NSW LABOR’S LONG-TERM SOCIAL SERVICES FUNDING POLICY WILL SAVE MONEY AND TIME

NSW Labor’s policy to introduce minimum five-year funding arrangements for key community service providers would divert money from back office to front line counselling and anti-violence services.

The Opposition’s announcement comes off the back of RANSW calling for bipartisan support in NSW for longer-term funding contracts for the social services sector.

“The social services sector is crippled by short-term, panic-style funding, which is why we have been advocating for longer-term contracts,” said Relationships Australia NSW CEO, Elisabeth Shaw.

“Short-term tenders in our world just don’t reflect reality.

“The constant, often annual cycle of tendering and responding between government and the social services sector diverts resources from the frontline to the back office.

“Long term contracts will mean savings for the sector who will spend less time writing tenders and government who will spend less time assessing them. It’s a win-win which should translate to more money for the front line.

“As one of the largest counselling and relationship service providers in NSW, we are impacted by funding patchworks and band-aid solutions, and we’re not alone.

“That’s why we have met with both the NSW Coalition and NSW Opposition to ask them to commit to long-term funding arrangements.

“I’m heartened to see the Opposition announce solid plans to resolve this endemic issue should they win Government in March 2023. I hope we now see the Coalition step up to the plate.”

93 per cent of RANSW’s contracts are funded by state and federal governments. Of all the new NSW Government grants to RANSW since June 2020, 82 per cent are for two years or less.

On average, it costs RANSW around $20,000 in onboarding costs per practitioner, and another $14,000 to train specialist counsellors in violence prevention for example.

For contracts that only last 12 months, it becomes an expensive revolving door as counsellors look for more stable employment options.