The Cabinet Office and the Ministry of Justice plan to develop a tool which will help charities and social enterprises assess the financial viability of sub-contract offers to deliver probation services.

It is a part of a series of measures which the government has announced to help the voluntary sector and mutuals compete for contracts to cut reoffending.

This month, Justice Secretary Chris Grayling unveiled his ‘Transforming Rehabilitation’ strategy – a series of reforms which will open up delivery of probation services to private and voluntary sector providers.

But, there have been warnings from the voluntary sector that the government will repeat mistakes made with the Work Programme, which has been marred with failings, most seriously the closure of a number of charities which found delivery on the Programme financially unviable.

However, it seems the government has listened to concerns. At a recent event to celebrate the one-year anniversary of Big Society Capital, minister for civil society Nick Hurd said the new rehabilitation reforms are a significant improvement on the Work Programme.

The Cabinet Office and the Ministry of Justice are providing support to:

• Develop a financial modelling tool to enable voluntary, community and social enterprises (VCSE) to assess sub-contract offers.
• Provide a central legal function to check VCSE organisations’ contractual terms and conditions with main providers.
• Run a series of workshops to help VCSE organisations understand the reform process and develop the vital skills they will need to compete for and deliver rehabilitation services.
• Create a database of VCSEs and mutuals involved in the rehabilitation of offenders to help organisations form partnerships and consortia.

Separately, there will also be up to £6m available to assist VCSEs to bid for contracts or to secure social investment through the Investment and Contract Readiness Fund and at least £1m to support these organisations using social action in the rehabilitation of offenders through Cabinet Office’s Centre for Social Action.

Many of these measures are being introduced in response to the recommendations set out in social enterprise organisation 3SC’s action plan. It was awarded £150,000 by the Ministry of Justice to put together an action plan on the voluntary sectors engagement in the Transforming Rehabilitation programme

Responding to the news, Sir Stephen Bubb, chief executive of Acevo, said: "The government has puts its money where its mouth is with this package of support, and it is to be welcomed. Now it's up to us in the voluntary sector to prepare for the big challenges ahead, and to help the government get the design of the reforms right."

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