Social Policy Bonds: current state of play

I don't think any Social Policy Bonds have yet been issued, despite their having been in the public arena for about 35 years. That said, more national and local entities continue to issue Social Impact Bonds, the non-tradable variant of Social Policy Bonds. This wikipedia page summarises the history and current deployment of SIBs, currrently issued in about 25 countries. These include the UK, Australia, the US, and they are also being considered in Brazil, Israel and New Zealand. Dan Corry of NPC (formerly New Philanthropy Capital) in London summarises the state of play in 2022 with SIBs in the UK here:

There was a time when social impact bonds (SIBs) were all the rage, the shiny new policy wonk instrument. This instrument is a contract where payment is hard-wired into specified outcomes being achieved. Independent investors put up the working and risk capital and only get paid back if it all works, it was said these instruments would help us all deliver better services, would encourage innovation, guide government and philanthropists to a better way of commissioning, and would mean we only paid for the things we wanted. But then they sort of faded away from the front-line of interesting ideas: I’ve not seen a think tank or politician talk about them in a long time, even though some keep going in the background. ...

So far, [SIBs] have yet to really taken off despite the pleas of their fans. Are they the future or the last dregs of the New Public Management and the marketisation of everything?  ... Only time will tell. What is the future for Social Impact Bonds?, Dan Corry, NPC, 5 October 2022

I do have reservations about SIBs, which I have expressed here, here, and in several blog posts (search this blog site for Social Impact Bonds). They are necessarily narrow in scope and, in my view, will be prone to manipulation and gaming, especially if they become so commonplace that they escape public scrutiny. Because of their limitations they are also, as I expected and as mentioned by Mr Corry, costly to administer. I haven't been consulted about, and have no involvement in, anything to do with SIBs. As regards Social Policy Bonds, there are occasional mentions in esoteric discussion of innovative finance (see here, for example, or this X thread), but I have to be realistic and I don't think it's likely that any will be issued in the near future. This saddens me, as I do think they could do much to narrow the gap between policymakers and the people they are supposed to represent, and stimulate the diverse, adaptive approaches that humanity needs to solve its big, urgent social and environmental problems. It is, though possible that SIBs, because of their focus on meaningful outcomes will advance, rather than discredit, the Social Policy Bond concept: either scenario is possible.