School for Social Entrepreneurs in consortium with Social
Enterprise UK and Voice4Change England the winning grant
recipient of the VCSE Contract Readiness Fund.
Over 75% of VCSEs (Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprises)
deliver public services where they are based, with strong links
to and knowledge of that locality. Their expertise and connection
to local areas ideally place them to create responsive, efficient
and trusted public services, but despite the value that VCSEs
bring to public services, they only account for
around 5% of
government spend on contracts.
An independent study commissioned by DCMS highlighted that the
VCSE sectors face a variety of barriers to
participating in public procurement. To address these
and increase the opportunities for VCSEs in public procurement,
the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS)
launched the VCSE Contract Readiness Fund grant competition in
September.
Following a competitive process, DCMS are pleased to announce
that the VCSE Contract Readiness Fund will be awarded to a SSE,
SEUK and V4CE: Contract Readiness Pathway consortium. This
consortium is led by the School for Social Entrepreneurs, working
in partnership with Social Enterprise UK and Voice4Change
England.
The consortium will be awarded up to £900,000 across 2022/23,
2023/24 and 2024/25.
DCMS will work with the consortium to co-design and deliver a
programme that will enable the VCSE sectors to increase its
participation in public service procurement in England.
Claire Dove, VCSE Crown Representative, commented:
“The VCSE Contract Readiness programme will help improve the
skills, knowledge and networks of VCSEs, providing greater
opportunity for VCSEs to secure contracts so they can continue to
play a vital role in delivering public services.”
Further details on the programme and how to get involved will be
published on gov.uk early in 2023.
