Charities are handing back public contracts that do not cover the full cost of delivering their services, the chief executive of NCVO has said.
image: NCVO
Civil Society writes:
Speaking at a Labour Party conference fringe event hosted by the Institute for Government, Sarah Vibert said recent NCVO research showed four in five charities had subsidised their public contracts at some point. She said charities were often treated by commissioners as the “cheapest alternative or last-ditch safety net”….
Four in five charities subsidising public contracts
Last month, NCVO surveyed 346 of its charity members on the impact of inflation on their services.
Two in five said the value of their contract had never covered the true cost of delivering the services they provide.
Four in five of the sample said they subsidise public services with charitable funding such as donations or reserves….
Charities seen as ‘cheapest alternative’
….She said the public services that charities provide are “value for money” in terms of the outcomes they provide but are not necessarily the lowest cost…
Staff could ‘get paid more in Tesco’
Charities deliver around £15.8bn of public services but this is “hugely undervalued and underpaid”, Vibert said.
Vibert said charities struggle to recruit and retain staff who could “get paid more in Tesco” and those that do stay working in charities “are burned out through the pressure of rising demand.”….
