charities make millions out of the unemployed/disabled

This timely new report (the Govt welfare reform bill is due tuesday) commissioned by the PCS Union and
carried out by Steve Davies, senior research fellow at
Cardiff University school of social sciences, shows
how under Nu-Labour many charities and public/private
companies have become big business and made
millionaires of their CEO’s as well as major players
in Gov’t circles. Many have made their money from the
ruthless and authoritarian New Deal set up by
erstwhile future leader Gordon Brown.

In Sheffield, there is A4E, (formerly Action for
Employment) founded in 1991 by 42-year-old Emma
Harrison, (whose family made their money retraining
redundant steel workers in the 80’s) which now employs
more than 1,500 people and has a turnover of £75m a
year, providing training services for the government,
private companies and welfare reform programmes in
Poland and yes, Israel. She is reputed to be worth
£55m! and is a very influential player in the city and
a former governor of Sheffield College.

Other charities highlighted are the Shaw Trust, which
provides training programmes for disabled people and
which will be a major player when the Gov’ts
disability welfare reforms begin. Its income was
£63.98m in the last year - with £37.5m coming from
Jobcentre Plus and just £1.9m from private
fundraising. One disturbing addition is that of the
public-private company, Working Links, which is a
third owned by Mission Australia, a charity
campaigning for Britain to adopt the Australian model
of service provision, in which the government
contracts out all its services to the private and
charitable sectors.

Welfare activists have been concerned for some time
about the growth and influence of this ‘third sector’
which has grown massively (even internationally) the
last twenty years, but particularly under new labour
time in office. Clearly these training companies are
part of the neo-liberal agenda of ‘hire them and fire
them then retrain them’ Many people who have had
‘training’ from these companies have found the
experience degrading and in many cases unproductive.
This excellent research is necessary and timely: for
too long such areas have been lacking in scrutiny. One
could ask how are these agencies and businesses
accountable and whether the possibility of corruption
is possible given the huge amounts of public money
involved.

But who in parliament, etc, will ask these questions?

from the Guardian


Government turns charities into multimillion-pound
businesses

· Voluntary sector 'becomes arm of big business'
· Contracting out leaves training groups booming

David Hencke, Westminster correspondent
Monday July 3, 2006
The Guardian

The government is creating a new generation of
multimillionaires and turning charities into
multimillion-pound businesses by contracting out
services provided by the state, a report commissioned
by the Whitehall trade union the Public and Commercial
Services union, reveals today.

The report, by Steve Davies, senior research fellow at
Cardiff University school of social sciences, shows a
swath of companies set up to provide training for
disabled people, the unemployed on New Deal
programmes, and young offenders are now
multimillion-pound enterprises.

The top example is A4e, founded in 1991 by 42-year-old
Emma Harrison, which now employs more than 1,500
people and has a turnover of £75m a year, providing
training services for the government, private
companies and welfare reform programmes in Israel and
Poland. The company is now the largest training
provider for the government's New Deal programme for
the unemployed. Ms Harrison is reputed to be worth
£55m and received £1.1m in dividends alone last year.
Another multimillionaire is Deborah Fern, who ran Fern
Training and Development, set up in 1986 to provide
training programmes for unemployed and disabled
people. She sold her company to another expanding
group, Carter and Carter plc, five months ago for
£13.6m, taking £2.9m in shares.

Among the charities highlighted are the Shaw Trust,
which provides training programmes for disabled people
and has seen its income jump by £18.36m to £63.98m in
the last year - with £37.5m coming from Jobcentre Plus
and just £1.9m from private fundraising.
Other charities funded from government sources include
Tomorrow's People, which has strong links through its
trustees to the Diageo drink and food conglomerate.
Another is a public-private company, Working Links,
which is a third owned by Mission Australia, a charity
campaigning for Britain to adopt the Australian model
of service provision, in which the government
contracts out all its services to the private and
charitable sectors. The other owners are the
management consultants Cap Gemini and the employment
firm Manpower.

Mr Davies said: "Far from the third sector being
portrayed as a cuddly voluntary sector with people
working for modest salaries, it is rapidly becoming
another arm of big business, either directly through
new private companies or though connections with big
businesses." Mark Serwotka, PCS general secretary, said: "There is a real danger that government plans to increase the
role of the private and voluntary sector in the
provision of public services will mean a step back to
a model of prewar welfare provision. The fear is that
this is 'soft' privatisation, with the voluntary
sector opening up services for contests which can
subsequently be won by the private sector."

The companies and the Department for Work and Pensions
disagree. A4e says that the company and its founders
are leaders in innovation and "championing the
disadvantaged and underprivileged in society by our
stated mission and Emma's driving passion to improve
people's lives". Carter and Carter plc did not want to comment, but
said that Deborah Fern had "made a huge difference to
thousands of people's lives" in running her company.
A DWP spokesman said: "By taking a partnership
approach between the public, private and voluntary
sectors, we have made enormous progress in helping
people in some of the poorest parts of the country to
get off benefits and to get into work. People have
seen real change in their communities and it is right
that we continue with it to help a million people off
benefit and into a job ... This is all about
modernising the welfare state to ensure the world of
work is accessible to all."

 http://society.guardian.co.uk/voluntary/story/0,,1811200,00.html