Social impact bonds: a tale of three Newpins (podcast)

Elyse Sainty talks with Patrick Bollen about the Newpin family reunification program deployed under the Social Impact Bond (SIB) mechanism in three states and about what SVA has learned.

Summary
  • The Newpin program works to restore children in out-of-home care to the care of their parents.
  • The Newpin Social Benefit Bond in NSW was Australia’s first SIB, and it matured in 2020. Over seven years 61% of children were restored, almost three times the counterfactual. Investors received a financial return of 10% pa.
  • Replication of the model in Queensland was less successful, and the bond terminated early.
  • The Newpin SA SIB was recently launched, with service set to commence in July.
  • SVA has drawn insights from its key role in each of these SIBs. Issues explored include the importance of understanding the level of demand for a program; ensuring that accountability and control are in sync; the challenges of comparative performance; and the importance of the relationship between SIB partners.
  • There are also learnings about the risk of implementation in new contexts, and how to handle the inevitability that things don’t go exactly to plan.
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