Call for closer links between voluntary sector and Government to enable charities to run early years settings

The Taskforce on Early Years for the Association of Chief Executives of Voluntary Organisations (ACEVO) calls for the Government to change the way it operates and create a level playing field between charities and the public sector when bidding for services.

The report, One Million Reasons for Reform: unleasing the potential of the voluntary sector in early years services, warns that the Government’s aim of putting many of its services in the hands of community groups and voluntary organisations could fail to make headway if nothing is done to make the process fairer.
It also argues that charities and community groups are the ones with the skills and experiences capable of offering families the support they need, but they are still forced to take a back seat to local authorities. ‘The commissioning practice, their capacity to be able to tender for bids and additional barriers such as VAT which distort the market, prevent them from competing fairly’, the report says.
To succeed, the taskforce says that Government needs to ensure funds go to frontline organisations rather than commissioners. They also suggest the system of payment in arrears is replaced by a method of additional payments on top of a basic contractual sum, which would help small organisations without the capital to tide them over until the evaluation of outcomes.
The report also calls for: