The Editor's Post: UK government creates new ‘Impact Capital Function’ – your end of week scoop
Pioneers Post reveals the government is creating a cross-departmental initiative to support partnerships between government and impact capital – and this is how we found out.
The UK government is full of surprises. In its new industrial strategy published last week it vowed to deepen collaboration with the ‘impact economy’, a bit out of nowhere, using a phrase that, while much used among social entrepreneurs and impact investors, probably makes little sense to anyone else.
I've also commented on how the reference felt shoehorned into a document that didn't really focus on social impact.
This week – and we bring you the scoop just in time for this newsletter – Pioneers Post learns that with little announcement or fanfare the government is creating an “Impact Capital Function”, a cross-department initiative, part of the Office of Investment that spans Treasury, Business and Trade and Number 10. Its role will be to support partnerships between government and impact capital around shared objectives.
A spokesperson for the government said the initiative reflects its ambitions to build more strategic partnerships with mission-driven capital, such as impact investment and philanthropy, to combine public, private, and philanthropic resources to generate positive social and environmental impacts in communities across the country.
The government cited, as an example of the kind of partnerships the Impact Capital Function is expected to work towards, the £550m of investment secured to tackle the housing crisis last autumn, made of private capital raised by social impact funds including Resonance and Schroders.
Such partnerships already exist – for example, this week my colleague Shay Bowman looks into the impact of the Chances Social Outcomes Partnership, a joint initiative funded by social investors and government to support young people in disadvantaged areas.
It reminded me of what Stephen Timms was asking for on the eve of last year’s general election: in July 2024 the former chief secretary to the Treasury called for the creation of an “Office for the Impact Economy” shared between the Treasury and Business and Trade department.
The government declined to provide further detail on the Impact Capital Function, but it is already recruiting for it – in fact the whole story started with a job advert. This week the Department for Business and Trade published an advert for a head of impact investing and philanthropy, who, the posting says, will join the Office for Investment’s new Impact Capital Function. It was the first time I ever saw the phrase used, and a quick search showed it was the only place it was referred to on the government’s website.
All this is a bit vague and mysterious, but the job pays between £67,170 and £78,192 a year, looks quite fun if you want to work with ministers and is well-suited for candidates with experience in impact investing, social investment and philanthropy – sounds like our readers. Fancy applying?
This week's top stories:
How DFIs can exponentially expand their support for the world’s smallest businesses
NatWest SE100 Social Business Awards 2025 finalists announced
The Impact World this Week: 4 July 2025
Header image: Freepik.
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