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Is voluntary sector involvement in work programme viable?
Guardian cutsblog explores whether the ‘remorseless cost-cutting logic’ of the Work Programme has created structural barriers to the involvement of the voluntary sector…
Yesterday’s Observer carried a piece on the Work Programme, focussing on the detrimental impacts and outcomes on VCS organisations trying to secure involvement in the Work Programme.
Many charities felt bruised by the time-consuming process of submitting expressions of interest to scores of potential prime contractors up and down the country, before it was clear which would end up taking part.
But even for the voluntary groups that were involved in the winning bids, the picture is bleak. Acevo, the umbrella group for voluntary organisations, has contacted each of the charities or other bodies listed in the original bids by the prime contractors. Of almost 150 that replied, Acevo found just 38% had signed formal contracts to provide services. Only 7.5% of them believe the Work Programme will meet the minimum performance standards set by the government; more than a third say it will not; half are unsure.
The phrase being bandied about among them now is “bid candy”. Each of the providers peppered their bids to the DWP with references to worthy-sounding community groups and grassroots projects; but, months later, many of those groups are still waiting for their first jobless client to walk through the door.
“The concern of a lot of groups is that they’re in a very vulnerable position, in having no guaranteed level of clients that they’re going to see,” explains Steve Kerr of the London Voluntary Service Council. “Any group that’s in an ad hoc, specialist contract could see very little business out of it.”