Charities urged to seize ‘Big Society’ funding opportunities
July 2010
The coalition government means what it says about pushing back the boundaries of the state.
Delegates at The 2010 ACEVO Funding Roadshow organised by Action Planning heard from an array of government ministers what the cuts agenda can deliver in terms of new opportunities for the sector. In other words the sector has to respond the times, do more with less and not complain.
Peter Kyle, ACEVO’s deputy CEO said: ‘both David Cameron and Francis Maude have said they want “a smart strategic state”. This is good news for us…it’s about us pushing back the state which needs to empower us so we drive the agenda from the ground up.’
When Nick Hurd, the minister for civil society asked how many of those present in receipt of statutory funding actually understood ‘Big Society’ and the opportunities it presents the third sector very few hands went up. He stressed how important a partner the sector is in delivering ‘the social and economic revival we seek’ and went on to outline how that in the absence of Treasury money available to the sector (‘the cake is diminished’), the government was looking at how to prune ‘the thicket of punitive bureaucracy.’ This includes reducing red tape such as health and safety restrictions at community events, and a commitment to reform Gift Aid with first recommendations from the sector invited for September 2010.
Charities also heard about the opportunities to join consortia to bid for DWP contracts migrating people off incapacity benefit and back into work as part of a tailored support programme. Maria Miller, the minister for disabled people, shared DWP’s plans for their new work programme which will replace the current back to work schemes and provide support for people out of work, regardless of the barriers they face or the benefits they claim. The current system ‘actively disincentives people’, she said. The government is inviting expressions of interest by 30 July from the private, public and voluntary sectors to help deliver this. Further information can found in the framework agreement published on the DWP website.1 The minister explained: ‘those with a strong record of delivery in moving people into sustainable work will have a clear advantage and be very attractive partners’ in the consortia large enough to deliver on these contracts. Action Planning’s David Senior who was chairing the event observed that he hoped that charities would not face barriers when competing for the work ‘up against’ large private sector providers.
‘Better outcomes for patients’ and a move away from the ‘tick box target culture’ was the message from Paul Burstow, the care services minister as he outlined how he hoped the government would ‘free the third sector to do what it does best – looking out for the people it supports and absolutely not looking out for Whitehall targets.’ He explained that commissioners have also been held back by the tick box malaise and that is ‘absolutely going to stop.’ This will ‘free the front line to deliver services best for the patients and the very best outcomes.’ He invited the sector to get involved with its ideas in the process of the next public spending review. ‘I know that people in this room are excellent at getting value out of every £ they get through charitable donations.’ The move to hand over commissioning power to GP consortia is an opportunity for charities to work with GPs in helping them hone their commissioning skills. ‘Think about the business model you have and see what skills you can offer to help the commissioners.’ The health white paper, due out in a few weeks will be providing more detail about the new health and social care commissioning opportunities.
However, there was absolutely no escape from the blindingly obvious fact that (in the words of this week's Economist) 'regardless of their ideals, the government does not have the money to make the fight against poverty its central mission.' Peter Kyle's reminder that the coalition government's programme for government concludes with the words: 'the deficit reduction programme takes precedence over overy other measure in this document' and that the sector's winners 'will be those who grasp this' was a highly effective summary of the entire proceedings.
Author: Clarissa Dann
Clarissa Dann was the editor of Caritas as well as an HR and management online service,he People Bulletin until July 2011.
She is now the editor of the specialist trade finance magazine, Trade and Forfaiting Review which can be viewed at www.tfreview.com but does write on charity finance and investment from time to time.
Clarissa has a background in legal and professional publishing, as well as business journalism and holds an MBA from Cass Business School. She has been one of the judges for the non-profit category of the Chartered Institute of Marketing's Excellence in Marketing Awards for the second year running.
She has also acted as clerk to the trustees of a small almshouses charity and as a member nominated trustee to a pension scheme of a multinational publishing company.
Click here for other articles written by Clarissa Dann
Jay Kennedy, 07/07/2010
As Dr Kyle says, it is clear that the deficit reduction programme will take precedence over all other policy initiatives. But I don't agree that 'those who realise this will be the winners'. The winners of the future will not be those organisations who look to sell themselves to the state at any cost under any conditions. The true winners of the future will be those organisations which continue to succeessfully serve their benificiaries on their own terms, in creative and resourceful ways, without recourse to any kind of state money, whether grant, loan or contract.