Starting a welfare-to-work business

Submitted by Anonymous on Sat, 04/04/2009 - 9:57pm

I have been working on various NDDP contracts for 6 years. I have gained much knowledge, experience and skills within this area. I am very passionate about starting my own business within this area, as a proft or charitable organisation.

I was wondering how i would put an expression of interest in to Companies who win the FND. Would they consider a proposal of myself, to deliver the service or to specialise in one area, say interview techniques, profiling a C.V, application form assistance and accessing funding from partner organisations.

I have been considering this for a while but know i am not even a 'small fish in the sea' and therefore, have put the idea to the back of my mind. However, it keeps resurfacing which has lead me to ask you for your advice because you seem very knowledgable about the whole welfare to work remit.
Thanks
Note - I moved this here from another discussion, along with the similar question immediately below. Come on, log in and start a new topic instead of posting all over the place!

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Submitted by Anonymous on Fri, 03/04/2009 - 11:30pm.

I have worked in the Welfare to Work field for the past 6 years. I have specialised in NDDP Contracts within this time. I have been wishing to start my own Company on a Sub Contract basis, as i feel i have all the knowledge, experience and links already in place.

I was wondering if you could advise me the best way to go about this. You seem very knowledgable within this area. Even to sub contract to the new contract winners (recruitment agencies) which goes live on the 6th April to deal with the trends in the current economic domain.

Knowledge is power and with out the knowledge of how to go about setting my own Welfare to Work Company up i do not know were to start.

I have thought about many options including setting it up as a charatible organisation like Shaw Trust.

Can you Please point me in the right direction???

Thanks

Submitted by Daniel on Fri, 03/04/2009 - 11:44pm.

The marketplace for contracts is changing rapidly at the moment, primarily through consolidation into fewer, larger providers. Setting up a company is quite an investment, and the best time to set up a company in this industry would have been some years ago.

Your two options are going for contracts directly, or speaking to the contract bidders about subcontracting. You almost certainly won't have the resources to bid for contracts directly - you'd need millions of pounds. Subcontracting is possible, but you'd need a unique selling point of some kind. If you can provide some kind of specialist support that falls outside what providers can normally handle (e.g. specific disability support) then you might be attractive to them. Going in as a bog-standard provider would be a recipe for failure, given your major difference with all the other providers would be a lack of proven delivery!

Submitted by Anonymous on Sun, 05/04/2009 - 4:57pm.

given your major difference with all the other providers would be a lack of proven delivery!

What does this mean above?

reply

Submitted by Daniel on Sun, 05/04/2009 - 9:24pm.

Well, put yourself in the shoes of somebody deciding which provider to subcontract on a provision. You can't use all of them, so what do you do?

A good way of deciding is looking at what they've achieved in the past, and exploring it in-depth with them to establish that they've demonstrated the capability to deliver good quality provision that gets people into jobs. A new provider will have difficulty in demonstrating this, so they need something else to set them apart in some way.

Submitted by Anonymous on Sun, 05/04/2009 - 9:32pm.

Thanks, any ideas let me know (ha)

Submitted by Anonymous on Wed, 08/04/2009 - 2:08pm.

Daniel - I am would like to set up a welfare to work co, but I am confused about the Managing Agent Complexities. Could you please ask DWP to forward the info abot MA, including whether or not we would need momenta and ofsted accreditation first.

Submitted by Daniel on Wed, 08/04/2009 - 3:19pm.

Subcontractor quality assurance is carried out by the prime. The DWP doesn't normally examine or accredit subcontractors. However, primes will of course have their own individual requirements, which will almost certainly include some kind of quality process.

Submitted by Mandy (not verified) on Fri, 10/07/2009 - 7:26pm.

Anno

I would love to set up my own business. Good luck

Submitted by Alvin Dupre on Wed, 10/03/2010 - 11:19am.

I was wondering how this new venture is progressing give the fact that Future jobs fund would present an opportunity for a start up Business in Welfare to work.

Submitted by lintondelta on Wed, 19/01/2011 - 2:53pm.

I'm hoping to set up my own business as a fitness instructor, I have good experience in the best way to build muscle and other fitness related goals.