Social investment roadmap – our views
It was good to see the government recently laying out its plans to support the growth of investment into UK social enterprises with the publication of its Social Investment Roadmap. We applaud the government for recognising that more needs to be done to ease the process by which individual investors can engage in this emergent sector. We also welcome the review of current caps and limitations on the size and form of investment and ideally these will be broadened to ensure that social enterprises can benefit from the same investment tax reliefs that benefit early stage companies in the UK.
Yet, there is clearly still much to be done. The current proposed cap of €200,000 per social enterprise is too small, as are the limits on size of qualifying charities (Employees<500 & assets <£15m). However, the Roadmap appears to lay out a practical and deliverable schedule of parliamentary activity and hints at recognising and removing these limitations.
We urge the government to be bold and truly make the UK a thriving environment for social enterprises, a key part of which is increasing the sources of capital for front line organisations.
By Alex Hook – Nesta Impact Investments