Failing without accountability
In the US a significant proportion of charter schools are delivering weaker than expected performance, with little consequence for the contract holders. On Monday (19th March) Chris Grayling, the UK Minister for Employment, faced the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) Select Committee and underlined his commitment to culling failing Work Programme providers and transferring … Continue reading
Black box or empty box?
In an attempt to move away from central prescription of service design, the Work Programme adopted a ‘black box’ approach. However, a misunderstanding of this concept erodes service quality and looks likely to exacerbate an outcome gap between disadvantaged groups. Immediate transparent and nuanced performance reporting may ameliorate this, along with negotiation of minimum quality … Continue reading
Parking by place
Concerns about creaming and parking in welfare-to-work programmes are not new and have resurfaced in the last month or so, particularly in relation to clients with specific disadvantages and how well they are being served by Work Programme providers. Richard has recently written about this topic. In this context it is important to consider the … Continue reading
A new contracting language
Contracts across outsourced public services are generally evaluated on the basis of price and quality. This drives a limited and limiting approach from contractor and procurer. Adopting the language used to evaluate examinations could open up service design, facilitate more informed and holistic contract awarding, and enable ongoing service improvement – subsuming considerations of price … Continue reading
Painting rocks or work experience?
In the midst of the battle over work experience between the supposed Trotskyites and the Minister for Employment, the voice of one person is being drowned out. It is often the case in an employment services system that is essentially paternalistic and disempowering. In ignoring that voice, we miss the real answer to the problem. … Continue reading
The myth of multiple contractors
If A4E’s position as a prime contractor of the Work Programme becomes untenable amid the current fraud furor, the Minister, Chris Grayling, has said he will terminate their contracts and take all their jobseekers away. As of last week, according to the Department for Work and Pensions figures, A4E are currently responsible for just over … Continue reading
Another kind of welfare to work cream
(An edited version of this first appeared on The Guardian’s website on 21st February 2012.) At the recent hearing, both contractors and the DWP steadfastly refused to reveal to the Public Accounts Committee how well, or badly, the Work Progamme is performing. This week, the department revealed the number of people referred to the Programme; … Continue reading
Making the Work Programme work
(An edited version of the following article first appeared in The Guardian on 7th February 2012.) The contracts for the Work Programme were competed on price. That is, would-be providers were invited to say how cheaply they could do it, and the cheapest were then awarded the most contracts. Unfortunately, this entirely misses the point. … Continue reading
Buying Quality Performance 