Partnerships, contracts and contestability

JCP works with a complex array of partnerships , both nationally and locally. These can be strategic or operational. The operational partnerships include contractual relationships with an extensive mixed economy of for profit and not for profit providers who deliver most employment programmes. In 2005/2006 around one third of welfare to work provision was delivered through more than one thousand contracts with such providers (HMT 2006). In 2005/2006 external providers delivered a total of 135,107 job entries, an increase of 25% from the previous year (JCP 2006). 

Typically New Deal contracts last for 3 years and specify in some detail the nature of the provision to be made available. In 2006 significant changes were made with the introduction of prime contractors and experimental price competition in New Deal programmes for the JSA unemployed. The prime contractor model increased the size of contracts and reduced the number of contractors. Prime contractors undertake three functions. They  

Provide directly a substantial proportion of the specified provision. 

Manage and monitor the performance and quality of sub contractors as well as their own performance. 

A significant flexibility is that prime contractors are not required to follow public sector competitive tendering rales for work they subcontract. 

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