“The ChangeUp programme was an £80 million shot in the dark that failed to follow even the most basic rules of project management.  The scheme had no targets against which to measure achievement and third sector bodies may well have been able to get funding from somewhere else”. 

“Delays in getting ChangeUp off the ground caused the Home Office to squeeze its planned three-year spend of £80 million into 21 months.  Third sector bodies were then given too much money and were forced to spend it too quickly.  If the Home Office had listened to their pleas for more time, then third sector bodies would have been able to spend their funding more wisely, upset fewer people and made a greater and more sustainable impact.  Instead, money was being spent on activities simply because it had to be spent in a given timeframe”. 

“It is scandalous that this sort of attitude should persist in the 21^st century.  Public money should never be squandered in this way”.

Mr Bacon was speaking as the Commons public accounts committee published its report on building the capacity of the third sector.  The third sector includes voluntary and community organisations, charities and social enterprises, ranging from small local community groups to large established national and international organisations. The Government’s objective in working with these organisations is to strengthen communities, improve public services, encourage social enterprise and support the conditions for the third sector to thrive. 

In 2004 the Home Office introduced two programmes to build the capacity of the third sector to contribute to the delivery of public services.  ‘ChangeUp’ gives funding to regional and local support providers to form ‘consortia’ to provide services to make frontline organisations more effective. ‘Futurebuilders’ is a £215 million investment fund that invests directly in frontline third sector organisations that would otherwise not have access to commercial sources of finance and enables them to build their capacity and bid for public service delivery contracts. These programmes are now the responsibility of the Office of the Third Sector, which is part of the Cabinet Office. Together the programmes will cost almost £450 million to 2011. 

The report finds that the design of the ChangeUp programme was complex and took longer than planned, leading to less time than intended for consortia to spend the initial funding of £80 million.  The period for which funding is given to organisations can affect the ability of those organisations to use it fruitfully.  The lack of a planned evaluation of ChangeUp is a major failing, and is particularly alarming given the inherent risks in the programme, its untested approach, complex delivery mechanism, and devolved decision-making arrangements.

16 July 2009

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The impact of delays in ChangeUp’s programme management
(Source: C&AG’s Report, Building the Capacity of the Third Sector, HC (2008–09) 132, page 22, paragraph 2.29-2.30)

“There were lots of problems with the programme because we got too much money too quickly, it was very difficult to spend it and we made that point over and over again at the time and we’ve continued to make it.” (a representative of the lead and accountable body for a consortium. The body provides general support to the frontline)

“[ChangeUp was] very complex in terms of work streams and reporting – and quite rightly in terms of public money/ rigour of administration – but within timescales that were just mad, and I think so much money was wasted as a result of that. If we’d been given more time, we would have been able to work better in partnership, upset less people, have greater impact and more sustainable impact– as it was there was money being spent on activities just because it had to be spent in a given timeframe.”(a manager within a consortium member organisation providing training and promoting the use of quality standards within the third sector)

“I honestly do believe that the ChangeUp agenda diverted [support] organisations from supporting us. I think that having to do all that work around producing development plans, all the consultation work …meant that there was no capacity to support us [frontline organisations].” (the Chief Executive of a frontline organisation providing advocacy for people with learning or physical disabilities and those detained under the Mental Health Act)

“…it appears that much strategic work … has had to be downplayed relative to administration and project support work [and] is in danger of getting sidelined against the pressure of project delivery and short timescales.” (a review by Capacitybuilders)