Right to Bid Cancelled

Submitted by bigbaldbloke on Tue, 22/06/2010 - 6:46am

In an unsurprising but, in my opinion, very disappointing move, DWP have cancelled Right to Bid with immediate effect. Any provider who has a pending application can now safely assume that it's dead in the water.

As you'll see from the below link, it has been justified by claiming that the Work Programme is designed to allow innovation, but I can't help but feel that this is a major blow to the smaller provider. R2B was a great opportunity for niche organisations to test new methodologies without having blanket targets attached, or risky payment structures, but alas, it's RIP R2B.

Let's face it, its cessation was on the cards, but I was clinging to the hope that it would survive because DWP could choose how much or how little to spend through it.

http://www.dwp.gov.uk/supplying-dwp/what-we-buy/welfare-to-work-services...

I just find it a little too easy for people to say "It's a black box approach, so people can get whatever support they need". Yes, they can. But will they? Call me old fashioned, but I want BoND back! That model could have WORKED!

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Submitted by devojka on Thu, 24/06/2010 - 5:13pm.

I agree. I think it's a shame because it's quite likely that there'll be too much risk in the payment structure and/ or amount of Work Programme for the primes to try an untested approach. I liked the idea of this kind of test bed funding stream.

forgive my ignorance, what was BoND?

Submitted by bigbaldbloke on Thu, 24/06/2010 - 8:23pm.

Building on New Deal. It was the first incarnation of a replacement for New Deal back in 2004.

It was made up of a number of modules, including IAG, skills training, work placement, etc. and it was intended that clients would access only the modules relevant to them. It would have allowed niche providers to excel at what they're good at, and would have prevented the "one size fits all" failings of legacy New Deal.

Although the pilot districts were identified, it just stopped being mentioned by DWP & nothing ever came of it.

Submitted by Paul.Bivand on Fri, 25/06/2010 - 1:17pm.

I think you'll find that something very similar to Building on New Deal has been implemented in Northern Ireland. See http://www.delni.gov.uk/stepstowork