‘Hold me to account’ – top UK minister commits government to support impact economy

The UK government has committed to support impact economy organisations to “change people’s lives” – and where there is a hurdle, “it’s my job to help fix it”, chief secretary to the prime minister Darren Jones said this week.

Speaking at New Philanthropy Capital’s Beacon Forum in London on Wednesday to more than 600 attendees from philanthropy, impact investing, charity and mission-led business, Jones said: “We want to make it easier for you to change people’s lives, and to partner with government to do so and where government is making it harder, it’s my job to help fix it.”

National renewal was not an agenda that government could deliver alone, he said. “To transform the country, we must be willing to do things differently, to do them together and to do them in people’s communities.

“We want to listen to you and to work with you… to be genuine partners, to be problem solvers and to empower you to do even more than you are already doing.”

He added: “Please hold me and the government to account on the basis that I have set out.”

Jones was behind the creation of the Office for the Impact Economy last November to fulfil this objective, acting as a “front door” for organisations in the impact community to engage with the government. 

He said on Wednesday that the aim of the office was “to bring philanthropists, investors and businesses together with communities that need investment and support, so that we can build the partnerships required across the country to make a bigger difference than the sum of our parts”.

• Read more: UK’s new Office for the Impact Economy will ‘unlock billions’, promises government

This commitment was received positively by attendees, who see Jones as a strong government ally for the impact economy. James Westhead, head of engagement at Better Society Capital, told Pioneers Post Jones had “brought a vision and a drive to the government’s approach to the impact economy, which is invigorating”. He added that the practical steps taken by government over the past year under the minister’s initiative were “really significant, and I think, create an exciting moment for the impact economy”. 

Top down and policy labs

But concerns were raised about whether the government would bring in the voices of grassroots organisations in its decision-making. Privately, some delegates said they were concerned Jones’s approach might be “too top down”, and in a Q&A following his speech, several people asked the minister what avenues would be available for smaller organisations to be heard by policymakers.

“We don't have a fully formed answer on this yet,” he answered, adding that part of the problem was staff capacity, as well as the fact that it was a long process. “If you want to work with communities across the country… you can't do all that in one go,” he said.

But engaging with practitioners in communities was “very important”, he added. “I want the top table to be in the local community, not in the Cabinet Office.”

I want the top table to be in the local community, not in the Cabinet Office

He explained that government officials currently spoke to a lot of the same organisations, “probably because officials in government know who they are already… but we should challenge ourselves. We’d be happy to do so, but we've got to find a way to spread out the network so that it's not a bottleneck in the centre of government.” 

He added: “Quite frankly, I'm open to ideas,” concluding that “the key action for me, off the back of today, is to think about: how do we open up that engagement with government?”

Asher Craig, CEO of social investor Pathway Fund, speaking during the Q&A, highlighted the potential of recent Impact Economy Policy Labs organised by the Impact Economy Collective that bring together civil servants, social entrepreneurs and funders around a common issue to discuss their points of view and find solutions to social challenges. She said they were a “really great way in which you can bring all of the key actors into the room”, however pointing to the challenge to make them accessible to people across the country. 

• Read more: Asher Craig: 'Whose communities are being uplifted by the UK government’s £5bn investment? Not ours'

A hub and spoke model

Jones gave some insight on how the Office for the Impact Economy will work. It was currently in the process of scaling the size of the team, both in the numbers of civil servants involved but also inviting secondments from organisations in the impact space to bring in people with expertise. The objective of the office was to both work “across Whitehall and then getting down to communities”, Jones explained. 

He said he wanted to “build champions and experts in every part of [government]”, with a “hub and spoke model where we have senior sponsors in every department across government”. Officials with an interest in this work would be provided training and upskilling opportunities, so that they can “think about how in their department they might partner with organisations [in the impact economy] to deliver the outcomes that they are trying to also deliver.” 

“We want this approach to be embedded across the whole of government, so that it does become normal,” Jones said.

“Going down to communities” would take some time, Jones explained, and this would require both engagement with local authorities and “crucially, those organisations on the ground that actually deliver in local communities”.

Place-based investment was crucial in giving more power to local communities, Jones said, providing as an example the government’s recent “Pride in Place” policy, which involves providing pools of money to local communities, for them to spend as they wished.

Timeline for the Better Futures Fund

Jones also outlined other commitments from the government, including the £500m Better Futures Fund, launched last summer, an outcomes fund that will invest in social outcomes partnerships dedicated to improving the lives of children and young people. 

Jones said he expected the fund to open for bids next summer for a first phase, reserved for projects where all partners had a “track record of successful delivery in social outcomes partnerships”. This would be followed by a “multi-year” second phase, which the government hoped to launch next year, open to a wider range of organisations, including those who haven't worked on social outcomes partnerships before, according to the minister.

• Read more: UK government announces £500m social outcomes fund to support vulnerable children

Top image: Darren Jones addresses delegates at the Beacon Forum in the Guildhall, London on Wednesday.