Pathway Fund & Partners Submit Open Letter to Prime Minister
Given the racist riots and unrest seen across the UK, in recent times, Pathway Fund and its many partner organisations have published an open letter to the Prime Minister, outlining our position on all that’s happened, whilst offering a set of recommendations as to how to now proceed, for the benefit of the communities so impacted, by those events. Read the letter, below.
The Rt Hon Sir Keir Starmer MP
Prime Minister and First Lord of the Treasury
Prime Minister’s Office
10 Downing Street
London
SW1A 2AA
12 August 2024
Investing in a Racially Inclusive Britain
Dear Prime Minister,
We write to you as Pathway Fund representing the respective signatories to this letter, united in our shock at the racism in our country, demonstrated through the unprecedented level of violence and attacks against black, brown and minoritised communities, especially Muslims and asylum seekers, across the UK. Whilst we remain confident in the belief that the majority of the UK is a welcoming and inclusive place to live, we feel it important to write to you, to outline the impact that it has had on the communities that we represent, whilst offering a path forward, in the resolution of the issues seen.
We represent the variety of cultures and peoples that make Britain great. We are committed to ending racism and promoting equality in our society. We do this through driving work in the impact economy and supporting social enterprise in our country. We want you to use inclusive growth as one tool to repair the deep-rooted issues that sit under these horrendous acts that we see on our streets. Indeed, inclusive growth can act as an important pillar in the rebuilding of our communities.
The lead writers of this letter represent Pathway Fund. We were created in 2022 to drive racial equality and encourage inclusive growth in the UK for black and brown communities and their enterprises. We are committed to doing this so that our communities can come together with others to make our country stronger – we believe that if you strengthen communities left behind, that they too can contribute effectively to the whole – growing the United Kingdom, inclusively.
We remain committed to this. In a short time, we have worked with many organisations, thousands of people, and our fellow funders, to start driving change – we’ve raised over £4m and continue on our way to our £65m target. We also have the signatures of our many partners on this letter. We are a broad coalition and include organisations led by black, brown, white, and all types of British people. Some of us are set-up by and are focused on black and minority communities, and some of us are not. We represent what we want – a diverse and inclusive Britain.
Riots come from a number of things: lack of opportunity; embedded racism; and poverty – exacerbated by the cost-of-living crisis. This list is non-exhaustive. However, it is here, that Pathway’s work is already having an impact – utilising money coming from the Dormant Assets Scheme, to heal the divisions that we have cited. We have very recently announced our Cost of Living Support Programme, supported, directly, by Access – The Foundation for Social Investment. This will see over £1m deployed to some 31 Black and Ethnically Minoritised organisations, helping them to begin rebuilding the areas that have been impacted by the unrest. Here we see money coming from the Dormant Assets Scheme, directly improving the lives of those in many different communities, facilitated by Pathway.
But, we know that this is not enough. Many of the signatories to this letter have worked in the impact investment space for years’, with that work being, in part, funded by dormant assets, over the previous 10. The Adebowale Commission recommended the setting up of a £50m social investment fund, back in 2022. The Commission suggested that the fund be Black-led and that it would increase access to finance and levels of investment into Black-
led social enterprises. This is the mission that Pathway has taken on and – as shown by that Cost of Living Support Programme – is delivering on, too.
The Minister for Social Security and Disability Sir Stephen Timms MP recently wrote a letter on the potential benefits of the impact economy and its ability to unlock £100bn in private investment. Our colleagues and co-signatories at Better Society Capital (BSC), Access – The Foundation for Social Investment, Social Investment Business (SIB), and others, have already leveraged over £10 billion in match funding over the past 15 years’. Our work has impacted millions across the UK, supporting over 25,000 social enterprises during that time.
Those social enterprises, in turn, enable finance to flow to the vital community-based businesses, other social enterprises, and trading charities, that take entrepreneurial approaches to tackling social problems, in addition to creating jobs and growth. Indeed, the Commission found that if their potential was leveraged, that the UK’s most deprived communities could see an additional 36,000 jobs created. This stuff works. We now hope you will embody the strong, compassionate, and inclusive ideals that you and your Party hold, by ultimately pushing forward with the Dormant Assets Scheme, as detailed below.
Over the last decade the Dormant Assets Scheme has been transformational in growing the social investment sector to support thousands of community and social enterprises. However, given recent events, we must now look to the future and to the inspiration of further transformation. The social investment sector has joined together to develop the Community Enterprise Growth Plan, to drive the next wave of investment through the Scheme into the places and Communities which have for too long been overlooked. Working together with the social investment community to secure additional capital from mainstream investors, the Plan will more than double the investment from Dormant Assets. We urge you to work with colleagues in the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and His Majesty’s Treasury to expedite the next £350m allocation of funds through the Dormant Assets Scheme as soon as possible.
Furthermore, we ask that you deeply consider how to get the UK back to a place where it is clear what it means to be British. We, at Pathway, and the undersigned, strongly believe that being British is not about the colour of one’s skin, it should be about a way of life, culture and consensual commitment to a clear set of values that are accessible and beneficial to all in a country, regardless of characteristics or status. We believe that after these riots, there needs to be a national conversation – real, in-person dialogue, funded by the State – in communities up and down the country. This is now the opportunity to have that conversation. Inclusive economic growth allows those conversations to be had – and is one of the best antidotes to addressing the fractures in British society.
We need action, Prime Minister. There is no time to waste. As you know, real and lasting change happens when the government and communities work together. There is an opportunity for your government to redefine what it means to be British, to accelerate real and tangible change at community level, deliver on your missions, and address the problems coming from under-investment, too. We ask you to fast-track the deployment of capital, through the Dormant Assets Scheme, whilst using it as a conduit to leverage ever more resource, to target the places and communities most affected by long-term economic decline, inspire inclusive growth, and fundamentally, to deliver justice to the communities so greatly affected by the events, that have so caused this letter to be written.
We look forward to your response.
Yours sincerely,
Lord Dr Michael Hastings CBE
Crossbench member of the House of Lords
Iqbal Wahhab OBE
Non-executive director, Pathway Fund
Stephen Bediako OBE
Founder, Pathway Fund
Bonnie Chiu
Founder, Pathway Fund
Kunle Oluode MBE
Founder, Pathway Fund
Seb Elsworth
Chief Executive, Access – The Foundation for Social Investment
Stephen Muers, Chief Executive Officer
Better Society Capital
Nick Temple
Chief Executive, Social Investment Business
Joanne Anderson
Founder and Executive Director, BlaST
Izzy Obeng
Chief Executive Officer, Foundervine
Mandy Nyarko MBE
Co-founder, Startup Discovery School
Erika Rushton
Programme Director, Kindred LCR
Bayo Adelaja MBE
Founder and Chief Executive, Do it Now Now
Yvonne Field OBE Hon FRIBA
Founder and CEO, The Ubele Initiative
Jordan Fletcher
Ecosystem Manager, Startup Discovery School
Ali Ahmed
Chair, Race on the Agenda
Andy Davis
Co-founder, 10x10
Matt Smith
CEO, The Key Fund
Demi Ariyo
Managing Director & Head of Funding, Lendoe
Debra Healy
CEO, Create Equity
Cecil Adjalo
Chief Operating Officer, Foundervine
Robin Chu
Director of Strategic Projects, School for Social Entrepreneurs
Michael Henry
Strategic Director, Communities Inc.
Olivia McLoughlin
Programmes and Projects Manager, Good Finance
Ishita Ranjan-Churchill
Project Director, Good Finance
Tanveer Sian
Manager, Social Finance
Stephanie Dawoud
Head of Engagement & Communications, Impact Investing Institute
Reshma Sheikh
Managing Director, MSDUK