Public Services

Public services are, broadly speaking, services which are funded with public money. 

They can be delivered by the state or on behalf of the state by a voluntary and community organisation or private sector company. 

If you would like to discuss any of our work on public services please email Louisa Darian or telephone 020 7520 2475. 

• Frequently Asked Questions on Public Services 

• Our public service networks

• Links 

• Further reading 

• Public Service Reform

• Public Services - Archive

Public Service Network

Our Sustainable Funding Project hosts a public service delivery network, in partnership with the Office of the Third Sector, which seeks to develop the capacity of those in the voluntary and community sector with responsibility for negotiating and managing public service contracts.

Links

• Treasury Guidance to Funders
• Office of the Third Sector: Public service delivery

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Further reading

Model - joint working for public service delivery

Organisations collaborating for public service delivery work with their voluntary sector partners in addition to public sector agencies.

 The model concentrates on the relationship between voluntary organisations rather than partnership between voluntary organisations and public bodies. Read the model

Other relevant links

• Transform - how voluntary and community organisations can help transform public services
• Public Service reform report
• Shared aspirations

Public service reform

Public service reform is at the heart of the political agenda. 

Our research confirms that the sector is playing an increasing role in shaping and delivering services, with income from contracts now worth £5.3bn, accounting for 20% of the sector's income.

NCVO has played a leading part in the debate about the role of voluntary and community organisations (VCOs) in the reform of public services. We have argued that many VCOs play a crucial role in delivering public services that better meet the needs of individuals and communities.

It is important that VCOs engage in this agenda on their own terms, where it is in the best interests of a particular VCO and its members or beneficiaries.

However, there also remains a need to build understanding of the contribution that the sector can make to public service reform, and to use this understanding to put the right processes in place.

For the sector to play its full part in transforming public services:

• VCOs must be enabled to contribute fully to decision making processes about service needs;
• VCOs must be enabled to help design and commission solutions to meet those needs; and
• Where VCOs do deliver public services, they must be commissioned and procured in ways that do no drive out the reasons for working with the sector in the first place, are properly negotiated and sustainably funded.

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