Better Futures Fund
Information about the Better Futures Fund.
Applies to England
Overview
The £500 million Better Futures Fund (BFF) will support up to 200,000 children, young people and their families over the next 10 years. It will do this by bringing together government, local communities, charities, social enterprises, investors and philanthropists, to deliver place-based solutions to complex social problems across England.
The funding will primarily be for the commissioning of Social Outcomes Partnerships (SOPs), with government payments tied to the achievement of measurable improvements in people’s lives, such as school attainment, improved youth employment, and reduced youth reoffending.
The fund will aim to raise funding from local government, philanthropists and other outcome payers on top of the government’s funding on a 1:1 match basis, whilst also leveraging in millions of upfront funding from social investors to support organisations to deliver. This would create potential funding of up to £1 billion. We are committed to a 10-year funding lifecycle, ensuring funding is accessible for the duration of the programme.
The BFF will fund projects which support the government’s ambitions to tackle the structural and root causes of poverty for children, young people and their families - projects that reduce the short or longer term impacts of poverty on the life chances and outcomes for children.
The UK is a leader in the international SOPs market, with 100 partnerships launched to date. The Better Futures Fund follows the success of other SOP funds, such as the Life Chances Fund (2016 to 2025), which supported more than 50,000 people in areas like youth unemployment, mental health and homelessness. Building on this experience and a comprehensive evaluation exercise, the Better Futures Fund will be the largest outcomes fund of its kind in the world.
Funding timescales
The BFF will be delivered across two rounds:
- Round 1 will launch in Autumn 2026 and support a small number of demonstrator ‘pathfinder’ projects.
- Round 2 will launch in Summer 2027 and will deploy the majority of the £500 million funding over multiple application windows. It will be open to all applicants, whether or not they have experience of SOP delivery.
Both rounds of funding will facilitate the development of locally-led SOPs by providing grant funding to local areas. Across Round 1 and 2, projects will be able to bid for multi-year commitments up to 31 March 2036. All successful projects will be able to draw down money from the fund during this time, or for the duration of their SOP, if shorter. Projects will be able to run beyond 31 March 2036, but will not be able to claim BFF funding from the government beyond this date.
Round 1 (Autumn 2026 to March 2036)
Round 1 will be delivered through an independent grant funded delivery partner who will deliver the application process and ongoing programme management. £37 million of government funding will be available via grants for outcomes through Round 1. We anticipate government funding will be matched on a 1:1 basis from local commissioners and potentially philanthropists.
DCMS ran a competition to appoint the grant partner to deliver Round 1. This competition has now closed and the winner will be announced imminently.
For more information and details on this process visit the Round 1 competition guidance page.
The first funding round is expected to invite bids in September 2026, and is designed for those with prior experience of delivering SOPs, and existing SOP projects. Successful applicants will be expected to demonstrate they are ‘ready to go’ projects, and able to begin delivering quickly. Round 1 is also expected to support peer-learning and the dissemination of best practice to support the development of potential Round 2 projects.
Further details on eligibility criteria, the application process, and deadlines will be decided by the appointed grant delivery partner and will be available in September 2026.
Round 2 (Summer 2027 to March 2036)
Round 2 will cover the remainder of the BFF’s funding and is designed to significantly scale up the number of SOPs and widen participation across the market. Round 2 will be open to all applicants, including those who have no previous experience of SOP delivery.
We are currently in the design process for Round 2, in close collaboration with a range of stakeholders from across local government, the impact economy, and civil society.
We are prioritising a place-based approach to Round 2 delivery and anticipate funding will be deployed through two routes which we are currently testing with stakeholders:
- Mayoral Strategic Authorities: DCMS is working with MSAs to develop their role in directly delivering an allocated portion of BFF funding for their regions.
- Independent Grant Delivery Partner: DCMS has just concluded a Pre-Market Engagement exercise for a grant funded delivery partner for Round 2. DCMS proposes to run a grant competition through the government ‘Find a Grant’ Service in early 2027 to appoint a partner, with commencement of the grant due in Summer 2027.
Across both routes, we will aim to target areas with the highest levels of child poverty to ensure funding reaches the areas with the greatest needs.
We know that it takes time to set up SOPs and this will be reflected in the design and management of the fund. The timings for bidding rounds are still to be confirmed, but we anticipate there will be multiple application windows within Round 2. This will ensure projects, particularly those new to SOPs, have sufficient time to develop partnerships over a two year period, supported by a capability and capacity building programme that will be funded by the BFF.
More information will be available on this page in due course.
Outcomes framework
The primary objective of the BFF is to tackle the structural drivers and daily impacts of child poverty. Specific outcomes (with metrics) will be decided in local places, aligned with local needs, but guided by an overarching set of BFF themes that align with evidence on tackling child poverty.
The BFF themes are:
- early years
- keeping children safe and family security
- every child achieving and thriving
- homelessness and temporary accommodation
- financial stability
- health and wellbeing.
These themes have been chosen to align with the Local Outcomes Framework where possible to ensure BFF outcomes align with local priorities.
DCMS is developing an outcomes framework around these themes in partnership with other government departments and informed by evidence in the Child Poverty Strategy. The framework recognises that child poverty is multidimensional and combines a consistent national approach with the flexibility for local partners to deliver tailored, holistic support. The framework will be published on this page in due course and is intended to be used as guidance to support projects in developing their SOPs; it will not mandate the achievement of specific outcomes.
Capacity and capability building programme
DCMS will launch a dedicated capacity and capability building programme to support the effective delivery of the Better Futures Fund over its ten-year lifespan. This is in recognition of the commitment and time required to establish new SOPs at scale. The programme will be have three strands:
- Learning and development service: To act as an entry point and a central source of expertise for those interested in developing a social outcomes partnership for the BFF. This will include the development of SOP guidance, toolkits and templates, delivery of thematic workshops, helping applicants understand fund outcomes and supporting peer learning networks. DCMS is in the final stages of a grant competition to select a partner to deliver this service. For further information, please visit the BFF learning and development service competition guidance page.
- Technical assistance: To provide direct support to applicants during the application and post-award stages, including developing SOP rate cards, advising on investor interaction, and drafting contracts.
- Market development: To encourage the wider SOP market to participate in the BFF, with a small budget for targeted, in-depth interventions in specific sub-sectors, such as social investment and philanthropy.
Alongside these externally procured services, DCMS will publish thematic guidance and guideline, template rate cards to support projects, alongside the outcomes framework.
We will keep this page updated with the latest information on the procurement processes for these services.
Monitoring and evaluation
The first phase of the BFF programme evaluation will be an Implementation and Feasibility Study running over the first year of programme delivery (from September 2026 to December 2027). The Phase 1 evaluation aims to maximise learning from Round 1 projects, providing early stage evidence on programme launch and implementation, and supporting the design of the long-term evaluation of the fund. Phase 1 will be delivered by an evaluation partner commissioned through the Research & Insights DPS, the competition is now closed.
The full programme evaluation strategy will be informed by the Implementation and Feasibility study, and will be developed over 2027. This will include process, impact and value-for-money evaluation, and monitoring data on delivery and outcome performance. Commissioned elements of the phase 2 evaluation will be advertised through the Research & Insights DPS.
Social Outcomes Partnerships
There are a range of entrenched social issues, such as homelessness, unemployment and health inequalities which, due to their intersecting nature, are challenging to address through conventional approaches to public service commissioning. Social Outcomes Partnerships (SOPs) create partnerships between the public, private and voluntary sectors to help solve these challenges through a clear focus upon delivering the outcomes and real world impact we want to see. For more information and guidance on the use of SOPs (also known as Social Impact Bonds), visit the Social Outcomes Partnerships page.
How to engage with the Better Futures Fund
Please direct all enquiries about the Better Futures Fund to betterfutures@dcms.gov.uk
We will only process your data in order to respond to enquiries. For more information on how we collect, hold, use or process your personal data, see the DCMS personal information charter.
Updates to this page
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Pages updated with further information on Round 1 and Round 2 funding timescales and delivery plans (following the conclusion of recent procurements exercises).
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Updated with details and link to the grant competition to select a partner to deliver learning and development services.
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Information added about Round 1 of the Better Futures Fund.
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Added link to the DCMS personal information charter.
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First published.