We're all Liberal Democrats now...

The Voluntary Sector is being used to legitimise the privatisation of essential public services. There, I’ve said it.

From the Probation Service to helping people find work, provision of public service is being privatised. Why isn’t there more fuss about this?

We know that private sector provision of public services means lower wages and worse conditions, for example increased use of zero-hour contracts, for those delivering the service. And we know that private sector providers are prone to gaming the system in order to hit targets, rather than provide the service that clients need (such as A4E routinely faking employment results, and Serco and G4S charging to tag offenders who had died). So why aren’t we in the Voluntary Sector – whose job it often is to represent the needs of the most disadvantaged - screaming from the rooftops about the fact that we’re paying people less and getting worse service for those who need it most?

I think we’re not complaining because we’ve been bought off.  We’ve been promised the possibility that we might win some of these contracts. A carrot has been dangled: our values, our ability to innovate could provide the important services that people need, meeting the needs of the whole person, addressing problems from a bottom-up perspective.

And the real foolishness is that our silence has been bought without actually putting any substantial resources our way. Only 20% of Work Programme contracts are being delivered by Voluntary Sector organisations, and 70% of those are paying so poorly that charities are in danger of closing, with half having to cross subsidise activity from other funding sources. And the emerging discussions coming out of ‘Transforming Rehabilitation’ don’t offer any better news, with “smaller organisations” being warned that they might not see any work for three years, even if they’re part of contract packages, and that the payment system means they might not see any work at all. 

So – this is my contention: Voluntary Sector organisations are just like the Liberal Democrats. The Private Sector are the Tories. We’re the minor partner in an unholy coalition. We think we’re helping to curtail the worst abuses of our partners. Actually, we’re just enabling the whole awful system to function and remain legitimate. 

Are we really happy to do that? And if we’re not happy, what might we do about it?

We could band together in consortia to win more contracts (like Voluntary Sector organisations in Sheffield are doing) and use the Social Value Act to demonstrate why we’re a better delivery option. Is this the way we stop privatisation, by turning it into voluntarisation?

Or do we need to stand against the out-sourcing tide and say that those we support, first and foremost, need ‘proper’ public services? 

Obviously, there’s complexity to this. Helix Arts always works in partnerships to offer creative opportunities to those most in need. For 30 years, we’ve worked alongside public and voluntary sector organisations and much of our best work has been delivered by building on public services, not by replacing them. Our experience is that vulnerable and marginalised people need infrastructure that they can rely on: support that isn’t here one year and gone the next, support that is focussed on understanding and meeting their needs, not on hitting targets.

So, how do we get more of that?