The new agenda for public services has led to the commissioning of larger contracts to larger organisations often from the private sector. The result - very few voluntary sector providers are able to compete - with many smaller organisations facing exclusion whilst the larger private sector companies and their shareholders benefit.
Our mission is to redress this balance by enabling civil society organisations (CSO's) to work collaboratively as members of consortia to effectively deliver public service contracts.
3SC was established to bid for public sector contracts on behalf of CSO's and we actively provide and support contract delivery opportunities. We bring the skills and experience of our members organisations to efficiently deliver services in the following sectors:
- welfare to work
- criminal justice
- skills and training
- health and social care
- other holistic or more niche service provision in these sectors
Our aim is to embrace these new opportunities and act as a gateway to enable and increase the volume of delivery by CSO's across all sectors throughout the whole of the UK, thereby continuing to deliver consistently high quality outcomes for individuals on a local level. For commissioners 3SC offers the benefit of centrally managed contracts with a single point of contact. 3SC does not directly deliver services which means we are focused on ensuring high performance standards and impartial in managing assessment through stringent quality assurance.
On hearing of the latest opportunities and support 3SC has provided to delivery organisations across the sector in new programmes, Nick Hurd, Minister for Civil Society recently commented, “I’m very pleased to see such positive work to engage Civil Society with new opportunities in public service delivery. The Government is opening public services to a diverse range of providers to increase competition, drive up standards and improve efficiency. Civil Society organisations have an important role to play and must have the support they need.”
We have also been recognised for the opportunities and support we provide for CSO's in being judged in the top ten of the Guardian's Social Enterprises for 2011.