Sign the E Petition

The families of 100,000 disabled children stand to lose thousands of pounds a year under the DWP plans on benefit reform.

Support is to be cut by almost a half, up to £27 a week for families with a disabled child which means by the time the child has reached 16 they have lost £22,000.

This has to be stopped. So we must all support the campaign by25 charities to force a Commons debate on the cut. Acevo member Bob Reitemeir , CEO of one of the country's best known charities, The Children's Society has said that this cut will push many families into poverty.

Let's remember this cut takes place against a background of local council cuts to charities providing support to the disabled, rises in living costs and wage freezes.

So the Petition says; http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif

"Don't let disabled children pay the price for welfare reform. Because the support is means tested the poorest families stand to lose the most".

Let's all sign this. Force a proper debate. DWP are not listening to the voices of the children's charities.

Its time they did. These are the organisations that know what is happening on the ground.

Go to http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/915 to sign.

Promoting social enterprise

An interesting report from the Kings Fund today on whether the DH has been properly promoting social enterprises and spin outs.

Reality lags behind the rhetoric of creating the ‘largest social enterprise sector in the world’, they say!

The prospect of a more competitive marketplace for health care providers including short term contracts for fledgling social enterprises presents significant risks for their survival. Legal, financial and other support is needed to develop and grow the social enterprise sector and some start-ups will need to develop more robust business models. Crucially, the report recommends that NHS commissioners need to offer longer-term contracts to enable social enterprise providers to establish themselves in a more competitive environment.

The Report found early evidence to suggest that healthcare providers that have adopted the social enterprise model have benefited by reducing bureaucracy, speeding up decision-making and by allowing the reinvestment of surpluses, an effective motivator for staff. Another perceived benefit of social enterprises is increased staff engagement, but simply moving to a new operating model was not found to be sufficient. Senior managers needed to make specific efforts to engage staff from the outset.

The Government’s recent Open Public Services White Paper restated its commitment to encouraging public service mutuals as part of its agenda for diversifying the provision of public services. However, despite the Government’s hopes for ‘the largest and most vibrant social enterprise sector in the world’, the numbers of staff leaving the NHS to form new social enterprises has not kept pace with this vision.

Healthcare providers face challenges in establishing themselves as social enterprises. Some providers report that they are lacking the right support to manage staff concerns about changes to their terms and conditions, particularly pensions. Staff anxieties were reportedly added to by conflicting communications about the Government’s health reforms.

This is interesting. But of course the opening up of health and social care to a greater diversity of providers is not just about "spin outs" from existing staff. It is also about more commissioning of health from charities and community organisations.

I think we can get over hung up on terminology here. Many social enterprises are registered charities. Many charities have social enterprise wings. The best example of a pioneering social enterprise set up after the War was the Oxfam charity shop. Hugely successful and profitable - the profits going back into international aid work.

We must also beware the changing name plate phenomenon. A spin out of existing NHS staff into a new "social enterprise" may not be progressive. Social enterprises run, owned and controlled by the staff may not work to promote the interest of the citizen or patient.

Now in fact I know from the recent listening exercise that many of the 91 spin outs I referred to in my recent Report for the PM on "Choice and Competition" are innovative and non bureaucratic and have put community interest at the heart of their working. They have covered some 25,000 staff so far.

And the Social Investment Business have made £80m worth of loans and support through the DH social enterprise investment fund.

We need a mix. Different models. Joint ventures. Partnerships with the private sector. 3 way alliances of the third sector and pulbic- private providers.

For too long the NHS has operated on a top down, centrally driven one size fits all and do as you are told from Whitehall model. Its time for change. And this is the opportunity for the third sector to thrive.

And what citizens and patients want is choice. Competition will drive that through more diversity of providers.

So social enterprise is part of a new rich jigsaw of provision. It is not the only answer. And there are dangers in employee owned models or co-operatives.

I was up early to go to the Today programme to talk about the Kings Fund Report and lock horns with the health officer of the trade union, Unison. I was being interviewed by Evan Davis - always a privilege and it was great to be introduced as a well know champion of the role of the third sector!

I'm a great fan of "Today" so always love the opportunity to set out my views to the millions of listeners to this great BBC institution.

A new broom at Social Investment!

Over the past couple of months we have been in the process of recruiting a new CEO for the Social Investment Business, ably assisted by the search guru David Fielding. We had an extraordinarily high volume of applications, from some very experienced and well qualified people.

That meant we had a very strong field to choose from and I can now report we have appointed Jonathan Jenkins to the role.

Jonathan has over 15 years’ experience in raising finance for small and medium projects from his City career, which included time at a UK merchant bank, and culminated in his role as managing director of Plus Markets, a stock exchange created to enable access to capital for small companies.

His career has been in the commercial provision of investment readiness and investor relations, using his contact base of lawyers, accountants, brokers and both retail and institutional shareholders.

Jonathan joined UnLtd in September 2008 as Director of Ventures, specifically tasked with creating the UnLtd Advantage investment readiness programme and team, to meet the requirement for such intermediary support within the social investment market.

He is currently on secondment to the Big Lottery and NESTA working on Big Society Capital. An active contributor to the sector, Jonathan is on various advisory panels looking at social finance (Shared Impact for example which is setting up an online platform to refinance social investors’ loan portfolios). He also holds various charity trustee appointments such as Young Enterprise and Bright Charity.

Jonathan is 41, married with one daughter and lives in Isleworth (where that one wonders?). He has a First from CASS Business School in banking and international finance, so I didn't just appoint someone from Oxford....

During the recruitment process we were particularly impressed with Jonathan’s enthusiasm for more partnership and joint working across the social finance sector. And we think his appointment will be seen as a very positive sign of SIB wanting to work with others in building social finance markets.

Jonathan will join the organisation on September 26th. He is aware of the various challenges we face; but we were struck by his ambition for the role and his belief that we have a strong future. We think he will bring some great new energy and determination to the organisation. There is muich to be done as social finance roles out.

Finally, Jonathan wanted to pass on this message -
“This is a really exciting time to be joining The Social Investment Business, with where the market is going there are lots of opportunities in the social investment market and the Social Investment Business is ideally placed to develop these both on its own and in partnership.”

We shall be hearing more of Jonathan No 2!

The alternative Chipping Norton set..

I've been having a few days off enjoying the glorious Cotswolds. What a gorgeous part of the country. It is no wonder there are lots of interesting peole living around here. The papers have made much of the so called "Chipping Norton" set. This includes Rebekah Brook, Cameron, Elizabeth Murdoch etc who live in and around Chippy.

All of this rather gives the place a bad name. Charlbury is but 7 miles from Chippy. I was wandering the shops there only on Monday. So we need to reclaim Chippy for the people. The Alternative Set. That will include great third sector people who live locally like Brendan Gormley of DEC and the CEO of Which. The former CEO of the United Nations Association and, of course, various academics and illustrious clerics like the Archbishop of Canterbury.

It makes my flesh crawl to think one of my favourite pub at Kingham was the scene recently of a lunch between Rupert M and Rebekah B. Fortunately I have a great alternative, The Plough at Finstock.



It makes a great walk with the Hound, through the grounds of Cornbury Park and lovely food and hand real ale await.

And just look at the countryside!







And whilst away I have to admit to being slack on blogging. Such a lot happening.

I have been appointed to the board of the Big Society Trust, the top company of the Big Society Bank (now to be known as Big Society Capital). I am delighted. Given my experience of social finance through Chairing the Social Investment Business I am a keen advocate of the transformational power of loans. The sector has been denied access to capital for so long. The new Big Society "bank" is an important step for our sector. It will be pioneering. With Ronnie Cohen as chair and Nick O'Donuhue it will do great things.

And what is good is that gradually the sector has come round to the idea of loans. I remember some pretty dinosaur views being expressed by some only a few years back. Of course we still have some siren calls waring against loans but they are now so isolated as to be seen as fringe.

Loans and grants, trading and philanthropy. A diverse income stream is what a third sector organisation strives for.

So I'm looking forward to my first Board meeting of the new Trust.

And tomorrow I shall be announcing who we have appointed as the new CEO of the Social Investment Business. A great appointment. Shows the value of search. I am telling staff this afternoon. They will be pleased to have someone in post to drive forward an exciting agenda for loans.

Cuts continue to hurt our sector. Dr Kyle was all over the media yesterday on this. Banging the drum for the sector. Reminding Government that cuts are wrong. Its good to demonstrate that ACEVO will work with Government when we can further our interests but will tell them when they get it wrong. And great to see that Peter was the lead person on this story on cuts on the BBC website. You could even "tap to play" to hear his interview. I did however have to suggest that the lack of tie and unshaven appearance made him look like an old fashioned agitator! But he explained that they caught him at the gym and he had to go straight to the studio, sans tie !

And finally; what fun to read the press on our decision to move to Regents Wharf. The speculation! But its a move not a merger...more boring I realise, but there you go. Once again the estimable Dr Kyle did some wonderful media on this. I loved the getting up your nose v love us bit! ACEVO is a great organisation, particularly because we are out there battling for our sector. Being dynamic. Sometimes edgy. But always with an eye to how we achieve for our members and drive the policy agenda forward in a progressive way.

I have my eye on the office I want, but haven't told Stuart yet....

DWP

Either they have no shame or an odd sense of irony.

I pick up the Evening Standard on the tube and discover the following item.

DWP announced the latest figures on sickness benefit claimants who had been found " fit for work". Trumpeting the results they suggest that more than a million people on benefit are able to work. And yet again DWP fail to mention that 4 in 10 will succeed on appeal.

Steve Webb MP is quoted as saying the figures show many people are able to work with the right support.

But what does Steve Webb MP have to say on the main report today on this very issue?

What do DWP make of the select committee report ? It was not referred to in above press release, yet the release of these figures is one of the problems the Select Committee complain about.

Did officials not give Steve Webb MP this report? Had the press Department not spotted it?

The select committee found that the introduction of new medical assessments to decide whether claimants are eligible for sickness benefits has prompted "fear and anxiety among vulnerable people", partly because the tests have resulted in large numbers of seriously unwell claimants being refused support.

The report states: "It is widely accepted that the Work Capability Assessment [WCA], as introduced in 2008, was flawed. This has been borne out by the high number of appeals and the high success rate of appellants. It was also reflected in the amount of evidence from individuals which expressed grievances with the way they were treated during the process and the accuracy of the outcome."

The MPs estimate the cost to the taxpayer of these appeals at around £50m a year.

None of this was in the DWP press release! Do they think we won't notice?

The disgrace of the allegations made , and the role of ATOS deserve a proper response from DWP. To put out a press release that continues , as the Select Committee says , to pedal stereotypes is the proverbial 2 fingers . It insults the charities that have been trying to get this sorted. Is it not time DWP paid attention to the serious problem over the new tests ?

Health and fun in Newcastle!

I'm now on the train heading back from 2 days in Newcastle; visiting organisations that the Social Investment Business have made loans to and talking to ACEVO members( and seeing SIB staff in our Newcastle office.)

Newcastle is a great City. The georgian sweep of Grey St and Elgin Sq is one of the most magnificent street vistas in England. And the Tyne , which looked fantastic from the window off my hotel has those lovely bridges. As I'm old I remember that song by, who was it now? " Bridge on the tyne is all mine, all mine".






Indeed the hotel, the Malmaison is in a building that was the first to be built of prestressed concrete. And it was the HQ of the Co-op before they moved to Manchester( so good I used my co-op visa paying my bill! ).

I had a good session with the staff of SIB. We do our main investment analysis here so a great lively bunch who do a key job in judging the viability of loan applications. It was good to do this just 2 days before the interviews for the new CEO of SIB!

Then it was off to Benwell to see "Health Works", a healthy living centre which has had a loan to refurbish facilities like the gym. Sarah Cowling , the CEO is also an ACEVO member and is a strong and determined Leader.

This is a centre that really reinforces my view about how we need to move he health service away from acute hospital pre dominance to treatment and care in community based facilities and activities.

A great example is the community health trainers they employ. One was sitting in reception and offering people blood pressure checks. Obviously I took advantage!



She told me they had one person in who had a test and revealed she had been having these tests at her GP but he had neither told her what he was doing with the machine he mysteriously produced , nor what the result was when he did it!

They run great programmes of exercise , both in the gym and outside ( they also work with the BTCV green gym ), advice on diet, classes for recovering stroke patients and many other activities .

Then back to the hotel for a lively meeting over drinks with some of my ACEVO members in the NE. It was heartening to meet with such a dedicated and forward thinking bunch; both strongly committed to their beneficiaries and to professionalism in our sector. They were warning me the cuts are doing much damage and that the worst is to come. One of them told me they had just had one contract cancelled completly by South Tyneside council ( having been promised they wouldn't ) and the other 2 arbitrarily cut by 15%. And bizarrely, this was done by BT ! Yes , that's BT the telephone people who won the contract to run many of the back office and other services for the Council.

And there was time for gossip too and some friendly chat on the state of our sector and its many players! It was a privilege to meet them and to have my prejudices confirmed that we have many brilliant leaders in our sector.

Then onto a " health "dinner; I was meeting with the Chair, Vice Vhair and the third sector members of one of the Newcastle GP consortia,( must try to remember they are now Clinical Consortia Groups; ugh ), they have called themselves the bridges group.

They have developed an innovative governance structure , with a clinical governing group ( which is just the doctors in the group) and a governing board with an independent chair , the brilliant Chris Drinkwater( a retired GP who is a backbone of the Newcastle third sector and civic scene ).

Chris has produced a remarkably good guide to how to commission non traditional providers for health services. Called " thanks for the Petunias" it is a good guide to how the NHS should be using their sector to help support the self management of long term conditions; a subject dear to my heart and on which I wrote in my Report on Choice and Competition for the recent listening exercise.

Worth a read. Get it from here.

And whilst on the subject I ordered a bread and butter pudding at dinner but when it arrived I decided that is not what I'm supposed to eat so given the other guests I put it to one side!

The morning was a visit to the Walls End People's Centre. The feisty CEO Maureen showed me what they are doing with the £1.4 m loan they have received from SIB as part of the Community Builders Programme. They are using this to join together and refurbish the adjacent Memorial Hall , given to the people of Wallsend by Swan Hunter. There is a rather splendid dance floor. See me and Maureen here!



They also run the cafe at the actual walls end , ie the end of Hadrians Wall. It was rather cool to go and see the site of the Fort on the end of this great Roman achievement.



A metro ride back to lunch with Rob Williamson, the CEO of the Tyne and Wear Community Foundation ( the largest of them ) and Jo Curry , CEO of VONNE. We had lunch, robust discussion , good exchange of views and laughter.

Jo gave me some chilling stats. 49% of charity income in the NE is from statutory sources , as compared with 38% nationally. So they are particularly vulnerable to cuts from councils etc. 73% report a cut in funding, yet 59% report increased demand. 40% have cut staff. A further 53% expect to make more staff redundant.

When there is so much need for what our sector has to offer. What we can do. And how better we are at running public services, this is a crime!

On the way I passed the Norwegian Consulate. I stopped by so that I could pay my respects- they were to have a Book of Condolence but it is not arriving till Friday. Hard not to be affected by the tragic events of that fateful weekend when we are now seeing the faces of all those young people murdered by one evil man.

DWP; time to act on disability!

Yesterday's Observer had a letter from the CEO of the Disabled People's Council which highlights growing alarm in charities over the DWP's treatment of disabled people.

I have blogged before about how DWP press releases risk stereotyping disabled welfare claimants as scroungers. It releases statistics, with accompanying media spin, on how the tests highlight people whose applications for disabled benefit fail.

The DWP fail to also press release the fact that on appeal nearly 4 out of 10 applications succeed. That is shameful.

As the letter states ,

" This partial picture feeds the tabloid media's negative narrative on "benefits scroungers" and this in turn has an impact on employer's perception of disability and disabled people".

Charities are now reporting that attitudes to the disabled are deteriorating. DWP need to carefully examine their behaviour. And not just on press releases.

Charities are also concerned that the new medical assessment for the new reformed disability allowance is flawed. Richard Hawkes , CEO of Scope has been outspoken about the dangers of a highly medical assessment meaning people being penalised.

And finally the Commons Select Committee will publish on Tuesday a highly damning report on the way DWP policy on sickness benefit has been implemented. Particular attention has been focused on the role of the company Atos, who undertake the tests , who are heavily criticised. Charities are again reporting that seriously ill people are being found fit for work in the tests this company are carrying out.

What is particularly disturbing is that mental health charities are reporting that some people have been seriously damaged by negative tests; people with mental health problems will always be especially vulnerable to tests. Some charities have reported this as a factor in suicides.

So it is now time the politicians and senior officials in DWP reviewed their policies on disability. It is repugnant that the most vulnerable in society are scapegoated or penalised, either by acts of commission or omission . The welfare state at its best is there to support those in our society with disability. Policies and actions by Government that might harm those most at need must be changed. It's time DWP took action on all this. Charity demands it.