[a2t] new access to work contracts
- From: "Patrick Adams" <patrick@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "'A2T List'" <a2t@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 29 Apr 2008 16:10:10 +0100
With no prior warning to existing contract holders or their local staff
Jobcentre plus announced that 5 Access to Work regional contracts,
substantially altered from any previous one, are up for tender with the
closing date on 2nd May. The information only appeared on the web site at
the end of March, leaving only 3 weeks in April for a totally different
scheme for contract holders to consider and do some major dancing to this
new tune.
In the past a business, no matter how small could apply for a contract to
carry out assessments in one area such as visual impairment or dyslexia.
Now there will only be one prime contractor for each region who will either
apply to carry out all the different types of assesment themselves or
appoint sub-contractors to carry out the types of assessments they cannot
do.
What this means is that now only one organisation or consortuim of
organisations will receive the full contracted price for each assessment and
the sub-contractors will have to take considerably less. And guess what?
The new "guide price" is the same as for the two previous contracts spanning
some 8 or 9 years.
For the small business that is not successful if they try to apply for the
prime contract this will mean a swingeing cut in their income from this type
of work. In addition to the inroads by inflation over the last 9 years
there is now to be a massive reduction for some small businesses over the
next 3 years or for as long as this contract lasts.
For my own business this is a severe blow. If I continue to work, if I do
manage to get work from the successful applicant in the regions I am willing
to work in, I will have to rush around the country doing twice the amount of
work for considerably less than in the last contract. Having enjoyed the
confidence of the local ATW Advisors over several years and with so many
people I have assessed saying the service I gave helped them enormously
during difficult times, I will probably be replaced by someone more
interested in doing a quick cheap job and moving on.
I cannot see in this current so-called tendering exercise that the
effectiveness and quality of the assessments will be even considered let
alone improved. It means that a large number of small businesses, some run
by people with a disability are knocked back by this new scheme. The only
reason I have been able to find from a member of staff responsible for
setting up this contract scheme, is that this new contract will bring Access
to Work into line with other Department of Work & Pensions contracts. Not a
word about the need to improve the service, just a bringing into line with
other contracts.
I know that members of our group are either directly involved or will be
affected in some way by this new departure by Jobcentre plus. Members who
who do not gain an income from Access to Work or do not intend to do so will
be affected the next time they apply for support from ATW. Hopefully they
will be assessed by someone competent but this is even less likely than
hitherto in my opinion.
I fully intend to write to my MP and Government ministers about this sorry
state of affairs.
It seems yet another blow struck by those only interested in a "top down"
approach, the cost-cutters and those not interested in what this excellent
scheme was set up to achieve.
I would welcome any questions or points of view on this subject.
Patrick Adams
Riverside Training Partnership
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