Deadline: 30 September 2016 Applications are open for the Life Chances Fund that seeks to help those people in society who face the most significant barriers to leading happy and productive lives. Objectives 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 a wider range of 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; and Growing the scale of the social investment market. Funding Information There is up to £30m funding available for SIBs tackling drug and alcohol dependency (as per the existing Life Chances commitment). The total funding across all successful bids will not exceed the LCF value of £80m and the proportion of funding allocated to each theme may change depending upon levels of demand. Themes Drug and alcohol dependency – e.g. early diagnosis and treatment1 Children’s services – e.g. reducing time spent in residential care, preventing entry into care Future themes will be: Young people – e.g. NEET prevention, youth unemployment and youth justice Early years – e.g. early intervention, school preparedness and education Healthy lives – e.g. long term health conditions, public health interventions Older people’s services – e.g. independent living, adult social care and social isolation How to Apply Interested applicants should send their EOIs at the address given on the website. Successful applicants will then be required to submit full applications. For more information, please visit Life Chances Fund. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/life-chances-fund