Free PbR Resources
This page provides links to a wide range of current resources around the issue of Payment by Results (PbR) and is updated regularly. This is version 1.24, revised on 6 February 2012.
The document is organised into a number of sections:
- General government PbR documents
- Ministry of Justice PbR documents
- Substance misuse PbR documents
- Social Investment – paying for PbR
- Views, reviews and discussion about PbR from independent commentators; now including blogs.
- Examples of PbR funded projects
- Key organisations
If you would like to download the whole page as a PDF, please click here.
For a collection of my essays on PbR in easy to browse format, click here.
General government documents
HM Government (2011) Growing the social investment market: a vision and strategy
Cabinet office (2010) Modernising commissioning: Increasing the role of charities, social enterprises, mutuals and cooperatives in public service delivery
Ministry of Justice
Ministry of Justice (2011) Business plan 2011 – 2015 – contains details of the PbR pilots
Ministry of Justice (2010) Breaking the cycle: effective punishments, rehabilitation and sentencing of offenders – sets out the MoJ concept of PbR.
Ministry of Justice (2011) Breaking the cycle: Government response – makes clear that the government wants to build rapidly on PbR pilots.
Ministry of Justice (2011) Prisons competition outcome – at HMP Doncaster, Serco will operate the first of the new payment by results pilots with a part of their income dependent on reducing reoffending on release.
There are also a number of pilots run by the Youth Justice Board aimed at reducing the number of bed nights in secure accommodation.
Substance misuse
Drug and alcohol recovery PbR pilots will be evaluated by University of Manchester. Details of evaluation here. (8 December 2011)
Final outcome definitions for PbR drugs recovery from the co–design group. (October 2011)
Additional supporting materials from the PbR drugs and alcohol pilots from the Department of Health.
Recovery Partnership briefing for the inter-ministerial group on drug policy (September 2011).
Home Office PowerPoint on how drug recovery PbR should focus on DIP cohorts in terms of offending outcomes (September 2011)
See a response from Drugscope and the UK Drug Police Commission and another from Adfam.
National Treatment Agency for Substance Misuse information on PbR pilots.
Information about the National Alcohol Treatment PbR pilots can be found on the Alcohol Learning Centre website.
Social Investment
Non Profit Finance Fund’s Pay for success reading list
CBI guide to public procurement, advocating the use of a PbR approach (12 December 2011)
A new guide to commissioning social impact bonds from Social Finance (24 November 2011).
Social Investment Manual from the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship (in English). This manual provides social investees a comprehensive yet easy to use guidebook on how to develop successful relationships with social investors.
A guide to social investment for charities. New Philanthropy Capital sets out the risks and opportunities of social investment.
What social impact bonds mean for nonprofits and performance measurement. Social Impact Bonds in the USA by rootCAUSE
Social Impact Bond or loan? Essex Council considers the options, reported in Children and Young People Now (1 November 2011)
Excellent long piece examining pros and cons of SIBs in Third Sector (1 November 2011)
Scope is first UK charity to launch a bond programme reported by Third Sector (31 October 2011)
Views, reviews etc
Matthew Taylor, Chief Exex of the RSA reflects on whether charities should subsidise state PbR contracts
David Boyle “The pitfalls and perils of payment by results” in Local Economy argues that there are aspects of PbR which are likely to skew public sector objectives even more thoroughly than targets.
Reform (Think Tank) publish transcript of rountable discussion with Crispin Blunt et al: “Administering Justice by Results” (5 December 2011)
Ben Jarman & Katie O’Donoghue Desistance and how PbR binary outcomes (‘fact’ of re-offending instead of frequency of offending) may cause significant problems. This is on the Clinks network and you will need to register (at no cost) to read it. (26 November 2011)
Zoe Williams in the Guardian: High profile discussion of public/private prisons and PbR and RSA idea for prisons as social enterprise (5 November 2011)
PbR – High hopes, Big questions. Speculative Blog post from RSA Chief Executive, Matthew Taylor. (October 2011)
Academic article by Chris Fox & Kevin Albertson on PbR and Social Impact Bonds in the criminal justice sector. (You need access to academic journals to read the whole article).
National Association of Youth Justice has produced a critical account of the risks of PbR in provision for vulnerable young people (July 2011)
The Centre for Policy Studies (a conservative think tank) published a briefing (June 2011) which argues that the sole PbR outcome for drug treatment work should be abstinence.
The Drug Sector Partnership (June 2011) published a blog which asks how the views of service users would be taken into account in determining payment by results outcomes.
John Collins, director of the Criminal Justice Alliance, published a fair-minded review of PbR in the criminal justice system (April 2011)
The UK Drug Policy Commission has published their briefing on payment by results (February 2011)
James Dicker did a paper on Payment-by-outcome in Offender Management for the 2020 Public Services Trust at the RSA (January 2011)
Clinks did a paper on what PbR means for voluntary sector organisations working with offenders (October 2010)
An interesting article in the Economist looking at PbR the drug treatment.
Linda Harris gives a short account of PbR on the Substance Misuse Management in General Practice website (2011)
Two critical articles by respected Guardian journalist Polly Toynbee. British Tycoons are looking for ways the rich can make money out of the poor (via SIBs): http://bit.ly/nEdDHa and Who’s in the market for sub-prime behaviour bonds? http://bit.ly/nEdDHa
Clinks are conducting a survey on attitudes to PbR for Third Sector organisations working in the criminal justice sphere
The Morning Star sees PbR as people trafficking.
Blogs
Blog from Social Finance – this is now becoming an active Blog with regular posts, the latest is about maintaining the social integrity of Social Impact Bonds.
Ben Jarman – a new Blog focusing on PbR in the criminal justice field.
The Good Consultant - a very critical post about PbR and residential drug treatment
Centre for Policy Studies - fierce anti-PbR post by Kathy Gyngell
Examples of PbR funded projects
Currently there are three large-scale PbR projects in operation:
The ONE service based at Peterborough prison which supports short sentence male prisoners by offering early engagement, through and beyond the gate delivery and proactive, individualised support in the community to address needs and prevent reoffending. This project is funded by a Social Impact Bond. An initial evaluation of the lessons learned at the planning and early implementation stage has been published by the Ministry of Justice.
One year progress report of the One service published 30 November 2011. My summary of this report here.
HMP Doncaster (run by SERCO) is now contracted on a PbR model with ten per cent of the prison’s annual revenue dependent on a 5% reduction in reoffending rates. The pilot started on 12 October 2011. See the video article by Prison Director, John Biggin. Further detail also in this interview with John Biggin by The Custodial Review.
[HMP Leeds (Armley) is flagged to be first public sector prison to get paid by results on reducing re-offending from 2012.]
HMP High Down will also running PbR but won’t transfer the risk outside the National Offender Management Service – the investment will come from the savings that High Down Prison would otherwise have been expected to deliver in terms of efficiencies in first two years.
The Youth Justice Board is running a pilot scheme aimed at reducing the number of bed nights in secure accommodation.
It now appears that Youth Offending Teams will not be measured on a payment by results approach because it has proved too hard to draw up robust and reliable outcome metrics.
Other PbR schemes are in the pipeline:
Staffordshire and West Midlands and Wales Probation Trusts will be working in partnership with voluntary and community organisations on new PbR pilots to improve re-offending outcomes with offenders on community orders.
The Ministry of Justice has just (7 December 2011) advertised for two pilot Innovation PbR schemes with a specific focus on the voluntary and community sector. One scheme for short sentence offenders, the other is not restricted to any offender group.
The Office for Civil Society is to ask private and charitable investors to purchase social impact bonds worth up to £40m that will fund new schemes to support “problem families”.
The Greater London Authority has been working with the Department for Communities and Local Government to develop a PbR scheme aimed at 650 rough sleepers which has to be funded via a Social Impact Bond.
Bristol Together is leading a third sector partnership which will purchase and renovate empty properties, employing ex-offenders to do the work – the whole scheme funded by a Social Impact Bond.
Key organisations
Social Finance is an organisation that develops financial products that marry the ambitions of investors and the social care sector. Social Finance developed the Social Impact Bond which funds the ONE service and has produced a number of very useful guides to developing social impact bonds in the criminal justice and vulnerable children and young people sectors.
The Social Investment Business is the trading name for Futurebuilders England and provides capital, business support and strategic thinking for ‘civil society’.