Public Services (Social Value) Act is great news for selling #SocialImpactBond to local authority pension funds in UK bit.ly/GQFgCE
— Russ Bubley (@RussBubley) March 23, 2012
The newly launched Public Services (Social Value) Act says (among other things) that public authorities must, prior to tendering for services, consider “how what is proposed to be procured might improve the economic, social and environmental well-being of the relevant area”. Local Authority pension funds fall under these rules, so a straightforward reading of this act implies that when contracts to manage investments for Local Authority pension funds are made, some regard will have to be made to investments that help the local area, for example, social impact bonds and other forms of local social investment.