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The latest raft of announcements about bank profits has come at an interesting time. Although the political heat surrounding fat-cat bonuses has been turned down a bit since the election, the government is still applying pressure to get financial institutions to play their part in supporting social policy objectives. Nowhere is this happening more than in the field of welfare to work provision. The Work Programme is the new game in town - a results-based, personally tailored approach to getting people into jobs. Over the last few years this has become a market dominated by private sector prime contractors often engaging public and voluntary sector subs. It sort of works. It would work better, however, if more of those supply chains were managed by organisations whose primary driver isn't profit.
The Work Programme should allow greater flexibility with the potential to distribute risk and reward across the supply chain with enough balance and creativity to ensure no-one goes out of business and everyone is able to do what they're good at - whether it's job brokerage, temporary employment, specialist support or just helping people get out of bed in the morning. The scale of the contracts to be let will be such, however, that very few will be able to engage without attracting external finance. Back to the banks. As far as anyone can tell, none of them are saying no but none of them are saying yes. As soon as one does throw their hat in the ring - and does so publicly - then I'm sure others will follow. There is undoubtedly money to be made from this but there's also the chance to demonstrate social credentials by backing proposals that also help to strengthen the role of the third sector in public service delivery.
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