Charlotte O'Leary, CEO of Pensions for Purpose, participated in this Big Issue Invest, Aspen and Beazley event at the House of Lords. The panel was responding to the vital question of how to scale up social impact investing to end poverty in the UK. If general insurers are able to make a case for investing in an impact opportunity and get buy-in from the board for this decision, it opens the door for other institutional investors.

Given increasing inequality is a systemic risk for investors and society, requiring catalytic and additional capital, we also need investment consultants and advisers to meet the challenge by using an impact lens on portfolio construction, delivering social impact opportunities in a range of asset classes and helping to drive the market. By working in concert with pensions funds and insurers, investment consultants can support their clients to make the market rather than passively taking the investment product on offer.

A final ask, based on a rousing speech by Lord John Bird, was for the government to create a ‘Ministry of Poverty Prevention’ to see poverty eradicated rather than ameliorated. This significant generation-defining issue can only be achieved through a step change in policymaking and delivery at the heart of government – the stakes are too high.