Financing the Big Society: Financiers

About this seminar series

The Spending Review signaled two clear trends for the provision of public services in the future:

1. an increasing emphasis on the use of outcomes-based commissioning
2. a desire to diversify provision to include more civil society organisations and SMEs.

When combined with the wider cuts agenda, these trends will require a revolution in how 'Big Society' providers finance themselves, in particular the requirement to access more risk-based capital.

• How should providers, commissioners and financiers respond to this agenda?
• What role will the Big Society Bank play?
• What new financing models are likely to emerge?

About this event: Financiers

Financiers have long struggled to develop commercial financing models for the CSO market except in relatively low-risk areas such as asset backed loans.

For the Big Society vision to become reality, new instruments will need to be developed that can support higher-risk, growth activity in a commercially sustainable way.

• Are Social Impact Bonds the answer?
• What other models could work?
• Why has so little private finance been attracted to date?