A cash pot designed to help charities and social enterprises gain the skills needed to raise investment and bid for public service contracts has already made ‘a significant and positive impact,' a major consultancy group has claimed.

A report into the £10m Investment and Contract Readiness Fund (ICRF) produced by the Boston Consulting Group finds grants totalling £815,144 have helped the first eight successful applicants land deals worth nearly £35m.

Among the early winners were Pure Innovations, whose £52,250 grant was pivotal in it secureing a £11.7m five-year contract to take over Kingston RLBC's learning disability service.