The potential impact of local commissioning on victim services in England and Wales

Abstract

This article looks at the shift that has taken place in the funding of victim services in England and Wales, following the decision to appoint Police and Crime Commissioners, and give them the responsibility to commission such services at the local level. Over the past 40 years or so the voluntary sector agency Victim Support was 'the major victims' agency' to which the majority of victims who reported crime to the police were referred. Victim Support therefore enjoyed reliable and consistent funding from the state, whilst its more 'independent peers' in the form of specialist services, had to contend with often less generous and less stable sources of funding. The shift to local commissioning chimes with the neo-liberal ideology which has permeated Conservative government policy since 1979, and which the Coalition government of 2010, and the Conservative government of 2015, have continued to champion. Thus the economy and the commissioning of victim services are increasingly subject to 'the market', as the best way to achieve efficient, effective and economic service provision. An array of government documents have talked about the importance of introducing competition into victim service provision, both as a political goal but also as a way of meeting the challenges that the current era of austerity poses. This paper then explores the potential implications for victim services in devolving funding to elected Police and Crime Commissioners in England and Wales.

Supporting victims of crime in England and Wales

“…Both Simmonds (2016) and Mawby (2016) argue that the reality for the local commissioning framework for smaller agencies is that they are now bidding for more complex contracts, which they do not always have the infrastructure to support, and that making competitive bids is itself a time consuming and expensive process that requires considerable expertise. A review of the progression of this commissioning scheme so far has supported these claims.…”

“…Reaffirmation of the myth that only a small proportion of victims need support may lead to the disenfranchisement of most victims. (p.217) Indeed, on this point Simmonds (2016) has discussed the irony that the localised service provisions model as a whole is much more in keeping with Victim Support's prior status as a federation of individual organisations rather than as a national charity, the Labour government having convinced the organisation to adopt that status in 2008.…”

“…This system generally relied on the enthusiasm of individuals and/or the growing pressure of national targets, rather than the combined or inherent goals of the local bodies themselves. Simmonds (2016) has recently offered an in-depth commentary on the history behind and implications of the more recent introduction of a local commissioning framework for victim services. In particular, she highlights the growing pressure on Victim Support from at least 2002 onwards to demonstrate the cost-effectiveness of its activities.…”

“…This paper sets out to examine the implementation of a local commissioning framework introduced for victim services in England and Wales by its government in 2012. Whilst discussion of the political and practical drivers behind the formation of this framework can be found in the recent work of Mawby (2016) and Simmonds (2016), this paper aims to go one step further by beginning to critically evaluate how the framework has been working in practice in its early years. In particular, the paper will explore the degree to which local service commissioners have undertaken systematic or meaningful assessment to ascertain the needs of local victims as a means of informing the commissioning process, and the apparent outcomes of that process as a result.…”

Victim support, the state, and fellow human beings

“…For example, Swedish women's shelters, once a grassroots feminist movement, currently carry out commissioned work for the municipal social services on a contract basis (Enander et al, 2013). Studies in other countries, such as the United Kingdom (Simmonds, 2016), have also shown a shift in the funding of generic victim services, from reliable and consistent state funding to local commissioning where 'the market' is seen as the best way to achieve efficient and cost-effective services.…”