Riverside has invested £1million into the Riverside Impact Fund which provides funding for innovative services tackling homelessness on a payment-by-results (PBR) model. This enables services to get up and running with a commissioner only paying for what works based upon outcomes agreed from the beginning. This could be an option for commissioners:

• To explore their capabilities to deliver an outcomes-based approach, focused upon smaller services, which may be below the threshold of private investors.
• To test this approach before moving onto larger scale social investment (with potential from Riverside to co-invest in the future).
• Who have not been successful with Life Chances Funding but would still like to pilot something with money they had ring-fenced internally.

With the Riverside Impact Fund, Riverside is both an investor and provider to help:

• Develop interest/experience on a payment-by-results model
• Work within a simpler outcomes-based model (with Riverside being an investor and provider and no need for a special purpose vehicle)
• Pilot an approach / test new ways of working on an appropriate scale and timescale (potentially could be as small-scale as one post)
• Provide better outcomes for individuals and
• Potentially inform future commissioning.

Current examples of how the fund is being used in practice include; a small-scale Housing First pilot and a Homeless Families Accommodation and Support Service, which focus on outcomes around tenancy sustainment. Other examples for services include homeless prevention, resettlement, young people, hospital discharge, mental health and refugee support.