Welcome to the February public services roundup. This month we look at the Road Ahead, probation reforms, commissioning social action, public service performance, recruitment for a brilliant job at NCVO and more. If you have any thoughts, questions or challenges then please leave a comment below or tweet us @NCVO or @NJ_Davies.
The Road Ahead
We’ve published our annual assessment on the key challenges and opportunities ahead for the voluntary sector. Some of the key issues we have identified include the impact of Brexit, ongoing austerity, regulatory challenges, decreasing social mobility and the rise of automation. A summary of the report is publicly available and NCVO members can download the full report for free.
Transforming rehabilitation?
We’ve also launched a new survey to improve understanding of the voluntary sector’s involvement in Transforming rehabilitation (TR), in partnership with Clinks and the Third Sector Research Centre. We are exploring the impact of these probation reforms on local provision, organisations and service users.
You don’t need to be formally involved in TR to respond. We are interested in the experience of organisations that are working both in and outside of TR supply chains. So you can be working alongside or simply in the same setting as a community rehabilitation company, the National Probation Service, in a prison doing resettlement work, or in the community with people under probation supervision.
This is the third survey that we have undertaken on TR. It should take around 15 minutes to complete. Our second report, Change & Challenge, was published in May 2016.
Commissioning social action
The government and New Economics Foundation have developed resources for commissioners and public sector leaders to make social action part of commissioning. These publications provide resources, ideas and case studies on how to embed social action into existing services, develop new programmes and create the conditions for social action.
Person centred approaches to care
The People and Communities Board, part of the NHS Five Year Forward View, has published A New Relationship with People and Communities. The report outlines six high impact actions designed to address key pinch points in the NHS. It includes a section on working with the voluntary sector in a more systematic way, particularly around the areas of self management, co-production and system redesign.
Public service performance
A new report by the Institute for Government and CIPFA uses government data to examine five key public services: hospitals, adult social care, police, prisons and schools. It warns that government risks bouncing from spending crisis to crisis unless urgent action is taken.
ERSA Employability Awards 2017
The Employment Related Services Association (ERSA) is now taking submissions for the ERSA Employability Awards. The awards, now in their fifth year, aim to celebrate and champion best practice from across the employment-related services sector.
Goodbye and apply
This is my last public services roundup as I leave NCVO at the end of the week. NCVO are currently recruiting for a new public services manager. The deadline for applications is 10 March and I strongly recommend all those interested in public services and the voluntary sector to apply. It’s a great job, working with a fantastic team, in a brilliant organisation.
Nick was NCVO's public services manager until March 2017. He is also a trustee of the South London Relief in Sickness Fund. 
