NPC has warned that introducing charity-only contracts is the “wrong approach to take”, in its response to the Labour Party’s manifesto consultation.
In July Chil Onwurah, Labour’s shadow minister with responsibility for social enterprise, suggested introducing three-year commissioning contracts which only charities and social enterprises could bid for. But NPC has suggested that public sector contracts should be redesigned to make it easier for charities to bid for them instead.
Dan Corry, chief executive of NPC said: “The crucial thing is to make sure this is done smartly so charities get a fair crack at winning them. I’m not convinced that ring-fencing contracts for charities is the best way to achieve this, when the problem so often lies with the way that contracts are designed.”
NPC’s submission calls for longer-term contracts and reform of payments-by-results to reduce the level of risk for charities acting as prime contractors.
As an alternative NPC has suggested setting a target of the government awarding 10 per cent of new prime contracts to the voluntary sector. Commissioners would also be required to report annually on the percentage of contracts awarded to charity and the Public Accounts Committee would audit the information in these reports.
NPC also suggests that the Big Lottery Fund be tasked with improve impact measurement by sharing its data.
NCVO calls for more grants
Meanwhile in its submission NCVO said that a future Labour government should review the role of grants in public service delivery.
In a report released today the NCVO said that funding to support voluntary activities has changed significantly in recent years following the reduction of government grants.
The report said that grants have been overtaken by contracts, but that they are an efficient way to fund voluntary activities.
“While grants from charitable foundations and the National Lottery have remained steady over recent years, grant income from central and local government has fallen considerably,” NCVO said.
“In 2011/12, grants from all government sources fell by 14.5 per cent (£432.5m) in one year. Any future government seeking to promote a thriving voluntary sector must therefore ensure a diversity of funding is available.”
Further points contained in NCVO's submission include a call for greater requirements on public service commissioners to consult charities and the public in the design of services and for commissioners to allow adequate time to help smaller charities to bid for tenders.
“Short procurement timescales can act as a significant barrier to charities wanting to compete for contracts. Producing high-quality responses to what are sometimes complex and onerous PQQs and ITTs can take a considerable amount of time and resources, but a particular challenge is forming the partnerships or consortia needed to achieve the capacity and scale required to deliver some large contracts.
“One respondent noted how their local authority gave only four weeks to put a consortium together and complete the PQQ back-to-back with the ITT. One youth association successfully applied to be added to a framework of suppliers linked to Troubled Families Initiative had to complete a 49-page PQQ and 99-page full tender.”
The NCVO report also said the next government must ensure that local government commissioners can afford to award contracts to organisations that want to pay their staff the living wage.
All the submissions to the Labour Party’s consultation are available on its website and so far include papers from the Directory of Social Change, WCVA, Navca and the Scout Association.
Additional reporting by Emily Corfe
