Market Development Consultation

We are seeking views on Market Development proposals submitted to Access as part of our Dormant Assets Funding for 2025-2029. 

This refers to Area 3 of our Investment Policy: Social Investment Ecosystem and Infrastructure Development.

You can find the Proposals at the end of this page.

Why are we consulting?

In our Investment Policy, we committed to exploring mechanisms that support inclusive and meaningful market participation in decisions about funding intended to benefit the wider social investment sector.

Those closest to the issues often see benefits, risks, gaps, and opportunities that others may miss, so we are inviting feedback to understand how these proposals might affect the wider social investment market.

Demand for this funding is expected to be high, so this pilot consultation process replaces asking applicants to gather endorsements themselves and helps make sure funding reflects sector needs.

Read more about our funding here.  

Read our Investment Policy here.

What are we looking to fund? 

We are seeking to fund key projects in areas such as data quality, tools, learning, EDI, policy work and research and development. After ringfenced activities, we expect to have roughly £3.2 million available, of which we expect £1 million to support additional EDI initiatives. 

Which proposals will go through consultation? 

The consultation is designed for market development projects aiming to provide benefits for multiple partners or the wider social investment market.

Who we want to hear from 

We are looking to hear from a wide range of organisations within the social investment market, including: 

• Social investors
• Delivery partners and other intermediaries
• Funders
• Voluntary, community and social enterprise (VCSE) organisations that access social finance

To keep things consistent, we're asking for no more than one response per organisation.

How the consultation works

Projects where we need to understand the level of sector interest or support will undergo a short consultation before a final decision is made by our Investment Committee. As we do not operate fixed application windows, this process will run on a rolling basis as proposals are submitted.

For each proposal we will publish a summary on this page and invite sector organisations to share feedback through a structured consultation form. The consultation will usually be open for 4 weeks. 

In some cases, for example where feedback is unclear or mixed, we may follow up with some respondents to discuss their answers further.

How your feedback will be used 

Feedback is advisory, but will be taken carefully into account. It will help the Investment Committee understand the level of likely demand and benefit to relevant organisations or the wider sector, before it makes a final decision.

Respondents will be informed of Committee decisions once all processes are complete (this may take some time), and proposals approved for funding will be shared on our Programmes and funds page. 

About the pilot 

This consultation process is a pilot. It will run until the end of September 2026. At the end of the pilot, we will review how the process has worked and decide whether, and how, to continue or develop it further.