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Big Lottery outcomes fund awards its first development grant

31 Jan 2014 01:20 PM

Today the Big Lottery Fund is announcing its first development grant from Commissioning Better Outcomes fund, which aims to further grow the Social Impact Bond (SIB) market in England.
 
An award of £150,000 goes to Ways to Wellness ltd to obtain technical support in order to launch a seven year Social Impact Bond (SIB) with Newcastle West Clinical Commissioning Board. The funding will allow Ways to Wellness to develop a robust model and move the project from development through to operational phase by producing strategies to attract investors, financial measures and legal arrangements for service, support and marketing arrangements to deliver the SIB.
 
The SIB will then work to improve health and wellbeing of 5,000 patients with long term conditions in NE England per year by offering them a comprehensive social support that would in turn result in a reduced need for medical interventions.

Chair of “Ways to Wellness”, Professor Chris Drinkwater, CBE said: “The increasing number of people with long term conditions need more than medicine. We are delighted the Big Lottery Fund is supporting ‘Ways to Wellness’ to develop a programme which will provide people with a range of activities that as well as improving health will increase confidence and social support networks. The outcome we want to deliver is improved quality of life with less need to rely on support from health and social care services.”
 
Dr Guy Pilkington, Chair of Newcastle West CCG added: “Newcastle West CCG which covers an area with high levels of social disadvantage and correspondingly high number of people with long term conditions welcomes the Big Lottery Fund’s support for ‘Ways to Wellness’.  The CCG and its constituent practices recognise that new approaches to tackling long term conditions are required. We believe the approach we are building together with ‘Ways to Wellness’ will prove just how valuable offering community activities can be in encouraging people to look after themselves. Confident and connected, people are better equipped to work with their health teams, staying better for longer.”

Nat Sloane, Big Lottery Fund England Chair added: “I am very pleased to announce this development funding to Ways to Wellness today. The project demonstrates the very real potential of social impact bonds to create innovation through public, private and VCSE sector partnerships - leading to better outcomes for those most in need and savings to the public purse.

“Current economic climate sets a compelling context for supporting innovative approaches and testing the capability of new ideas to be successful. Our overarching goal is to catalyse the social investment market in England, in a way that supports VCSE organisations to grow and become more sustainable in order to better serve those most in need. However, it is a relatively new concept so we allocated £3m to support the development of similar initiatives.”          

The £3 million funding pot was allocated by the Big Lottery Fund to engage and encourage the development of SIB proposals that could then benefit from either the £40million Big Lottery Fund’s Commissioning Better Outcomes fund or the Cabinet Office’s £20 million Social Outcomes Fund*. 
 
The Big Lottery Fund has also appointed Social Finance in partnership with the Local Government Association (LGA) to offer a support package for those developing Social Impact Bonds (SIBs) and other Payment by Results (PbR) based social investments as part of Commissioning Better Outcomes.

For more information and to submit an expression of interest, visit www.biglotteryfund.org.uk/sioutcomesfunds

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Notes to editors

  • The Big Lottery Fund, the largest distributor of National Lottery good cause funding, is responsible for giving out 40% of the money raised for good causes by the National Lottery.
  • The Fund is committed to bringing real improvements to communities and the lives of people most in need and has been rolling out grants to health, education, environment and charitable causes across the UK. Since its inception in 2004 BIG has awarded close to £6bn.
  • The Fund was formally established by Parliament on 1 December 2006.
  • In the year ending 31 March 2013, 28% of total National Lottery revenue was returned to the Good Causes.
  • Since the National Lottery began in 1994, £31 billion has been raised and more than 400,000 grants awarded across arts, sport, heritage, charities, health, education and the environment.
  • Each of the outcomes funds has a distinct focus within the overarching aim of growing the SIBs market. The Cabinet Office’s Social Outcomes Fund aims to fund SIBs that lead to new and innovative approaches to public services, which address complex issues using outcomes based commissioning.
  • Under Commissioning Better Outcomes, the Big Lottery Fund will only fund SIBs that have a clear emphasis on improving outcomes for those most in need and that ensure Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise (VCSE) organisations have the chance to be involved. The Big Lottery Fund will also only support SIBs that do not replicate or replace services that a public body has a statutory duty to provide