Unison members from Broadway have expressed concern about the possibility of a partnership between the charity and Serco, after a staff conference about partnerships was attended by a Serco representative.
Last week, Broadway, which supports homeless people, held a staff meeting to discuss partnerships that included speeches from senior people at Serco, London & Quadrant and Housing Justice.
A representative from the union Unison told civilsociety.co.uk that members had expressed concern about a potential partnership between Broadway and Serco, given what they allege is a track record of malpractice and abuse.
Serco has hit the news today, with government planning a review of contracts held by Serco and G4S. Serco faces a fraud inquiry by auditors over its charges for operating tagging schemes and recently a prison run by the company was forced into lockdown in response to violence within its walls.
Commenting on concerns from members of staff, Howard Sinclair, chief executive of Broadway, told civilsociety.co.uk that he was happy to listen. “People have rightly asked questions,” he said. “It’s part of the dialogue and debate. I understand concerns, especially in working with an organisation which is bigger than ours and comes from a different orientation.”
Broadway rethinking partnerships
But he added that going forward it was essential that the charity sector work with different sectors. “As the public purse gets tighter it is incumbent on it to work with others.” He said that the charity as a whole was rethinking its partnership premise.
“Going forward we will think differently,” he said. “We will be having a range of discussions and will work with any organisation we feel will help us provide services to meet needs, if it works.”
Sinclair said Serco and Broadway had had no specific discussions about partnerships in any area as yet. He admitted he did know that Unison was concerned, but insisted that he didn’t see anyone upset at the meeting and said questions were fully answered.
"Serco is a £5bn operation and provides loads of services. It has had some bad press but that is what happens to any organisation of that size," he said.
Sinclair also disclosed to civilsociety.co.uk that it had planned to merge with People Can last year, but the talks fell through. People Can went into administration last year because of a £17m pension deficit.
Government review of Serco
A number of charities deliver contracts or have worked with Serco in recent years.
Serco runs a number of prisons with Turning Point and Catch 22. In April, NCVO and Serco launched a code of practice aiming to improve the relationships between prime and subcontractors delivering public services.
And last September, Serco won the highest number of contracts to run the government’s National Citizen Service programme until 2014. It is working with vInspired, the National Youth Agency, UK Youth and Catch 22 on the contract.
However, this contract will now be under government review, following today’s announcement by Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude to audit all contracts delivered by G4S and Serco.
Commenting on its attendance at Broadway last week, a Serco spokeswoman said: “Broadway is a fantastic organisation that provides valuable support to homeless people in London. If an opportunity arose for our two organisations to work together, bringing our respective strengths to bear to achieve more outcomes, then we would certainly welcome that.”
