Former Prime Minister Gordon Brown has today endorsed a report on public service innovation launched this week by leading UK social impact investor Better Society Capital.
The independent report, Outcomes for All – Redefining Public Service Delivery, demonstrates that social outcomes contracts – a method of public service delivery focused on empowering local charities – have generated nearly £9 of public value for every £1 spent, saving the taxpayer £507m.
In a comment released today, the Former Prime Minister said:
“Meeting unmet needs while using unused resources is what makes a finance minister happy and shining a spotlight on unclaimed assets was an important mission for me both as Chancellor and Prime Minister. Outcomes contracts deliver public services through third sector organisations and the taxpayer only puts up cash for high-quality, well-targeted services.
This report shows the great impact that this approach is making on complex, entrenched issues such as children’s services and homelessness, but there is much more to do. I hope this report will encourage investors and policymakers to scale up support of Better Society Capital’s important mission”
In the largest study of these projects to-date, the analysis looks at the impacts of this solution in tackling entrenched social issues spanning homelessness to children’s services.
This news comes just a few weeks after Brown lent his voice to calling for outcomes-based commissioning, suggesting that the government should announce a £1 billion children’s social impact bond that would be focused on reducing poverty.
