The Taskforce on Early Years for the Association of Chief Executives of Voluntary Organisations (ACEVO) calls for the Government to change the way it operates and create a level playing field between charities and the public sector when bidding for services.
The report, One Million Reasons for Reform: unleasing the potential of the voluntary sector in early years services, warns that the Government’s aim of putting many of its services in the hands of community groups and voluntary organisations could fail to make headway if nothing is done to make the process fairer.
It also argues that charities and community groups are the ones with the skills and experiences capable of offering families the support they need, but they are still forced to take a back seat to local authorities. ‘The commissioning practice, their capacity to be able to tender for bids and additional barriers such as VAT which distort the market, prevent them from competing fairly’, the report says.
To succeed, the taskforce says that Government needs to ensure funds go to frontline organisations rather than commissioners. They also suggest the system of payment in arrears is replaced by a method of additional payments on top of a basic contractual sum, which would help small organisations without the capital to tide them over until the evaluation of outcomes.
The report also calls for:
- The ring-fencing of the Early Intervention Grant to ensure the sustainability of early years services.
- Better engagement with the voluntary sector in developing policy.
- Reform of VAT to allow charities to reclaim payments.
- A step-change in commissioning practice, including efforts to build up the capacity of local charities and community groups so they can operate as equal partners to local authorities.
Anne Longfield, chair of ACEVO’s Taskforce on Early Years and chief executive of 4Children said, ‘Government has set out an ambition for a major shift in delivery of services for children and families to the voluntary and community sector to offer families the local, tailor made and responsive services they need. But without fundamental reform and protection of funding, we risk going into reverse rather than making progress.’
‘New systems such as the forthcoming payment by results are an opportunity to devise more open and inclusive ways of working which build in charities and communities from the start. We have a unique opportunity to do things differently for children and families, Government must not let it slip away.’
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