Case studies - joint working for public service delivery

SensAbility - a joint project
Young People's Training Consortium
The Cardigan Centre - working with a primary care trust
Federation of Voluntary Sector Care Providers
Work-in-Progress - a new organisation
Community Equipment Consortium

SensAbility - a joint project

The SensAbility project trains sensory impaired people to become advocates, mentors and advisers, helping other sensory impaired people access educational opportunities. It is run by two organisations: Learning Links, an educational charity working across Hampshire and the Isle of Wight with people from disadvantaged groups, including visually impaired people, and Hampshire Deaf Association (HDA).

"Successful partnership working ensures that the project has maximum impact and provides opportunities and support for sensory impaired people that would not otherwise be available."
- Julie Duffy, SensAbility Project Coordinator, Learning Links

In 2004, the two organisations successfully bid for Learning and Skills Council (LSC) / European Social Fund co-financing for SensAbility. Their plans were informed by Learning Links research which highlighted difficulties faced by sensory impaired people in accessing learning in the light of the requirements of the Disability Discrimination Act 2000.

The LSC contract was open only to organisations tendering in partnership. Learning Links is the lead partner and accountable body and liaises with Hampshire and Isle of Wight Learning and Skills Council.

Accountability and reporting

HDA have a service level agreement with Learning Links which sets out what HDA will deliver. Funding for HDA is attached to their achievement of agreed outcomes and is paid via Learning Links. The agreement is an LSC requirement of organisations commissioned to deliver work collaboratively. It means that HDA are accountable to Learning Links who in turn are accountable to the LSC. If HDA were to withdraw from SensAbility, Learning Links would be bound to continue delivering on the contract.

HDA supplies reports to Learning Links who combine HDA's information with their own in the reporting format required by the LSC. The reporting process therefore takes longer for Learning Links than if they were delivering the project alone.

Communication

"A breakdown in communication could derail the project. It is better to say when something is outside our expertise and we need help - because we recognise that each organisation has its own strengths."
- Sue Tizard, SensAbility Project Coordinator, Hampshire Deaf Association

The two organisations bring complementary areas of expertise to SensAbility. Regular email and phone contact between the project staff and fortnightly meetings ensure that neither organisation makes assumptions about the other's level of knowledge that could cause problems. The costs of collaborating are included in the charge made for the project and take in staff time and travel costs.

More information

Learning Links
Email Julie Duffy Project Coordinator - Vision Impairment
Telephone 02380 296460

Hampshire Deaf Association
Email Sue Tizard Project Coordinator - Deaf and Hard of Hearing
Telephone 02380 516516

Young People's Training Consortium

"There are so many barriers to prevent small organisations delivering public services. The number of hoops we had to jump through would have proved an almost impossible barrier for the individual organisations."
- Nicky Gelder, Strategic Development Manager, DOC Developing our Communities

In 2003, a group of Hull organisations formed a Young People's Training Consortium to submit a tender for a Learning and Skills Council contract to work with 13-19 year olds. Their bid was accepted in 2004. Following that contract, Connexions Humber now provides funding to build the capacity of the consortium.

The Young People's Training Consortium comprises eight small community organisations as well as Connexions Humber. DOC (Developing our Communities), a citywide voluntary organisation, is the accountable body.

The organisations did not have the geographical coverage or capacity to tender individually, but had a common approach to their similar activities. Each project partner does neighbourhood youth development work, but they use different methods to engage young people, including IT, arts and outdoor activities. As a consortium, each organisation continues to play to its own strengths.

Building partnership

-It is important to recognise that while smaller groups deliver some excellent services, they do not always have the capacity to develop the comprehensive and seemingly complicated accreditation or health and safety systems required by public agencies. Larger organisations have a part to play in taking risks on behalf of smaller organisations to enable them to meet these requirements.-
- Linda Tock, Training and Consultancy Manager, DOC Developing our Communities

Considerable time was invested in developing the consortium for the first 12 month contract so the organisations decided to form a longer-term partnership for other work. Their partnership agreement covers:

List of partners
Principles, vision and values
Aims and objectives
Key issues
Youth governance
Collection and sharing of Information
Expectations of each partner
Staff training, development and practice
Communications and publicity
Contact details

Each partner signs up to an 'expectations' document which sets out an agreed set of expectations between partners and the lead organisation, DOC.

More information

Email DOC Developing our Communities
Telephone 01482 854550

The Cardigan Centre - working with a primary care trust

The Cardigan Centre in Leeds was set up in 1990 and has developed into an organisation working to improve the quality of life for people in several neighbourhoods. Its founding partners - St Margaret's Church (now All Hallows), South Headingley Association and Leeds City Council - each nominate a director to its board.

The Cardigan Centre is the lead of three organisations collaborating on Active 4 Life, a 'virtual' healthy living centre which runs activities across North West Leeds which take a community development approach to health improvements. The initiative is designed around the strengths of the three partners, each of whom hosts a specialist staff member:

The Cardigan Centre - Information and Networking for health
Burley Lodge Centre - Healthy Minds and Bodies
West Leeds Family Service Unit - Healthy Families and Healthy Children

Working with Leeds North West PCT

The main funder of Active 4 Life is the Big Lottery Fund, but Leeds North West Primary Care Trust (PCT) provides an annual core grant. Active 4 Life is the only community development health project in the area served by the PCT and its aims fit with the PCT's holistic approach to health. The project helps the PCT meet its targets for tackling health inequalities. However, the Cardigan Centre is not contracted to the PCT nor does it have specified outputs to achieve as a condition of the grant, apart from submission of an annual report.

Active 4 Life cuts across disciplines and its staff have daily interaction with all parts of the PCT, using their specialists as a resource for different activities. For instance, the PCT has an obesity worker who can advise Active 4 Life on slimming clubs, healthy eating information or referrals to dieticians.

"Professional boundaries are being broken down. It matters less who is actually delivering. What matters is doing it for local residents."
- Penny Bainbridge, Manager, Cardigan Centre

Collaborating

Leeds North West PCT recognises the value that collaboration brings to Active 4 Life. The organisations involved combine their specialisms and are good at sharing and using information effectively. The three are sited fairly close to each other which eases communication and cross referral, but their distinct catchment areas mean that each organisation can also get to know its local residents well.

More information

email the Cardigan Centre
telephone 0113 275 9282

Federation of Voluntary Sector Care Providers

The Federation of Voluntary Sector Care Providers was established in 1994 to promote home based care in Southwark by supporting and developing local voluntary organisations to participate in the mixed provision of social care. It became a registered charity in 1997.

In 1995, the Federation negotiated a block contract with the London Borough (LB) of Southwark to provide 85,000 hours of care per year for three years. Following a Best Value review carried out by LB Southwark, the Federation's contract was renewed for another three years. Further competitive tendering means that the Federation now provides 280,000 hours of care annually under both 'block' and 'cost and volume' contracts.

The Federation has six member organisations providing home care and community support to adult service users and home based respite care for local people with caring responsibilities. It does not directly provide all the contracted care services, but sub-contracts service delivery to Federation members. The roles and responsibilities involved in membership are incorporated in the sub-contracts held with members.

The Federation:

identifies delivery opportunities for members
negotiates with current and potential purchasers on behalf of members
calculates and pays contract fees for services provided
advises and provides developmental support to organisations wishing to provide social care services in Southwark
provides support services such as an out of hours emergency line for staff and users and Criminal Records Bureau application processing
monitors the services delivered by its members
commissions centrally purchased training for members

Specialist services

Since 2000, the Federation has responded to changing needs in Southwark by increasing its service to Muslim clients from African, Turkish, Asian and Kurdish communities. Two small black-led organisations are Federation members. Membership enabled them to get contracts while the Federation's diverse membership means it can offer Southwark a choice of specialist service providers within large generic home care contracts.

For more information, please telephone Carol Gibbons on 020 7639 5388

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Work-in-Progress - a new organisation

Advance Housing & Support and Carr-Gomm have together set up Work-in-Progress, a new charitable company to help people with mental health problems find supported employment.

Setting up the organisation

Research in 2000 identified a gap in service provision for this client group. Existing supported employment services concentrated on people with physical health problems. Advance's Chief Executive approached Carr-Gomm as a potential partner:

"We were pushing at an open door. Our organisations had similar aims and our regional focus was compatible. Carr-Gomm was strong in northern England; Advance was strong in the Midlands and the Home Counties."
- Stuart Rigg, Chief Executive, Advance

In addition, Carr-Gomm had previous experience running a supported employment programme in Lewisham, while Advance had experience of designing other people-centred services.

Winning contracts

Work-in-Progress was established in 2001. That year, it won its first contract - to supply job brokering in Leicestershire as part of the New Deal for Disabled People run by the Department of Work and Pensions. For this, they worked alongside JobCentre Plus offices across the county.

For its first two years, Work-in-Progress made a loss. Since then, the company has remained economically viable with income exceeding expenditure. It now delivers on contracts across eight counties. Work-in-Progress is also commissioned by the NHS, the Home Office and Europe (via ESF co-financing organisations) as well as receiving grants from charitable trusts.

Work-in-Progress holds Memorandums of Understanding and service level agreements with Advance and Carr-Gomm. Its clients are not affected by its status as a free-standing company owned by two other organisations, but they do benefit from the advantages of two organisations' involvement. Work-in-Progress currently tops the league tables for job brokers in the UK.

Work-in-Progress

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Community Equipment Consortium

RNID, Royal National Institute of the Blind (RNIB) and the British Red Cross formed the Community Equipment Consortium in April 2005 to improve the provision of equipment for people with disabilities.

The Consortium builds on the charities' existing expertise in running community equipment services and their experience of working with disabled people, influencing and delivering change. By working together, they aim to encourage a more holistic approach to meeting the needs of elderly and disabled people, providing them with a single point of contact and keeping assessments of people with multiple disabilities to a minimum.

The Consortium is working with government to rethink the overall provision of community equipment services, including the procurement and supply process, while focusing on the end user experience.

The three charities each currently hold separate contracts with several local authorities to deliver statutory services, but they are keen to develop closer working relationships in order to benefit end users.

Online equipment store

The Consortium's website www.communityequipment.com acts as a free hub for equipment managers and health professionals to buy and sell surplus equipment which might not otherwise be re-issued. By recycling high quality specialist equipment such as accessible computers, talking clocks and paediatric equipment in the online store, waiting times come down, costs are cut and storage needs are reduced. More importantly, the end user receives urgently needed equipment in a more timely manner.

The Consortium's current workplans also include:

working with other stakeholder groups to develop national user standards for community equipment services
piloting new service models with local authorities and primary care trusts
establishing a co-operative bulk purchasing system
developing the role of the Consortium as an agent for people wishing to use direct payments
compiling evidence on what works in community equipment provision

Press release on Community Equipment Consortium

Community Equipment Consortium