To SIB or not to SIB? A comparative analysis of the commissioning processes of two proposed health-focused Social Impact Bond financed interventions in England

ABSTRACT

We explore the development of two proposed Social Impact Bond (SIB) financed interventions in the UK. This is important because little is known about the processes involved in the localised development of these nascent financing mechanisms. We apply a “decentred” approach to network governance to the case studies – one in which a SIB financed intervention was initiated and another in which it was not. Moving from the prevailing competitive quasi-market commissioning traditions to new forms of integrated commissioning requires a more collaborative approach to service procurement than has typically been the case thus posing dilemmas for the relevant networks.

KEYWORDS:

• H11: structurescopeand performance of government
• I18: government policy • regulation • public health
• H44 – publicly provided goods: mixed markets

Acknowledgements

This paper is derived from independent research commissioned and funded by the NIHR Policy Research Programme through its core support to the Policy Innovation Research Unit (Project No: 102/0001). The views expressed in the publication are those of the authors and are not necessarily those of the NHS, the NIHR, the Department of Health and Social Care, its arm’s length bodies or other Government Departments. We would like to thank Kristy Kruithof and Megan Sim (both previously of RAND Europe); Mylene Lagarde (London School of Economics); Pauline Allen (London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine); and Toby Lowe (University of Northumbria) for comments on earlier drafts of this paper. The paper also benefited from review at the European Health Policy Group meeting in Birmingham in May 2017. Particular thanks are due to Zeynep Or (IRDES, Paris), Russell Mannion (University of Birmingham) and Ewen Speed (University of Essex) for comments at that meeting.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.