Volunteering England has moved employment minister Chris Grayling to say that Work Programme providers should always pay charities for their services, following reports that volunteer centres were asked to take on Work Programme clients for no payment.

Grayling was responding to a letter from Mike Locke, senior policy and information manager at Volunteering England, who had raised concerns that Work Programme providers had been referring their clients to volunteer centres, but had been unprepared to enter into a formal agreement to pay for their services.

Grayling says that providers and their subcontractors “should not be approaching voluntary organisations if they have not entered into, or are intending to enter into, an agreement with them and they are outside the supply chain”.

“This confirmation that Work Programme providers should pay voluntary organisations for their services is very welcome," said Locke. “We have been concerned to hear that some providers are unwilling to establish subcontracts with voluntary organisations. It is right that any organisation being funded by the government to deliver a contract is prepared to pay others for their work.”

Volunteering England also reported to the minister that one of its members was approached by a private-sector provider and asked to provide volunteers to help deliver one of its projects to prepare clients for employment. It remains an isolated incident but the situation is being monitored by Volunteering England which is concerned that volunteers are being considered as ‘free labour’ or a replacement for paid staff.

Hurd relays concerns to Grayling

Elsewhere, minister for civil society Nick Hurd said he was aware about concerns within the Work Programme and had relayed concerns to Grayling.

Hurd, who was speaking this week at the Guardian Social Enterprise Conference, said: “I hear enough frustration and cynicism in the sector on my travels to know there are genuine concerns.

“What I don’t want to happen is a gap between ministerial rhetoric and what people’s experiences are on the ground.”

Hurd said he was hearing that charities subcontracted in the Work Programme supply chain were not getting numbers:

“Chris is live to this,” he said. “People are asking for numbers and data. We’ll get the data on referrals in the spring. My response will be to build a reliable story and take this back to the Department for Work and Pensions if there is a genuine problem.”