Elizabeth Corley is chairing a group of investors and experts charged with devising new mechanisms for social impact funding in the UK.
The UK government has created an advisory group of stakeholders in the impact investment sector to help develop new social impact vehicles.
The Social Impact Advisory Group brings to together government, socially-motivated investors, big banks, representatives from civil society and social investment experts to advise on development of the vehicles. It is to be chaired by Elizabeth Corley, chair of Schroders and chair emerita of the UK’s Impact Investing Institute (III). A full list of members has yet to be made public.
Reporting to the UK Treasury and the Ministry for Culture, Media and Sport, the group is initially to meet monthly until June 2025, at which point it is expected to have made recommendations for the objectives, design and intended social outcomes of one or more impact investment vehicles.
“Funds in scope will include, but are not limited to, social outcomes partnerships and match-funded philanthropic or other capital,” the government said in a policy paper published in early February.
The government has also asked the group to advise on engagement across the market, including with large foundations, private sector investors, civil society, learning platforms, international organisations and other policymakers and researchers around the world.
Kieron Boyle, chair of the Impact Investing Institute and part of the advisory group, said the initiative had the potential to reshape how capital collaborates with public services to tackle the UK’s most critical challenges.
“With leaders from investment, philanthropy, and government at the table, we’ll explore how innovative financing can help deliver on national missions and drive meaningful, inclusive growth. I’m excited about what we can achieve together,” he said.
Vital role of social impact
Stephen Muers, CEO of social impact investor Better Society Capital (BSC) and another group member, said the development reflected the government’s growing recognition of the vital role social impact investment played in addressing the UK’s most pressing social and environmental challenges.
“The development of this advisory group sends a strong signal. It reinforces the powerful message that financial returns and social impact are not mutually exclusive – they can and must work hand-in-hand to address systemic challenges,” he said.
The initiative was first announced by chancellor Rachel Reeves in the UK’s autumn budget in October 2024. Facing a public spending squeeze, the Labour government has been seeking to boost collaboration with the private sector and pension funds to find new ways to finance social objectives, such as improving health and housing for the jobless and those on low incomes.
Social investors are already playing their part, with the UK’s social impact investment market estimated by BSC to have grown to £10bn (€11.9bn) in 2023. To take one recent example, Impact Investor recently reported on how social impact investor Resonance is seeking to broaden the investor base for its homelessness funds.
The UK government’s efforts to tap private investment is not restricted to domestic policy priorities. Anneliese Dodds, the UK’s development minister, has just given a speech at the London Stock Exchange in which she called for greater mobilisation of funding from the City of London to meet overseas development priorities.
