Transforming Rehabilitation - The Risks for the Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise Sector in Engaging in Commercial Contracts with Tier 1 Providers
| Author | Dr Rebecca Marples |
| Pages | 21-32 |
21
TRANSFORMING REHABILITATION – THE RISKS FOR
THE VOLUNTARY, COMMUNITY AND SOCIAL
ENTERPRISE SECTOR IN ENGAGING IN COMMERCIAL
CONTRACTS WITH TIER 1 PROVIDERS
Dr Rebecca Marples, Access2Advice
Abstract
The Minister for Justice has outlined his aspiration for th e Voluntary, Community and
Social Enterprise Sector to be involved in the supply chain for the services offer ed in the
Transforming Rehabilitation programme and as a result the sector will enter into
commercial contracts with Tier 1 providers. Involvement in commercial contracts will raise
many questions for the voluntary sector and may involv e risks on a number of levels.
These include the financial risk of having to deal with cont racts in a commercial
environment, where payment may include a Payment by Resu lts element, the outcome of
which could be a shortfall in payment if tar gets are not met. There are also is sues relating
to how moving into the commercial sector and working with ‘for-profi ts’ companies could
impact on the values and status of ‘not for profit’ organisations. Organisations can take
steps to help mitigate some of the risk and the Ministry of Justice is proposing a number
of safeguards to help smaller organisations, but how reliable these will be requires
examination. By examining other Payment by Results schemes with particular reference to
the Work programme, the impact on the voluntary sector can be shown.
Keywords
Transforming Rehabilitation; Voluntary, Community a nd Social Enterprise Sector (VCSE);
risk
British Journal of Community Justice
©2013 Sheffield Hallam University, Sheffield
ISSN 1475-0279
Vol. 11(2-3): 21-32
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