Third sector Working together

Increased third sector involvement in public service delivery over the past decade has had two significant consequences: better outcomes for service users and enormous growth in the third sector itself (with income, for instance, roughly doubling over 10 years). So the sector has grown its capacity to deliver better outcomes to ever larger numbers of people. These developments are clearly to be welcomed. But we could go further. One way to do so would be through partnerships with the private sector.

currently, there are various barriers that prevent many third sector organisations from engaging in public service delivery as much as they might, which in turn prevents service users from getting the outcomes they deserve. Partnership with the private sector won't dismantle all those barriers but it could help overcome some. In particular, private-third sector partnerships will be crucial in areas where commissioning is moving towards larger contracts and/or payment by results. In such cases, third sector organisations might be too small to deliver over the whole contract area, or might not be able to shoulder the cash-flow gaps associated with payment by results.

In the immediate term at least, without significant reform of public sector commissioning or third sector financing, the choice here is a stark one. either we encourage private-third sector partnerships and thereby enable our public services to draw on the expertise and connections that many third sector organisations have built up in particular delivery areas, or we don't encourage those partnerships, and so waste delivery capacity.

Bigger and better
Private-third sector partnerships do not just have the potential to avert unwanted outcomes such as the waste of provider capacity in areas where commissioning is moving towards contract aggregation or payment by results. They are also an opportunity for delivery organisations - private and third sector - to do bigger, better things. Third sector organisations can bring to the table a degree of specialist expertise and client trust that is of huge benefit to their private sector delivery partners. equally, private sector organisations can support their third sector partners to scale up their operations to cover previously unreachable areas, or give third sector providers access to back-office capacity (IT systems or legal and financial expertise, for example) that they would not otherwise enjoy.

Increasingly, all parties involved in the world of public service delivery are waking up to the potential benefits of private-third sector partnerships. The case studies here are a testament to that growing awareness. Similarly, government commissioners are starting to understand the potential associated with such partnerships, and are beginning to encourage more of them to form.

Nevertheless, we should not overstate the case. If all sectors are starting to wake up to the benefits of greater partnership working, 'starting' is the operative word. The reality is that private-third sector partnerships remain comparatively rare. Some government commissioners are still nervous of complicated delivery partnerships. Some private sector organisations still see the third sector as being peopled by well-meaning amateurs. And many third sector organisations still view the private sector with a suspicion prohibitive to genuine collaboration.

Even where some will is there, partnerships can be problematic. Lack of a genuine, shared and open commitment to, and vision for, the partnership can lead to 'partners' cynically attempting to exploit one another - for instance, as a cash cow, as a way to win a bid, or for the private sector to 'steal' intellectual capital. There can be culture clashes or a tendency to be economical with the truth. There is a suspicion of private 'for profit' organisations and whether they share what many in the sector see as a value-driven, not-for-profit driven culture. The result is that expectations often meet with disappointment, and delivery is frequently affected for the worse.

How do we overcome these difficulties?
The answer lies partly with government. Commissioners need to set the right framework for partnerships to flourish. Following some of the difficulties in partnership working reported during and after the letting of Pathways to Work tenders, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has made great strides in that direction. It made clear to the provider market that it expected partnership working to be core to successful tenders for Flexible New Deal contracts. It published a code of conduct governing subcontracting, which committed the department to stamping out bad practice such as poaching staff during partnership negotiations, or including partners in written bids but not in delivery. It is now looking at a more sophisticated payment system - the current arrangements have widely been blamed for the practice among some prime-providers of cherry-picking the easiest clients for themselves and 'parking' the 'harder to help' with their smaller delivery partners.

Helping hand
Equally, there is a role for membership organisations such as the Association of Chief Executives of Voluntary Organisations (Acevo) to act as an interface between private and third sector organisations. For example, Acevo has helped broker relationships between Serco and third sector organisations, and has also helped some large private sector providers consult with third sector organisations on how they could improve their processes for selecting smaller delivery partners.

The key to greater partnership working between the third and private sectors will rely on a culture change in individual organisations. We need to break down the culture barriers between the sectors - the belief in some quarters that the third sector is nice but amateur, or the belief in others that the private sector is professional but evil. And we need to work harder at making the case for private-third sector partnerships, so that more people are clear that while this may be a hard nut to crack, it is nevertheless a nut worth cracking.

We are starting to wake up to the potential for private-third sector partnerships. They represent the chance to strengthen the capacity of the provider market (both private and third sector), and to deliver improved outcomes to service users. We must seize this important opportunity.

Stephen Bubb is Chief Executive of Acevo, the Association of Chief Executives of Voluntary Organisations

By March 2010 there will be over 3,500 Sure Start Children's Centres open across the UK, offering a range of services to families. These include: antenatal classes; access to midwives, health visitors and speech therapists; parent and toddler groups; music and messy play for children; drop-in gym classes; and information about local childcare. Mums and dads can also attend parenting and IT classes. The aim is to provide families with a one-stop shop for parents and their children aged 0-5 years. To date, more than 2,900 centres have been opened.

Serco leads Together for Children, a partnership with charities 4 Children and ContinYou, which provides invaluable help to the local councils responsible for planning, establishing and running these centres. The partnership is a vital way to provide strategic and practical support as well as share best practice between local authorities and other key partners, such as health, Jobcentre Plus and private and voluntary providers.

Serco's contract has recently been extended and will now run until September 2010, by which time all planned centres should be open. The focus over the next 18 months is expected to be on strategic, financial and business planning to ensure the centres can sustain themselves. "We need to make sure they can stand on their own two feet for many years to come," explains Amanda Best, Director for Knowledge Management, Together for Children.

Sure Start children are being closely monitored: the latest evaluation in March 2008 found that parents of three-year-olds showed more positive parenting techniques and provided a better home environment. Children were found to have better social development, with more independence and self regulation than similar children living in similar areas not on the programme.

Team work
Best has worked with both Together for Children and Together for Disabled Children partners from the private and charity sectors. She has the following advice for making a partnership work:

1. Be very clear about the shared objectives and who is leading on each element of the programme

2. Ensure that governance and protocols are set up straightaway

3. Decide on joint branding and key messages to ensure consistency

4. Talk to one another - face-to-face meetings are ideal and regular communication is absolutely key

5. Make sure that each partners' specialist knowledge is shared

6. Be flexible and accept that things will change during the course of the contract.

Anna Ronay is Editor of Ethos

Serco's alliance with charities Turning Point and Catch 22 (formerly Rainer) provides a welfare to work service for ex-offenders in the East of England.

Securing a job is known to significantly reduce re-offending rates. Launched in October 2006, Path2Work is run from a number of sites: their own offices in Luton, probation area offices in Southend-on- Sea and Basildon, Job Centre Plus offices and out-reaching to sites where offenders are undertaking unpaid work in Norfolk, Suffolk and Hertfordshire. In the last 12 months, 175 ex-offenders have secured jobs. "This is a great result for a small contract," says Stephen Hornby, Serco's Contract Director. "We are performing better than New Deal in the region with a candidate group that are further away from the labour market." The Serco-led partnership has learnt much since beginning work together.

For example, when the service was launched the intention was to employ a third of staff from each organisation at each site, in order to ensure a blend of expertise and cultures. In practice, however, this meant three sets of employment contracts, three sets of processes and so on. "If we bid for the contract again we would probably recommend that we employ operational staff from one of the three organisations," Hornby explains. Staff currently operate according to their employer's contract, although in certain areas the partnership has adopted the best practice available. For example, Turning Point has a rigorous risk assessment policy, while Catch 22 provides excellent training and staff development. Hornby meets regularly with his counterparts, Turning Point's Steve Worobec and Catch 22's Trevor Winnicki, and, to date, they have not been in a position where a vote has been required to agree a decision.

So what's the secret to successful compatibility? According to Hornby, you must first choose the right partners – organisations that share a similar sense of ethos and the ability to deliver.

Second, current operational knowledge is vital as this prevents managers being too far removed from the reality of what's happening within the service Deloitte evaluated the service during 2008 and reported that, "Project outcomes are good for this challenging client group and are being achieved at a much lower than average cost." The contract has been extended until 31 May 2009.

Anna Ronay is Editor of Ethos