Making it balance –can
organisations afford it
Bill Tidnam
Project funding
Significant initial investment in process of change:
 C. £30k funding scoping exercise (Thames Reach, Broadway,
London Housing Foundation.
 Then £500k (Oak Foundation/ESF equal) over 3 years to fund:
Organisational change
Development of training and support programme
Dissemination of results
Years 1+2
Development and organisational change (1)
 12 ‘supernumerary’ trainees per year, based across the
organisation. (‘Community support trainees’ based in large
frontline hostel, paid through contractual funding)
 Management within organisational HR team
 Project manager:
Developing trainee programme and support mechanisms
Identifying and removing cultural barriers.
Producing a guide to user employment for the homelessness
sector/
 Commitment to mainstreaming service user trainee programme by
year 3.
Years 1+2
Development and organisational change (2)
Specific measures over this period included:
Internal first advertising up to service manger level
Development of additional entry level posts and
discussion about role of these posts
Development of internal programmes around structured
volunteering
Development of ‘management pathways’ scheme
Challenges included
Tougher external environment – cost, regulatory burden.
Higher sickness level for trainees making transitional to
paid employment (+1.9%)
Year 3
Mainstreaming (1)
Year beginning June 2007- Sixteen trainees per year of
which:
75% funded through core contractual budgets
25% ‘supernumerary’ trainees – teams can bid for this
extra resource
Training manager with responsibility for running trainee
programme, also commissioning organisational training.
Commitment to incorporating further trainee and entrylevel posts into team budgets as review and
development allows.
Year 3
Mainstreaming (2)
 Trainee and entry level posts allow us to deliver more
cost effective services in larger services – need to be
managed well and allow main grade staff to do more.
 Supernumerary posts and contribution to project
management paid for by a ‘charge’ to other teams - this
represents 0.4% increase in salary budget per team.
Going forward
 Significant savings on recruitment costs.
 Pool of locum staff
 More competitive pricing model
 Prepares organisation from challenges associated with
LAAs and de-ring-fencing of Supporting People
-Fits well with increased organisational emphasis on
employment, allows us to model the behaviour we
need from other employers
-Gives our service users clear role models