External Affairs Lead
18th August 2022
2:19pm
The country faces huge challenges. We’re still living through a pandemic, and now the cost-of-living crisis and impacts of the climate crisis are hitting communities across the UK too.
Every day we work with social entrepreneurs who have real solutions and responses to these issues. Whether they are leading social enterprises, trading charities or community-based businesses – they are helping communities rebuild, create jobs and solving social, environmental and economic problems.
But they don’t have equitable access to the financial backing they need to make that work as effective as it could possibly be.
We have a once in a decade opportunity to influence how £738m worth of new money is spent on good causes in England, to provide this very backing.
This money is being released through new “dormant assets” – essentially bank accounts and shares that have been long forgotten about. When this unused money has been untouched for long enough, the government can direct it into good causes.
The Department for Digital, Culture Media & Sport (DCMS) is currently expanding the list of qualifying assets, such as insurance and pensions, which brings the new total available to around £880million, with £738m for England up for debate.
Their survey on how the money could be used is open now until 9th October.
We know that funding like this can make a big difference to social entrepreneurs and has already been of benefit for the last decade. This funding has previously gone to organisations such as Access – the foundation for social investment, which has provided financial support to social entrepreneurs via organisations like UnLtd.
And last year, the Inclusive Recovery Fund run by us and Comic Relief also came from dormant assets, supporting over 120 social entrepreneurs with £4.75million.
Your voice is the most important one for the government to hear on this opportunity.
We would like social entrepreneurs like you to benefit, but the government need to hear and understand the difference social investment and other finance for social ventures will make.
The consultation asks whether social investment should remain as one of the causes eligible for dormant assets, and we strongly believe the answer is absolutely yes.
Act now: Respond to the survey
We can help you with your response.
This is the best opportunity to secure a game-changing amount of funding for social businesses, particularly those in communities that have been deprived of investment.
In our response to the survey, we’re asking government for this money to be brought back to life by being spent growing social businesses across the UK.
We’re doing this in collaboration with friends and partners from across our sector, in a proposal on how the money could be used: the Community Enterprise Growth Plan.
We’re confident that this shared plan for the sector will lead to real change in communities across the UK.
If you’d like to see these policies introduced, back the Community Enterprise Growth Plan in your consultation response:
Act now: Respond to the survey