UK government seeks delivery partner for £500mn Better Futures Fund
Howard Lake | 6 May 2026 | News
The UK Government has opened a competition to appoint a delivery partner for round one of the £500 million Better Futures Fund (BFF), which was announced last year.
The BFF is designed to deploy funding over a 10-year lifecycle, aiming to support up to 200,000 children, young people, and their families. Round one commits up to £37 million in government funding to Social Outcomes Partnerships (SOPs) that are ready to begin delivering quickly. The successful delivery partner will be selected by 10 July 2026, with the fund set to open for project bids this summer.
SOPs utilise outcomes-based contracts, tying government payments to measurable improvements in people’s lives, including school attainment, youth employment, and reduced reoffending. This model builds on nearly 15 years of outcomes-based commissioning in the UK, with over 100 SOPs already launched, supporting more than 100,000 people.
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The BFF is anticipated to be “the largest outcomes fund of its kind in the world”. It is structured to catalyse up to £1 billion in total by combining government outcomes payments with up to £500 million in match funding from local commissioners and philanthropists, alongside upfront capital from social investors.
Further funding rounds will begin in 2027 and will be open to all applicants, including those without prior SOP experience.
James Burrows, Managing Director at Better Society Capital, commented that the search for a delivery partner “signals that the fund is moving from ambition into action,” and that the scale of the BFF reinforces the long-term commitment necessary for capital to mobilise across the investment market.
About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.