07 June 2010
Voluntary sector provision of public services has soared in recent years, according to research published today.
A study by the Office for National Statistics showed that funding received by charities to run public services grew from £8bn in 2000/01 to £12.8bn in 2007/08, accounting for 36% of their total income by the end of the period.
The increase far outpaced general growth in government spending. In 2007/08 the voluntary sector’s income was 159% of its 2000/01 base compared with 133% for total government public service expenditure.
ONS statistician Alison Spence said there had been ‘a big change in delivery from public sector provision to a market mix’.
Voluntary organisations providing services in employment and training, law and advocacy, education, housing and social services now receive at least half of their total income from the public purse. Half the funding from local government to charities went on social services.
There has also been a huge increase in the amount of government contracts awarded to the voluntary sector. In 2007/08, almost three-quarters of their public income was in contract form, rather than grants, up from 58% in 2004/05.
The findings were part of a three-year, £2m project called Measuring Outcomes for Public Service Users, funded by the Treasury. The researchers developed guidelines aimed at helping local authorities and regulators commission services that are better value for money.
The study found that outcomes in adult social care services and early years education were almost the same whichever sector provided them.
Care homes and day centres made big improvements to the quality of people’s lives, regardless of whether they were run by public, private or voluntary sector providers. All care home providers were best at performing basic services such as keeping residents clean and presentable. Relatively speaking, they were all worst at producing the outcomes that people said mattered most to them, such as having control over their own lives.
Julian Forder, professor of the economics of social policy at Kent University, one of the research partners, said the results showed that social care services were having an ‘important effect’ on people’s wellbeing. But, he added, they would come under increased pressure as the number of older people with disabilities grew. He welcomed the guidelines. ‘In the tight fiscal climate which we find ourselves in, knowing which services deliver the greatest bang for your buck is a very useful piece of work,’ he said.
The National Council for Voluntary Organisations, one of the research partners, said rigid commissioning processes meant it was inevitable that outcomes between the sectors were similar.
Stuart Etherington, NCVO chief executive, called on the government to focus not only on benefits to the end user but also on the wider social value. ‘It ensures that hard-pressed public funding is used to best effect in the wider public interest,’ he said.
