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  • Independence of Advice Services under Pressure

Independence of Advice Services under Pressure

At a time of pressure on public service budgets, a number of additional pressures threaten independent advice services:

  • Moves from grants to competitive tendering by local authorities and other bodies. Advice agencies, particularly smaller organisations, often have limited capacity and resources to influence funding and procurement, to form or participate in bid consortia and compete with larger private sector organisations or charities. Top-down, market-based commissioning processes and specifications are based on myths that they will lead to better services,  and without clear mechanisms for provider or service user engagement, fail to place value on independence and diversity. AdviceUK’s RADICAL research and work in Nottingham has shown how activity-based performance targets can distort the work of advice organisations to concentrate on the wrong things. BOLD is working to support the development of new approaches to commissioning that encourage effective collaboration and support advice organisations to focus on meeting local need and making a difference.
  • The increasing importance of themed approaches to setting local priorities and allocating resources, through Local Area Agreements, Total Place and Community Budgets. Whilst independent advice is essential for the achievement of a wide range of local priorities, its value is rarely recognised and it is difficult for advice organisations to evidence their contribution at local level. The BOLD report, Outcomes in Advice demonstrates the contribution of advice services to wider local priorities as set out in the Community Strategy for Coventry. We have also supported a similar analysis in Nottingham.
  • Poor understanding amongst policy makers and funders about the way in which independent advice agencies work and the system conditions that affect their services. AdviceUK has supported a Systems Thinking review of advice services in Nottingham, which has shown that over 30% of advice activity is taken up addressing failures in public service administration.
  • Significant misunderstanding and confusion about commissioning, and failure to implement good practice as described in The Compact and other government guidance. Through our work in Nottingham, we are supporting an approach to commissioning that supports collaboration and co-operation, and that rewards the achievemnt of positive outcomes for advice services users.

Attached documents