The Territory’s community sector organisations are facing pressures of rising demand and rising costs while strategies to address their challenges are not working, according to a new report commissioned by the ACT Community Services Industry Strategy Steering Group.
Welcoming the Report, Counting the Costs: Sustainable funding for the ACT community services sector, Minister for Families and Community Services, Rachel Stephen-Smith said the Steering Group partnered with the ACT Council of Social Service (ACTCOSS) to commission the Report from the Social Policy Research Centre (SPRC) at the University of New South Wales (UNSW).
“The community sector plays a critical role in delivering programs and services that improve health and social outcomes for Canberrans, particularly for people who are vulnerable or at risk,” Ms Stephen-Smith said.
“This Report considers the ACT Government’s funding arrangements for community service organisations and identifies challenges associated with ensuring that funding adequately reflects the real cost of services, as well as the impact of increased demand,” she said.
“Government Directorates are already working with their community sector partners on a new way of collaboratively designing and procuring services through commissioning for outcomes.”
Ms Stephen-Smith said the Report would inform this process and help build a Canberra where everyone had the support they needed to reach their full potential and participate in the community.
In its Report, SPRC said that, over decades, expectations about how much community services should cost to deliver had been lowered by gender-based undervaluation; misunderstandings about the importance of overheads; competitive funding models; and expectations that non-profits would supplement shortfalls in Government funding.
“Currently, however, community sector organisations in the ACT are facing pressures of rising demand and rising costs,” SPRC said.
“Increasingly, ACT community sector organisations report that ACT Government funding is too low,” it said.
“Underfunding has contributed to unpaid and underpaid work in the ACT community sector; loss of staff, especially to the Public Sector; and over-reliance on volunteers.”
SPRC said its Report attested to the commitment of Government and the community sector to work in fair partnerships to ensure clients and communities received good quality services.
It made six recommendations: To adopt a revised approach to indexation; Review funding streams to ensure full cost coverage; Encourage efficiencies to reduce cost pressures; Build sector capacity to accurately cost services; Boost funding for areas of unmet need; and Prioritise early intervention and prevention.
SPRC’s 63-page Report can be accessed at this PS News link.
