risk of falling into a situation where they are not in education, employment or training.

The package is from two new cross-government programmes specifically targeted at developing educational achievement and employability of 14 to 24-year-olds.

The Youth Engagement Fund aims to support up to 18,000 young people in over 100 schools in England, and the Fair Chance Fund aims to move over 2,000 homeless young people into sustainable accommodation, as well as employment, education or training over three years.

The programmes will be delivered through social impact bonds – a payment-by-results system where investors fund interventions which organisations deliver. A Cabinet Office spokeswoman said: “Organisations, charities and their investors will bid for a share of the £30m pot of government funding, giving a boost to the best programmes.

"Bids will need to come from providers of services and the schools they will be working with alongside investors to provide up front funding to deliver interventions. The fund will pay for outcomes so is in effect the commissioner."

She added that the types of programmes that will be funded through the social impact bonds are likely to include those that will reduce the long-term dependency of young people on benefits, decrease the likelihood of offending, or support a specific group of homeless young adults to help them gain sustainable accommodation.

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said: “Our £30m package opens up the chance for people to invest in programmes that deliver real results. It means that thousands of young people struggling in schools, or living on the streets will have the support they need to improve their educational achievement, get employment and get into sustainable housing.”

Toby Eccles, development director at Social Finance who pioneered the concept of social impact bonds, said the new fund demonstrated the government's commitment and demonstrated it feels the model is effective in enabling innovation. 

"The fund is good news for those who want to create flexible and innovative programmes for young people and Neets."

Organisations can register their interest at [email protected].

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