How government can partner with business to tackle the UK’s challenges

To achieve policy priorities without putting further strain on the public purse, the government needs businesses to profitably do good. Based on a review of partnerships past and present, this report shows how the government could join forces with businesses to solve some of the UK’s most complex social and environmental challenges.

Social and environmental challenges are mounting: the cost of living is soaring, over 30% of children are living in poverty and the effects of climate change are increasingly being felt. Yet, with national debt topping 100% of GDP in 2023, the power of the government to tackle these challenges is constrained.

This report finds that, while businesses want to help, previous attempts to create partnerships between government and business have failed to fully tap into their firepower. Based on a review of eight government-business partnership models in the UK and beyond, this report identifies lessons learned for effective partnerships across four key pillars and puts forward some practical recommendations for unlocking their potential. 

Lead author(s): Esmé Clifford, Claire-Emily Martin

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Collaboration: We are grateful for the kind support from Moorhouse Consulting.

Licencing: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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