Just five of the 35 organisations that have been shortlisted by the government to bid as prime contractors for the Work Programme are civil society organisations.
BTCV, Groundwork UK, the Shaw Trust, the Wise Group and Careers Development Group are the only five CSOs to have made the 35-strong 'preferred supplier' shortlist for the Department of Work and Pensions' Employment Related Support Services Framework.
Those that have made the Framework list are allowed to submit bids to deliver the £2bn Work Programme. The bidders had to submit their tenders by Monday 14 February and are now waiting to hear whether they have won the contracts, expected to be announced in April.
The Wise Group has been named as a preferred bidder in Scotland and Shaw Trust in Wales. Shaw Trust has also been named in a number of other areas as part of consortia with private firms Pinnacle People and Atos Origin.
Careers Development Group is on the Work Programme framework for London and also is in an alliance with private firm Maximus (the alliance is called Maximus-CDG Alliance) which is placed on seven of the nine English Frameworks.
The Shaw Trust has sponsored a report by the Centre for Economic and Social Inclusion which argues that an extra 50,000 people a year could secure longer-term work if they were given the right to control their own welfare budgets. The report calls on the government to adopt the personalisation model for the Work Programme, arguing that it would get more people into jobs while also costing the Exchequer less than existing models.
The recommendations are based on the success of the UK’s individual social care budgets and personalisation of welfare-to-work budgets in Holland. The Shaw Trust said the experience of personalised health and social care budgets suggest that the model could be successfully adapted for the Work Programme and that successful bidders should consider piloting different models and evaluating their impact on customers.
Jonathan Coyle (pictured), executive director of new business at the Shaw Trust, said: “Empowering people to have control over their own employability support packages, linked to a personal budget and supported by professional advice, will deliver real benefits for individuals and the taxpayer.”
No CSOs on Community Payback list
Meanwhile, no CSOs have made the shortlist for the Community Payback scheme for offenders, which is currently run by probation staff. Private companies Serco, Sodexo and Mitie have been named as the preferred bidders.
Ben Priestley, Unison national officer for Community Service, said: “Cameron says one thing, but is doing the opposite. The public, voluntary and charitable sector have valuable expertise that could be used in partnership to run the Community Service scheme, but only private companies are being shortlisted.
“The government is looking to big business to take over the Community Payback scheme with Serco, Sodexo and Mitie listed as the preferred options. How can Cameron claim to be a champion of the Big Society, when he is skewing the bidding process in favour of the private sector?”
