A £30m budget to tackle homelessness may sound tiny, but the social investment pilot is already leveraging millions more in investment. We unpick the details of a complex collection of funds – and find out what they hope to achieve.
Hopes rise that social entrepreneurship is back on the policy agenda after opposition party number two Angela Rayner picked a London social enterprise to launch new policy proposal.
Nick Hurd, Ronald Cohen and Elizabeth Corley are joined by Douglas L Peterson of S&P Global in new Impact Taskforce which aims to emulate “rocket booster” effect of UK’s last G7 presidency on impact investment worldwide.
A 10% weighting for social value in selecting government contracts – potentially rising to 20% – plus new requirement to pay a living wage welcomed as “major step forward” as Northern Ireland plays catch-up with rest of UK.
Civil society minister Baroness Barran says support was “substantial” – but recognises many social enterprises wish government had done more, as business leaders tell of eating into their reserves in first evidence session.
Confederation of British Industry – which represents nearly 200,000 UK firms – says businesses should ‘bottle the Covid-19 spirit of cooperation’ and ‘lock in’ employee wellbeing as part of wide-ranging vision to transform economy.
Government-backed Covid lending schemes have been a lifeline – but in the long term, high levels of debt cause problems. One solution: transitioning at-risk, viable private businesses into employee or community ownership at scale.
False trade-offs and quick fixes may be appealing during times of fear and uncertainty – but we need to allow for and even embrace the messy reality of multiple approaches if we're to solve today's biggest problems.
The Greensill scandal and the European Super League demonstrate what goes wrong when companies chase profit above all – and that fans will take their custom elsewhere. The B Lab UK co-founder on why the time is ripe to repurpose business.
