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Payment by Results
The 6th Commandment of Payment by Results: Profit shall not be thy God

One of the most controversial aspects of payment by results in the UK has been the way the funding model has been used to outsource public services and open the market up to private providers, typically the sort of global companies who deliver the Work Programme. Many people are opposed in principle to the idea of public services generating profit for multinationals. On the other side of the argument are those that see the introduction of business sense and commercial acumen as a key way of reducing cost and driving innovation. But is financial profit the only measure of success?

2nd July 2013
On Probation
What will happen to the prison population under Transforming Rehabilitation?

One of the key changes under the Offender Rehabilitation Bill currently working its way through Parliament is that short term prisoners will receive mandatory supervision on release. Although this development is broadly welcomed, one of the consequences will be that some of these prisoners will not comply with supervision and therefore will be breached and returned to prison. The recently updated impact assessment of the Offender Rehabilitation Bill estimated that 13,000 short term prisoners will be returned to prison because they will breach the new mandatory period of supervision on release. I can see two other factors which will drive up the custody rate…

1st July 2013
On Probation
The 5th Commandment of Payment by Results: Thou shall not pay for deadweight

Payment by results is about driving improvement, so no self-respecting PBR scheme will pay for results that will happen anyway, known in the jargon is “deadweight”. The proportion of deadweight in a PbR funded initiative varies markedly across different spheres of operation. Despite all the adverse publicity about reoffending rates which has accompanied the debate about the Rehabilitation Revolution, 65.8% of those supervised in the community and 53.1% of those released from prison do NOT re-offend in the first year. However, when we look at the Work Programme…

27th June 2013
Digital Engagement
Police, Twitter and major incidents

Any major incident provokes a firestorm of reaction on Twitter and other social media outlets. In the wake of events such as the terrorist killing of Drummer Lee Rigby in Woolwich what should the police be doing online. Amongst the general noise and bot-generated confusion, there are opportunities to keep the public reliably informed and gather some key intelligence.

26th June 2013
Payment by Results
The 4th Commandment of Payment by Results: Thou shall not covet milestones

The introduction of milestones exacerbates the problems of complexity highlighted above, requiring even more time and resources from commissioners and providers and even more onerous data collection systems. But even worse is the fact that as soon as you have indicators, people start focusing on them, instead of the intended outcomes.
Which takes us straight back to the culture of micro-management by targets which PbR is trying hard to leave behind.

25th June 2013
On Probation
Don’t write off probation in the rehabilitation revolution

There have been better times to be a probation officer. It’s not the easiest job in the world at the best of times and, like every other public service, probation trusts have had to implement year-on-year financial cuts for the last few years. But 2013 is the toughest year yet. 70% of probation’s work is being outsourced and a wide range of large private and voluntary sector organisations are seeking to take over the work. Recently the MoJ has acknowledged that probation trusts could spin out public service mutuals and bid for their “own” work.

24th June 2013
Digital Engagement
Promote your event with social media. Step 3: Consolidate

This is the third in a mini-series on how to use social media to extend the reach of your event and take people with you on a journey of discovery about the work your organisation does. There are plenty of opportunities to consolidate learning and engage new supporters after your event.

21st June 2013
Payment by Results
The 3rd Commandment of Payment by Results: Thy metrics shall be simple

Complexity is almost always the enemy of effective PbR because it inevitably results in unintended consequences. Concern about possible unintended consequences results in worries about gaming the system which, equally inevitably, results in additional measures being taken to address these concerns which involves further complexity which…, well, you get the picture. In this post, I want to make the case for simple, robust measures to assess how effective PbR schemes are in meeting their outcomes.

20th June 2013
Payment by Results
The 2nd Commandment of payment by results: Thy outcomes shall be few

Most payment by results pilot schemes are targeted at entrenched social problems. These problems – troubled families, long term unemployment, re-offending and drug dependency – are complex by nature. They require a coordinated response which addresses a wide range of issues. PbR funded interventions are a natural commissioning approach to tackle complex problems. However, PbR schemes quickly run into trouble when the outcomes themselves become complex.

18th June 2013
Payment by Results
Complexity and transparency: Thoughts on the MoJ Straw Man Payment Mechanism

It’s great to be able to engage in the development of the MoJ’s proposed payment mechanism. However, the first thing that struck me was its complexity. Clearly a great effort has been made to design a mechanism that creates the right incentives to develop innovative ways to reduce reoffending. Will it be sufficiently transparent to stimulate the wide range of providers needed achieve real innovation or does it favour those with the deepest pockets, who can afford to do the detailed analysis necessary to truly understand the risks inherent in such rehabilitation contracts?

17th June 2013
Digital Engagement
Promote your event with social media. Step 2: Broadcast

Using social media on the day. If you followed the advice in part one of this series, you will already have created your hashtag for your event and been tweeting it regularly to create a sense of anticipation. The day before and on the actual morning of the event make sure that you have lined up your presenters and key supporters to tweet that it is happening today and that anyone who can’t make it, can catch up with developments by following the hashtag. Your next decision is whether to use a Twitter Wall…

14th June 2013

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© Russell Webster 2024

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