Welfare Reform on the Web (April 2007): Welfare state - UK

Stand and deliver: the future of charities providing public services

Charity Commission

Liverpool: 2007

In 2006 the Charity Commission conducted a survey of all registered charities in order to obtain basic information about their involvement in public service delivery. Results showed that:

• Over 60% of charities with an income above £500,000 currently deliver public services
• Only 12% of charities delivering public services obtain full cost recovery in all cases; 37% said that they obtain full cost recovery in some or most cases; and 43% indicated that they never obtain full cost recovery for the services they deliver
• Over two thirds of all funding agreements are for one year only.