Partnerships provide the charity sector with a major opportunity to prove its professionalism said the CEO of offender rehabilitation charity St Giles Trust as it enters its own partnership with Stonham criminal justice charity.

Announcing the initial stage of a partnership between the two organisations to develop innovative services and to strengthen their combined commissioning pull, Rob Owen told civilsociety.co.uk that "alliance is vital if our sector is to be able to play a serious role".

His comments follow those of Justice Secretary Chris Grayling's in February criticising the charity sector for entering contracts on "mad terms" and not showing enough commercial savvy.

Owen told civilsociety.co.uk, "There has been some observation that charities have not stepped up to the plate in the past in a sophisticated, professional way. Now, as never before needed, is our chance to show that value-driven charities, who put their clients at the heart of their work, can compete and deliver far better value, at the necessary scale, for all the right reasons.

"If you provide a client-centred solution, with passion, purpose and real care, then the results will speak for themselves. This is a major opportunity for our sector and it is time that we are taken seriously," he said.

The two parties hope that by bringing together their expertise they will strengthen their resolve under proposed reforms to criminal justice announced by Grayling earlier this year. The reforms will see greater private and voluntary sector participation in probation services and an extension of payment-by-results contracts.  

"We hope that this concord between St Giles Trust and Stonham sends a strong message out to government, to the private sector and statutory services that hard-hitting, values-driven charities like us really do mean business," said Owen.

St Giles Trust has provided offender rehabilitation services since 1962. It was highly commended in the Charity Awards 2012 for its support to female prisoners and ex-prisoners, and with 112 employees (many of whom are ex-offenders) gleaned an income of £4.7m last year.

Owen said the charity's partnership with Stonham - the care and support division on Home Group providing supported housing, justice and health services UK-wide for over 30 years - would see innovations similar to those which have already demonstrated results:

"At St Giles Trust, we believe in adopting a peer-led approach which uses professionally trained ex-offenders to offer support to others looking to turn their lives around.  Our Meet at the Gates service offers intensive support to prison leavers on release and follow up support in the community. A 2010 evaluation of this service demonstrated that it reduced re-offending by an additional 40 per cent and saved £10 in criminal justice costs for every £1 invested in the service. This, along with many others, is an example of the kind of service we would seek to develop in partnership," Owen advised.

POLL - do you think the charity sector is seen as unprofessional? (Click here to respond)

Want access to all civilsociety.co.uk content? Subscribers gain access to all expert advice, analysis, surveys, special reports and the full archive of content from as little as £43.20 per year. Find out more...