The Life Chances Fund (LCF) is an £80m fund, which aims to help those people in society who face the most significant barriers to leading happy and productive lives. 
The £80m has been committed by central government to contribute to outcome payments for payments by results (PbR) contracts which involve socially minded investors - i.e. towards Social Impact Bonds (SIBs). These contracts must be locally commissioned and aim to tackle complex social problems.
The Life Chances Fund will aim for contributions of around 20% of total outcomes payments, with local commissioners paying for the majority of the outcomes payments. However the level of contribution from the LCF will be refined to reflect the balance in savings that are generated for the wider public sector. Where the rate of savings to central government are relatively low and/or the immediate savings to the local commissioner are very high, levels of contribution will be refined to reflect this.
Based on existing central top-up funds, which have targeted a similar contribution, the LCF could leverage a further £320 million in outcomes payments from local commissioners, creating a total pot of £400 million for outcomes contracts.
The overall objective of the £80 million LCF is to help those people in society who face the most significant barriers to leading happy and productive lives. It will do this by:
• increasing the number and scale of SIBs in England
• making it easier and quicker to set up a SIB
• generating public sector efficiencies by delivering better outcomes and using this to understand how cashable savings are
• increasing social innovation and building a clear evidence base of what works
• increasing the amount of capital available to voluntary, community and social enterprise (VCSE) sector providers to enable them to compete for public sector contracts
• providing better evidence of the effectiveness of the SIB mechanism and the savings that are being accrued
• growing the scale of the social investment market
Application process
There is a 2-stage application process for the Life Chances Fund.
Expression of interest - The initial stage of the process will ensure that applicants are clear on what it is they are applying for and how realistic a proposal they are making.
Full application - Proposals approved through the EOI submission will be required to complete a full application with more detailed information regarding the proposal.
Successful applicants will receive an in-principle agreement to fund outcomes and can then enter into commissioning service provision and launch.
For further information and to apply, visit: www.gov.uk/government/publications/life-chances-fund
Deadline for expressions of interest: Friday 31 March 2017