Delivering public services threatens independence and sustainability
23rd February 2007, 10:56 am
The chair of the Charity Commission, Dame Suzi Leather, used this week’s (21st February) NCVO annual conference to “sound a wake up call to the sector and to commissioning authorities alike about the future of public service delivery by charities”. This flows from an online survey that the Commission ran last year, completed by over 3,800 charities representing a broad cross section both by income and operational area. This found that over 60% of charities with annual income above half a million pounds deliver public services on behalf of public authorities, but over 40% of all charities doing so are not paid the full cost involved.
Leather also highlights that almost 50% of charities delivering public services can’t agree whole-heartedly that their activities are determined by the charity’s mission, rather than by funding priorities.
Chief executives’ body Acevo however cautions against “unnecessary alarmism about the sector’s independence”, and reports the chief executive of Thames Reach as saying “The Charity Commission seems to misunderstand completely the relationship organisations such as Thames Reach have with funders. These days, we enjoy a partnership based on shared aims and genuine collaboration. The idea of pure, absolute and sacrosanct independence, with no pressure whatsoever from funders and other stakeholders, is a bizarre holy grail of little interest to those working on the ground.”
Read Leather’s speech at http://www.charitycommission.gov.uk/recent_changes/speech.asp or the more condensed news release. The survey results, ‘Stand and deliver: the future for charities delivering public services’, are in pdf format, 304kb, at http://www.charitycommission.gov.uk/Library/publications/pdfs/RS15text.pdf.
Alongside the results of the survey, and after a consultation exercise, the Commission has published new guidance. ‘Charities and public service delivery’ (CC37) is a practical guide to the legal and good practice issues that charities need to be aware of if they are planning to deliver services under a funding agreement with a public authority. This can be found at http://www.charitycommission.gov.uk/publications/cc37.asp (also available as pdf).