The voluntary sector may need to do more in order to emphasise the special qualities it can bring to public services, according to Caroline Slocock, director of the Civil Exchange think tank.

Slocock, who has been performing secretariat duties for the Panel on the Independence of the Voluntary Sector, was speaking at the NCVO’s Researching the Voluntary Sector Conference yesterday.

She said that the commissioning partnership between government and the voluntary sector can work well, but having worked on both sides of the fence, “there is a tendency in government to see the voluntary sector as just another provider, and that makes it quite hard to recognise the differences between the voluntary sector and the private sector.”

She added: “That can put the voluntary sector in quite a difficult position. Some of the processes may work very well for the private sector but don’t recognise the special needs of the voluntary sector.”

However, Slocock later added that charities could perhaps do more. “I wonder if the sector is doing enough to articulate the value it could bring to public services.

“There’s a danger that it simply becomes just a second rate provider in the government’s eyes because it just doesn’t have the scale and capacity to fill out some of the forms and do some of the things the government would like to see.”

She also revealed that the Panel on the Independence of the Voluntary Sector had drawn up a “barometer” for a charity’s independence, which lists as its main criteria “independence of purpose”, “independence of voice” and “independence of action”.

Slocock is a former chief executive of Refugee and Migrant Justice and the Equal Opportunities Commission, and has also held roles at the Department for Education and Skills and the Treasury.