Essex Social Impact Bond

socialfinance.org.uk

Over the past two years Social Finance, with the support of the Big Lottery Fund, has worked with four Local Authorities including Essex County Council (ECC) to explore the feasibility of using the Social Impact Bond mechanism to fund intensive prevention programmes for vulnerable adolescents in or at the edge of care. Essex County Council is the first local authority to award a Social Impact Bond contract. Social Finance has been awarded a contract by Essex County Council to deliver a Social Impact Bond to provide therapeutic support and improve outcomes for adolescents at risk of going into care. Essex County Council is the first local authority to commission a Social Impact Bond in Children’s Services. The Social Venture Fund invested £ 250,000 in a combination of equity and loans, together with the main Investor Bridges Social Enterpreneurs Fund LP and Big Society Capital Limited. In addition, the Charities Aid Foundation, King Baudouin Foundation and the Barrow Cadbury Trust are invested. The total capital requirement amounts to 3.1 million GBP. The Social Venture Fund will use its knowledge about the structure of Social Impact Bonds to assess and support comparable results-oriented and evidence-based models in continental Europe can.