Update: Woodford calls for Patient Capital tax wrapper to boost small business investment

More support needed for UK innovation

Neil Woodford has spoken of the need for a "patient capital ISA" to help incentivise the flow of investment into early stage businesses as he works with the UK government on its Patient Capital Review, announced in this year's Autumn Statement.

Speaking earlier this week at the House of Lords' science and technology committee hearing, the founding partner of Woodford Investment Management said there is evidence to suggest that many mass affluent investors would invest in early-stage businesses over the long term if they had the appropriate incentives to do so. A spokesperson for Woodford IM said the creation of a new tax wrapper could offer structural tax incentives that would encourage the flow of private savings towards institutional investors and then on to young businesses that need it. Woodford Patient Capital trust app...