Against a back-drop of rising overhead costs, a relentless increase in demand, and complexity of client issues facing third sector counselling services, we鈥檝e today published a report that calls for an urgent reset of relationships in the sector.

Bridging the gaps

Bridging the gaps draws on the insights and experiences of 11 organisations from across England. It highlights their value to the communities they serve, as well as the added flexibility and choice they offer, particularly in working with clients from marginalised community backgrounds who are known to face barriers in accessing support.

The report, published jointly by us and policy and economic consultancy Public First, unpicks some of the complexities of a sector whose funding is made up of myriad sources, including public contracts, grants, private donations, client contributions, and community fundraising.

It finds that across the country there is a growing number of referrals 鈥� formal and informal - from NHS sources but without funding to meet this increase in clients.

Charity closures

Some charities have already been forced to close due to lack of funding, meaning vulnerable people are left without access to this life-changing support.

Sheffield-based 香港六合彩精准资料-accredited service Vida, which runs a specialist trauma-informed therapeutic services for women whose mental health and wellbeing are affected by past experience of domestic聽 and sexual abuse, will close in March next year.

Responding to the report, Vida Chief Executive Karen Hague MBE said: "We know that our service saves the NHS money, and we know that there are women who will trust and approach us for the vital support they need directly.聽 The local NHS Specialist Psychotherapy Services are concerned about the loss of training placements and that the situation will be more distressing for their vulnerable clients as they will not be able to refer them to Vida.

"It is desperately short-sighted of the wider health commissioning bodies to ignore services like ours. When we close our doors in March 2025, how long will those vulnerable clients have to wait for a service?"

Third sector insight

Mags Godderidge is Chief Executive of Survive, a service which delivers specialist trauma-informed services and interventions to
adult survivors of sexual violence and abuse in York and North Yorkshire,

Mags, who contributed insights to the report, said:

"Demand for our service has grown to unprecedented levels 鈥� at year end 31 March 2023, we reported a 40% increase in referrals. This demand has since increased even further. The NHS now accounts for 28% of referrals - compared to just 11% three years ago. We offer specialist services and trauma-specific interventions that are flexible and responsive to the needs of survivors of sexual violence and abuse, but increasingly, survivors in need are on our waiting-lists for longer because of a lack of funding. This report is an overdue call to policy-makers and commissioners to better understand, recognise and support third sector services."

Policy recommendations

From analysis of the interviews with the service leads, the report makes a series of policy recommendations:

Longer funding cycles

Funding should be based on three-to-five-year contracts rather than single-year contracts. There should also be longer-term funding cycles for those who commission services, such as local government and Integrated Care Boards (ICB), to make it easier for them to plan. Multi-year contracts should factor in the likelihood of inflation and rising wage costs.

Simplified commissioning arrangements

The commissioning process should take into account the administrative burden on services of securing funding from sources which have different and incompatible application processes and reporting requirements.

Better engagement between commissioners and third sector

Services should be given a better understanding of what commissioners need, and commissioners should have a better understanding of the value of the third sector鈥檚 offer. This should include a requirement that every ICB and Integrated Care Partnership (ICP) has at least one member drawn from the local third sector.

Specialist services must be available to those who need them

Commissioners should ensure that specialist services are available to those who need them when considering their overall commissioning requirements, so that marginalised, minoritised and 鈥渉ard to reach鈥� groups have access to services that properly meet their needs 鈥� with this requirement explicitly included in commissioning outcomes frameworks.

Improved recording of referrals from the NHS

Better recording of referrals from the NHS and other services will help support future conversations about fair funding. This includes by developing accurate and consistent definitions of these referrals, and by identifying and tackling unfunded referrals to third sector counselling services, to recognise and move closer to fulfilling the principle that the money should follow the client.

Our comment

Our Third Sector Lead Jeremy Bacon said: "This report highlights the vital and responsive work being delivered by third sector counselling services and the increasingly difficult landscape they work in, with rising demand and referral from NHS sources, but without the additional resource to meet it. In the past year, we鈥檝e received numerous reports of the closure of community-based counselling services, unable to sustain the financial pressures they face. I hope that this report provides a 鈥榗alling-card鈥� for third sector organisations and it will support our ongoing policy and influencing work with policy-makers across the UK to increase resources for third sector services so that they can meet demand and adequately pay their therapists."

Download the full report Bridging the gaps (627kb)

The policy team welcome your feedback on this report and discussion of how its findings can be used. You can get in touch with the team at publicaffairs@bacp.co.uk.