Amanda Carpenter of Big Society Partnership outlines some of the challenges and opportunities for the sector.
Civil Society, CIC, social enterprise, IPS, spin off mutual, John Lewis model, social business - suddenly the terminology and nomenclature of what we had all got used to calling the Third Sector has changed. This myriad of names reflects the diversity and complexity of this emerging and vitally important group of social and ethical businesses, which in the words of the National Audit Office, 'occupy the space between the state and the private sector'.
But whatever one calls them they all face the same essential challenge - that of finding or generating sufficient income to remain sustainable in difficult economic circumstances. As the recession continues to bite, personal donations are falling and charitable funding is ever more scarce, these Civil Society organisations are grappling with a greater change - that of commissioning and contracting. In the past local authorities were content to issue grants to charities and social enterprises to deliver frontline services in health and social care. Now the drive for greater efficiency and economies mean that multiple grants have been rolled up into large single contracts, often running into hundreds of thousands, even millions of pounds, putting them far above the reach of many of the traditional providers. This drive towards central procurement of services seems to sit at odds with the national government commitment to localism - local services delivered by local groups for local people.
Central commissioning and procurement makes sense financially for many local authorities - why issue 20 contracts to 20 providers when you could issue one instead? But the challenge is to ensure that the smaller and medium sized groups do not miss out on opportunities to deliver essential frontline services.
Prime contracting by a large national provider, sometimes charitable but more often commercial, with sub contracts issued to local provider organisations could be the answer. However, the recent high profile example of this - the Work Programme demonstrates that is a very difficult model to get right. Many charities were barred from bidding due to the size of the contracts, while others have found themselves in less than satisfactory sub contracting arrangements.
A new social business The Big Society Partnership hopes to help redress the balance. This employee owned business has been set up by two Kent based entrepreneurs to develop and build consortia of providers drawn from both civil society and small business sectors. Acting as a Third Sector prime the Big Society Partnership will bid for and manage large contracts to be delivered by the specialized and often smaller charities working as a consortium at local level.
'we are hoping to offer a viable attractive alternative for both commissioners and providers, one based on ethical principles that seeks to keep the social pound in the economy for longer' said Amanda Carpenter Co- Founder of the BSP.
Along with her co-founder Stephen Bell, Amanda has also established a new industrial provident society - a member owned and member run Big Society Co-operative, which will be supported by profits from the partnership. The BSC offers low cost back office services to its members at reduced rates.
Bircham Dyson Bell are one of three firms selected to provide services to co-operative members. For more details see their website www.bigsocietycooperative.com
The Big Society Co-operative has recently been awarded £600,000 from the Office for Civil Society (Big Fund) Transforming Local Infrastructure grant - the only IPS to receive such an award.
Perhaps it is not just the language that is changing but the mindsets as well.
Big Society Partnership, a brand new venture set up to respond to the new demands and changes affecting the civil society sector. Changes in funding, in service delivery, in working practices and in the relationship between local authorities, community based organisations and the private sector.
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