Role of third sector in employment services, j rees

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Exploring the role of the third sector in commissioned

employment servicesKnowledge to date and questions for

research

What are employment services?

• CV writing, interview training, action plans etc• Emphasis is on interventions to move people into

work as quickly as possible, rather than longer term training

Referral from jobcentre

New jobUnemployed‘Job outcome’

Employment Services

ProviderPayment

Basic model of employment services

DWP

Contract

Why an evidence review?• Provide an accessible introduction and a

narrative of the policy developments over the last 15 years

• Locate and evaluate the existing evidence• Outline of the main areas of controversy and

gaps in our knowledge

Findings one: three waves of policy development in employment services

• Wave one: – Pilots and trials of contracting services, flexibility for providers, some

payment by results

• Wave two: – Proliferation of contracted services, expansion to new customer

groups, more payment by results

• Wave three:– Commissioning and payment by results becomes the accepted model

of delivery

– 2008 Commissioning strategy commits DWP to contracting to a few ‘prime providers’ who are expected to subcontract

Major themes within the literature

• A third sector ‘squeeze’

• Potentially unfair relationships

• The hardest to help customers

Gaps in our knowledge

• Basic information about third sector provision• Independent research evidence showing what

is distinctive about third sector delivery

• The extent to which controversies are well founded, and the impact of attempted solutions

Work Programme revolutionary?• Continuity with contracted out approaches

under New Labour: FND, Pathways, EZs• Prime model, conditionality, differential

payments, DEL-AME switch were all emerging• Work Programme goes further: 1 Programme

for all ‘customer groups’, national rollout• Primes bring supply chain management

expertise and financial scale• Sub-contractors come from all sectors

Prime Contractor

End to end provider

(tier 1)

Specialist provider(tier 2)

18 Contract Package Areas covering UK, 40 contracts

18 Prime contractors (2 TSO, 1 Statutory)

Degree of referrals retained or passed to subs varies greatly

Partnership?

Delivery / Job Outcomes

Estimated 19% delivered by TSOs (vs 30% rhetoric)

Direct DeliveryReferrals from JC+

Issue raised within sector• Upheaval, complexity and uncertainty

– Getting on Framework, intensive bidding requirements– Losing out in one CPA, moving to another

• Squeezing out the third sector– Price discounting– Contracts/referrals not forthcoming … window dressing?– TUPE concerns

• Payment by Results– Payment model too risky for TSOs (esp niche)– Creaming and Parking within customer groups

• Merlin Standard

Researching the Work Programme

• Inclusion/Social Market Foundation Forecasting/viability studies (ss 2011)

• ACEVO – survey of third sector subcontractors (October 2011 )

• NAO – Value for money (December 2011)• DWP evaluation – consortium led by IES

(spring 2012)• TSRC - comparative and case study research

(spring and summer 2012)

Our research questions

1. What do third sector providers do and is it different to what other providers do?

2. How have providers experienced the early delivery of the work programme?

3. What are stakeholders’ views of the value and distinctiveness of third sector provision?

Proposed methodology

• Focus on 2 CPAs selected to capture different supply chain models

• Stakeholder interviews with sector and w2w infrastructure, Primes, DWP – Nov/Dec 2011

• Subcontractor focus groups – providers from all sectors in a supply chain – Jan/Feb 2012

• Subcontractors case studies – all sectors Feb/march 2012

Likely implications for policy

• Are the complaints made by the sector valid?• Is the work programme functioning as

intended? Does it need altering in order to succeed?

• What if anything does the third sector contribute that is different to providers in other sectors?

• Do we need to learn a lot more about experience of clients?

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[email protected]@tsrc.ac.uk

[email protected]