A sense of purpose Helping people to regain their stake in society can help to transform lives, says Amar Lodhia. We've been trying to get our heads around government policy on 'joined-up' working between departments to tackle multiple social disadvantage. Trawling through the well-presented but often redundant strategy documents, it is evident that while self-employment is an incredibly powerful social change platform -- yes we've proved it -- the pennies haven't dropped in Whitehall yet. Surprising, because from where I am standing self-employment could be a way for them to swap the pennies falling out of their holey pockets for pounds in the public coffers. If I was prime minister I'd certainly put 'rocket boosters' under that. Instead, David Cameron announced in his law and order speech last month that he is going to put 'rocket boosters' under payment by results (PbR). His hope is that the social investment market will enable the voluntary sector to deliver these contracts. Mr Cameron may actually be beaming himself to a starship in a far away galaxy, but it is definitely not one called 'Enterprise' (or social enterprise) -- again the prime minister has missed the majority of the voluntary sector out. Earlier this year, in partnership with a 'magic circle' law firm, we completed the development of our social investment vehicle. As it stands, to attract investment and deliver any type PbR contract would prove nothing short of a bureaucratic and regulatory headache, even if we managed to work around the regulation.