The government should change Treasury rules on funding charities, Labour MP Jess Phillips has said, while councils should avoid insourcing services run by the voluntary sector.
Phillips, a backbench MP and former minister for violence against women and girls, said domestic abuse support delivered by charities should be “given the same level of respect as universal services are given”.
She called for public bodies to be backed by the Treasury to provide longer-term funding for charities that provide such services, saying she had tried to change this as minister.
“If you want the voluntary sector to be properly funded to [provide] universal services – not on a year-on-year basis – the Treasury rules have got to change,” Phillips said.
“Because I tried to make it so that I was funding violence against women and girls services and the most I could ever do was a three-year rolling basis.”
She added: “Let's agree on what the universal services that are provided by the voluntary sector [are], and agree there will always be a settlement so that local commissioners can feel comfortable committing to year-on-year [funding], and know the government will always give them the money.”
Phillips made the comments at the Labour Party Conference in Liverpool, when speaking on a panel about how civil society can empower communities.
Referring to her time working in the domestic abuse support sector, Phillips said services were “run by the voluntary sector until austerity came, and then councils decided to take some of that money for themselves in various forms”, which she said resulted in poor performance.
“Don't do that if you're from a council. Don't insource anything that was done by the voluntary sector – and in fact, the government should make rules about that, because they are nowhere near as good at doing it as the voluntary sector.
“They can't do it as cheaply. They can't do it as well [...] so just don't do it. Insourcing in a time of austerity, that should be banned.”
