Big Issue Invest, the social investment arm of the Big Issue, has made its first deployment from its latest fund, Social Impact Debt Fund IV, providing a £3.2 million loan to a specialist education college for young adults with learning difficulties to buy and refurbish a new premises.
Great Oaks College offers a range of further education opportunities to more than 100 young people in West London, catering for pupils aged 19 to 25 with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) ranging from moderate to severe.
In 2023, just two months after it received an Outstanding Ofsted report, Great Oaks College was unexpectedly served a two-year notice to vacate its current purpose-built £38 million facility on a shared school site in Hounslow. The college struggled to secure an alternative suitable premises to safely accommodate its students with complex physical and educational needs.

Unable to secure a mortgage or attract investors without a site, Great Oaks applied for a loan from Big Issue Invest’s Social Impact Debt Fund IV, which offers large, property backed loans for organisations making a positive impact on the health and wellbeing of their communities.
The £3.2 million loan subsequently secured from Big Issue Invest has allowed the college to purchase new premises in Sunbury-on-Thames, due to open in 2026, with provision to continue supporting all 108 of its current students.
Great Oaks College’s successful deal marks the first deployment by Social Impact Debt Fund IV. Fund IV was launched 18 months ago by Big Issue Invest, a social investor established 20 years ago by the founders of the world-famous street magazine, the Big Issue. Fund IV is able to reduce the amount of deposit required for a property backed loan by offering flexible loan repayment terms at a higher loan to property value than bank mortgage funding, and a single set of terms, instead of a combination of bank debt and separate mezzanine debt funding.