Date/Time: Monday 11 - Tuesday 12 September 2017

Venue: Newcastle University London, 102 Middlesex Street, London, E1 7EZ

Confirmed keynote speaker: Emily Gustafsson-Wright, Brookings Institution.

Confirmed panelists include: Mara Airoldi, Government Outcomes Lab; Emma Disley, RAND Europe and a prominent fellow from the Harvard Kennedy School Government Performance Lab

Specifying and steering services on the basis of ‘social outcomes’ is taking on increasing significance around the world as a route to achieve improved public services within available resources. Social impact bonds (SIBs) are one prominent innovation in this field. There are still a relatively small number of SIBs worldwide, but the rate at which new SIB projects are being established is considerable and in the UK and internationally, political capital continues to be poured into the pursuit of SIBs (Edmiston and Nicholls, 2017).

The SIB approach, which establishes a three-way relationship between a public sector commissioner, service provider and independent investor has been pursued in the belief that it can unlock a range of benefits including improved cost effectiveness, innovation, improved social outcomes and future cost savings.

About the conference:

The jury is still out on the effectiveness of SIBs. On the one hand, cautionary narratives (Fraser et al., 2016) have tempered the initial hype and excitement. On the other, preliminary independent evaluations suggest that SIBs are starting to produce some of the expected outcomes (Gustafsson-Wright et al. 2015).

Key question marks can be traced in part to the mechanism’s shape-shifting form and also to the considerable empirical challenges associated with evaluating the application of the approach. These form the two central provocations for the second international SIB conference which builds on last year’s conference also hosted at Newcastle University in London:

‘What is a SIB exactly’?

The initial applications of the SIB approach at Peterborough Prison and Rikers Island introduced specific ideas about what a SIB should look like. These models have since been challenged and debated. How is the mechanism evolving and where is the concept moving to in both thematic and configurational terms? What is the underpinning theory of change of SIBs in their varying forms? How does it compare to other forms of outcome-based commissioning? What impact might broader political shifts mean for SIBs? And how might these developments impact upon theoretical approaches available to academic analyses?

What do we now know about whether SIBs are ‘effective’ in delivering against the ‘expectations’ associated with this approach?

Active SIB projects are tied to a raft of evaluation programmes which should be generating a wealth of empirical insights. What can they tell us about SIBs’ ability to deliver against their putative benefits? The vast majority of SIBs employ performance and payment metrics that rely only on the validation of administrative data; what are the challenges to implementing more robust impact evaluations? What other evaluation challenges are emerging? How can the academic community contribute to meeting these challenges?

Key contributions:

The conference will provide a forum for academics, independent researchers and practitioners to share the latest thinking and empirical findings in relation to the development of SIBs.  It is also an opportunity for those intrigued by and invested in the application of SIBs to connect and exchange ideas.

The conference will include a 'Living Lab' hosted by Newcastle University.

How to register:

To register, please click the 'Book now' button below.

Costs:

£150 (2-day full fee, including conference dinner on 11th September)

£120 (2-day full fee)

£80 (1-day full fee, not including conference dinner on 11th September) or

£50 (student fee, includes both days and conference dinner on 11th September)

Costs includes: lunch on both days as well as a wine reception on the evening of Monday 11th September.

Spaces will be limited so we encourage early registration.