Social Enterprise Investment Fund 2009/10

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Published: 11 Jun 2009
Author: Gary Robjent

The Social Enterprise Investment Fund (SEIF) has today been relaunched with more than £70 million available for start-up and existing social enterprises over the next three years

Following the 2007 Comprehensive Spending Review, the Department of Health committed £100m of funding for the Social Enterprise Investment Fund until March 2011.

The Social Enterprise Investment Fund is managed on behalf of the Department of Health by Futurebuilders England Ltd, working in partnership with Partnerships UK.

The Fund is open to applications from new and existing social enterprises in England:

• Existing social enterprises looking to expand into health and social care
• New social enterprises that want to provide services in health and social care
• Groups of health and/or social care professionals (eg GPs, nurses, AHPs), seeking to form a social enterprise to deliver their services.

The Fund has helped 200 social enterprises by investing over £20 million since it was first launched in 2007. Existing projects which have received funding include:

• £243,500 in March 2009 for St Luke’s Healthy Living Centre in Southend on Sea, Essex, which provides a range of services including counselling, and fitness activities for the local community
• £10,000 in April 2008 for the Healthy Hearts mobile screening programme set up by staff at Sandwell and West Birmingham NHS Trust which aims to reduce health inequalities in the region
• £50,000 in March 2008 for Café Inc set up by the Aspects and Milestones Trust which provides peer support and vocational training for people with learning disabilities and mental health problems
• £54,000 in March 2008 for Sit n B Fit in Sunderland, North East England which offers manageable fitness routines to help people keep or regain their mobility.

Social enterprises can apply for a range of financial help including loans, grants and equity-like investment products, along with tailored business support services that can be provided by the fund.

The fund is being delivered by Futurebuilders England and Partnerships UK. The two organisations will work closely with the Department of Health’s Social Enterprise Unit to support and assess applications to the fund.

Futurebuilders England is the largest social investor in the UK. Its aim is to substantially improve the financial and strategic capability of the Third Sector so that it can play an ever greater role in improving the lives of the people and communities it serves. For more information visit www.futurebuilders-england.org.uk.

Partnerships UK (PUK) has a unique public sector mission: to support and accelerate the delivery of infrastructure renewal, high quality public services and the efficient use of public assets through better and stronger partnerships between the public , third and private sectors. PUK is working with around 20 Primary Care Trusts to provide assistance in separating provider and commissioner functions and support the implementation of new enterprise forms including social enterprise. For more information visit www.pukpublicservices.org.uk.

Social enterprises are businesses with primarily social objectives whose surpluses are principally reinvested in the business or community, rather than being driven by the need to maximise profit for shareholders and owners. There are a number of different forms of social enterprise such as community interest companies (CIC), charities, community benefit societies and co-operatives.

The CSP Council CSP Council (March 2009) agreed a revised CSP policy statement concerning different models of service delivery in response to the Government’s Transforming Community Services initiative in England: see the TCS policy statement.