Barriers to service delivery

Finance | 1 Feb 2005

Research conducted by Futurebuilders has shown that public sector purchasers want to make better use of the VCS in delivering local services, but struggle to build the necessary working relationships. Most respondents (80 per cent) felt there was a lot of potential for developing the role of the VCS in public service delivery. However, early two thirds of purchasers said financial, policy or structural constraints affected their ability to draw up contracts with them.

The survey also highlighted the scale of the challenge Futurebuilders and its investees face in relation to purchasers adopting full cost recovery principles when negotiating contracts with the VCS. Only 3 per cent of espondents said that their funding agreements with the VCS covered loan repayments and interest, while training costs were covered by only 60 per cent of respondents and start-up costs by 50 per cent. On a positive note respondents said they saw VCS organisations as better able to connect with hard-to-reach groups in the community and benefiting from closer links with local service users.

Directory: Futurebuilders England

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