WiltshireCIL: a #dpulo following local people’s prioirities

WiltshireCIL was supported through the Facilitation Fund of the Strengthening DPULOs Programme to explore the issues local disabled people wanted to focus on, and so enhance their sustainability. Below, Clare Evans – the Chair of WiltshireCIL – shares some reflections on their recent work.

The best thing about a strengthening DPULO grant is that you can apply for funding to meet disabled peoples’ agenda and not have to fit into funders’ agenda.

WiltshireCIL got a grant to reach more disabled people by involving members as volunteers in meeting the needs of others.

We started by inviting any disabled people from our mailing list of several hundred to come and discuss how the project should develop.

Four areas came up as priorities:

• Informing disabled people about social policy to enable them to influence it
• To provide disabled people with learning IT opportunities
• Investigating how to assist self funders on social care
• Supporting disabled people influence locally and gain skills targeting Salisbury area of Wiltshire

As we draw to the end of our year long project we can see that some areas have been followed through successfully while others not so.

First the “not so” ones! We advertised widely an opportunity to learn IT skills from scratch and had 5 people enrol but only 2 finished the 4 sessions and there’s been no demand for more despite extensive advertising. It’s a bit worrying when you know the Welfare Reform changes are based on everyone getting online to fill in forms, but somehow people don’t perceive local organisations as being able to support them with this.

Secondly we had plans with a local access group to develop some sessions in Salisbury but their leader became hospitalised and plans are on hold.

However what did work beyond our expectations was putting on an information session about the Welfare Reform changes – we are now planning our third conference; also similarly for ILF users.  A combination of speakers, presenting the facts clearly and an opportunity to discuss in groups in a safe place has met peoples’ needs though they remain anxious about the future. For self funders, we first contacted those who attended our Self Funders Forum for their ideas and then carried out a survey. We are now producing a signposting guide and Wiltshire Council has asked us to work with them on the issue to ensure we’re both as effective as possible.

We’re in touch with many more disabled people and are building systems to ensure we can publicise ourselves to them and others again.

Look out for the formal evaluation we’re preparing for the spring!

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The most useful resources on commissioning and procurement

Commissioning, procurement and how accessible public sector contract opportunities are to voluntary sector organisations will always be a considerable issue. It’s one that isn’t short of people’s time, thoughts and efforts – either in the past, present or future.

Such efforts tend to fall into one of 3 categories:

1. Resources that support voluntary sector organisations to be better at responding to procurement / tendering opportunities (toolkits, masterclasses, training courses etc.)
2. Resources that support commissioners to make procurement and tendering more accessible for voluntary sector organisations (example policies, legislative or regulatory incentives etc.)
3. Examples of where efforts have worked in practice (case studies, events etc.)

It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say there are hundreds of publications dedicated to this topic. This post very briefly notes some of the most useful resources on commissioning and procurement that already exist or are on their way in each of the above, particularly for disabled people’s user-led organisations.

Resources that support voluntary sector organisations / DPULOs

• NCVO – Commissioning and procurement guide
• Institute of Public Finance / NCVO – Guide to procurement and contracting (pdf)
• NAVCA – Local commissioning and procurement unit
• NAVCA – Commissioning and procurement resources
• NAVCA – Commissioning and procurement training
• ACEVO – Procurement and commissioning publications and factsheets
• NCVO – Before signing on the dotted line… all you need to know about procuring public sector contracts
• Disability LIB – Funding, tendering and commissioning
• Cabinet Office – Voluntary sector masterclasses (announced)

Resources that support commissioners

• SCIE’s Commissioning toolkit – A commissioner’s guide to developing and sustaining user-led organisations
• SCIE – brief guide to commissioning to develop and sustain user-led organisations
• NCVO – Third sector commissioning guide: a checklist to intelligent commissioning and bidding (pdf)
• OPM / Commissioning Support Programme – Learning from the Commissioning Support Programme (pdf)
• Commissioning Support Programme – In-depth commissioning publications
• Mutuals Advice Service – Commissioner support
• Enabling DPULO contributions through commissioning

Practical case studies

• NCVO – Best practice case studies
• NAVCA – Commissioning and procurement case studies
• ACEVO – Procurement and commissioning case studies
• National Skills Academy for Social Care – User-Led Organisations and Commissioning: 18 good practice learning resources  (pdf)
• See also Compact Voice

By definition, this post hasn’t tried to capture all resources on commissioning and procurement. However, if there are particularly good resources that aren’t included in the above please do let me know in the comments below or via Twitter (@rich_w).