Unions criticise proposals to increase third sector provision

15 Apr 10
Clear signals from both Labour and the Conservatives that more voluntary organisations will be used to provide essential services have been condemned by public sector workers.
By David Williams

15 April 2010

Clear signals from both Labour and the Conservatives that more voluntary organisations will be used to provide essential services have been condemned by public sector workers.

Both parties’ manifestos advocate decentralisation through giving staff the right to set up mutual organisations or social enterprises that can bid against the public sector to run services.

The Conservatives argue that the reforms could reverse a decline in public sector productivity, saving £60bn, and would amount to ‘the most significant shift in power from the state to working people since the sale of council houses in the 1980s’.

They also propose allowing citizens to take over the running of services such as parks and libraries.

Meanwhile, Labour plans to turn British Waterways into a mutually owned co-operative, and build similar principles into the governance of English Heritage. They also want to create a more ‘level playing field’ to support third sector bodies in bidding for public contracts.

But Unite, which represents both public sector and third sector workers, retorted that there was no demand for the proposed reforms among staff. Rachael Maskell, national officer for the
not-for-profit sector, told Public Finance: ‘The ballots we’ve run show [public sector]workers are rejecting this – they show workers want to stay in the public sector.

‘As professionals, they want to be able to deliver services – they don’t want to run them – partly because the terms and conditions are worse, but partly because there’s huge faith in public services.’

But Belinda Pratten, head of policy at the National Council for Voluntary Organisations, disagreed, and welcomed the apparent consensus. ‘The differences [between Labour and the Tories] are primarily in emphasis,’ she said. ‘To focus on who is delivering avoids the question of how we can work together to get better services.’

The Liberal Democrats were less enthusiastic about the third sector. Their manifesto included commitments to reform Gift Aid, set up ‘charitable giving accounts’ in the publicly owned banks and introduce a statutory youth service to encourage local authorities to provide services in partnership with charities.

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