Hostname: page-component-669899f699-qzcqf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-04-27T02:11:38.206Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Comparing Government Social Welfare Service Acquisition Regimes: Marketisation and Bases for Competition in Canadian and English Homelessness

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 November 2021

KRISTEN PUE Open the ORCID record for KRISTEN PUE [Opens in a new window]
KRISTEN PUE*
Affiliation:
Postdoctoral Fellow, Carleton University School of Public Policy and Administration email: kristen.pue@carleton.ca
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

When governments acquire third-party social welfare services (SWS), they create institutions of acquisition. The rules and practices that governments adopt define who is able to participate, on what basis, and how prices are determined. This paper conceptualizes the institutions of SWS acquisition, their variations, and implications, in order to contribute to a deeper understanding of the link between contracting and nonprofit commercialisation. Institutions of SWS acquisition include rules of entry, participation, and assessment. Resulting acquisition regimes can be marketised to a greater or lesser extent, and this is influential through its effect on nonprofit competition. Drawing on interviews with public servants and nonprofit staff, the paper compares acquisition regimes for homelessness services in England, a regime that closely resembles a market, and Canada, a regime which is not marketised. In contrast to their non-marketised counterparts, this paper finds that marketised SWS acquisition regimes create incentives for participants to reduce prices by loss-leading or ratcheting down service quality.

Keywords

Welfare statenonprofit organisationsquasi-marketcontractingsocial welfarenonprofit competition
Type
Article
Information
Journal of Social Policy , Volume 52 , Issue 3 , July 2023 , pp. 581 - 601
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Adams, C. and Perlmutter, F. (1991), ‘Commercial Venturing and the Transformation of America’s Voluntary Social Welfare Agencies’, Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 20,1, 25–38.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Alberta Ministry of Community and Social Services (AMCSS) (2018), Community and Social Services Annual Report 2017-18, Edmonton: Government of Alberta.Google Scholar
Alexander, J. (1999), ‘The Impact of Devolution on Nonprofits, a Multiphase Study of Social Service Organizations’, Nonprofit Management and Leadership, 10,1, 57–70.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ascoli, U. and Ranci, C. (eds.) (2002), Dilemmas of the Welfare Mix, NY: Springer.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bacher, J. (1993), Keeping to the Marketplace: the Evolution of Canadian Housing Policy, Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press.Google Scholar
Bifulco, L. and Vitale, T. (2006), ‘Contracting for Welfare Services in Italy’, Journal of Social Policy 35,3, 495–513.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bradley, S., Crouchley, R., Millington, J. and Taylor, J. (2000), ‘Testing for Quasi-market Forces in Secondary Education’, Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics 62,3, 357–390.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Buckingham, H. (2011), ‘Hybridity, Diversity, and the Division of Labour in the Third Sector: What Can We Learn from Homelessness Organisations in the UK?’ Voluntary Sector Review 2,2, 157–175.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Buckingham, H. (2012), ‘Capturing Diversity: A Typology of Third Sector Organisations’ Responses to Contracting Based on Empirical Evidence from Homelessness Services’, Journal of Social Policy 41,3, 569–589.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bunger, A. (2012), ‘Administrative Coordination in Nonprofit Human Service Delivery Networks: The Role of Competition and Trust’, Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 42,6, 1155–1175.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Burrows, R., Pleace, N. and Quilgars, D. (1997), Homelessness and Social Policy, London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Cabinet Office (2018), Civil Society Strategy: Building a Future that Works for Everyone, London: Government of the United Kingdom.Google Scholar
Cabinet Office Efficiency and Reform Group and Crown Commercial Service (CCS) (25 February 2015), Doing Business with Government: Guide for SMEs, London: Government of the United Kingdom.Google Scholar
Cammett, M. and MacLean, L. (eds.) (2014), The Politics of Non-state Social Welfare, Ithaca: Cornell University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
CCS (22 December 2017), ‘Procurement Policy Note 04/17: New Threshold Levels 2018’, Government of the United Kingdom Procurement Policy Note, https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/procurement-policy-notes [accessed 07.07.2021].Google Scholar
CCS (October 2016), The Public Contracts Regulations 2015 & The Utilities Contracts Regulations 2016 Guidance on Awarding Contracts, London: Government of the United Kingdom.Google Scholar
Chetkovich, C. and Frumkin, P. (2003), ‘Balancing Margin and Mission: Nonprofit Competition in Charitable versus Fee-based Programs’, Administration and Society, 35,5, 564–596.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Considine, M., Lewis, J. and O’Sullivan, S. (2011), ‘Quasi-markets and Service Delivery Flexibility Following a Decade of Employment Assistance Reform in Australia’, Journal of Social Policy 40,4, 811–833.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cordelli, C. (2020), The Privatized State, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Côté, P-B. (2012), ‘Besoins et Droits: Deux Modèles de Politiques Sociales en Itinérance au Québec [Needs and Rights: Two Models of Homelessness Policies in Quebec]’ Nouvelles Pratiques Sociales, 24(2) : 151–167.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dean, J., Goodlad, R. and Rosengard, A. (2000), ‘Citizenship in the New Welfare Market: The Purposes of Housing Advice Services’, Journal of Social Policy, 29,2, 229–245.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Department of Health and Social Care (9 July 2018), Care and Support Statutory Guidance, London: Government of the United Kingdom.Google Scholar
Eikenberry, A. M. and Kluver, J. D. (2004), ‘The Marketization of the Nonprofit Sector: Civil Society at Risk?’, Public Administration Review, 64, 132–140.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Esping-Andersen, G. (1990), The Three Worlds of Welfare Capitalism, Cambridge: Polity Press.Google Scholar
Farthing-Nichol, D. and Pries, M. (2018), Funding Services for Homeless Youth in Canada: Review & Recommendations, Toronto: MaRS Centre for Impact Investing.Google Scholar
Flynn, R., Pickard, S. and Williams, G. (2009), ‘Contracts and the Quasi-market in Community Health Services’, Journal of Social Policy, 24,4, 529–550.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Geldards, LLP (2013), Grants and Contracts: Guidance for Third Sector Organisations and Public Authorities, Wales Council for Voluntary Action, https://www.wcva.org.uk/media/666585/wcva_grants___contracts_e.pdf [accessed 07.07.2021]Google Scholar
Gingrich, J. (2011), Making Markets in the Welfare State: The Politics of Varying Market Reforms, New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Greer, I., Breidahl, H., Knuth, M. and Larsen, F. (2017), The Marketization of Employment Services: the Dilemmas of Europe’s Work-first Welfare State, NY, NY: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grogan, C. M. and Gusmano, M. K. (2009), ‘Political Strategies of Safety-Net Providers in Response to Medicaid Managed Care Reforms’, Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law 34, 5–35.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Haddow, R. (2015), Comparing Quebec and Ontario: Political Economy and Public Policy at the Turn of the Millennium, Toronto: University of Toronto Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Knapp, M., Hardy, B. and Forder, J. (2001), ‘Commissioning for Quality: Ten Years of Social Care Markets in England’, Journal of Social Policy, 30,2, 283–306.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lammers, J. (1990), ‘The Effect of Competition on Labor Management in Nonprofit Organizations’, Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 19,2, 171–186.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
le Grand, J. (1991), Quasi-Markets and Social Policy. The Economic Journal, 101(408), 1256–1267.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lowery, D. (1998), ‘Consumer Sovereignty and Quasi-market Failure’, Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 8,2, 137–172.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mackintosh, M. (2000), ‘Flexible Contracting? Economic Cultures and Implicit Contracts in Social Care’, Journal of Social Policy, 29,1, 1–19.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Macmillan, R. and Paine, A. E. (2020), ‘The Third Sector in a Strategically Selective Landscape – the Case of Commissioning Public Services’, Journal of Social Policy, First View, 1-21.Google Scholar
Marwell, N. and McInerney, P-B. (2005), ‘The Nonprofit/For-profit Continuum: Theorizing the Dynamics of Mixed-form Markets’, Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 34,1, 7–28.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mills & Reeve (2015), ‘Choice of Procedure Decision Tool’, Procurement Portal Document Toolkit Version 1.06, https://www.procurementportal.com/files/Uploads/Documents/award_procedure_decision_tool.pdf [accessed 07.07.2021].Google Scholar
Natow, R. (2019), ‘The Use of Triangulation in Qualitative Studies Employing Elite Interviews’, Qualitative Research, 20,2, 160–173.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ontario Trillium Foundation (OTF) (April 2017), ‘Local Poverty Reduction Fund – General Stream 2017 Call for Proposals Application Guide’, Government of Ontario, https://otf.ca/sites/default/files/lprf_application_guidelines_en.pdf [accessed 07.07.2021].Google Scholar
Phillips, S. and Smith, S. R. (2014), ‘A Dawn of Convergence? Third Sector Policy Regimes in the ‘Anglo-Saxon’ Cluster’, Public Management Review, 16,8, 1141–1163.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Public Contracts Regulations (PCR) (2015), Statutory Instrument of the United Kingdom(2015, No.102). Retrieved 17 September 2018 from legislation.gov.uk, http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2015/102/pdfs/uksi_20150102_en.pdf Google Scholar
Pue, K. (2021) ‘The Nonprofitized Welfare State: Examining the Relationship between Welfare Nonprofitization and Service Expansiveness in Canada and the United Kingdom’, Dissertation submitted 19 October 2020 in conformance with degree requirements at the University of Toronto Department of Political Science.Google Scholar
Pue, K., Westlake, D. and Jansen, A. (2021), ‘Does the Profit Motive Matter? COVID-19 Prevention and Management in Long-term Care Homes’, Canadian Public Policy 47(3): 421–438.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rees, J., Miller, R. and Buckingham, H. (2016), ‘Commission Incomplete: Exploring the New Model for Purchasing Public Services from the Third Sector’, Journal of Social Policy 46,1, 175–194.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Salamon, L. (2015), ‘Introduction: the Nonprofitization of the Welfare State’, Voluntas, 26, 2147–2154.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Salamon, L. and Anheier, H. (1998), ‘Social Origins of Civil Society: Explaining the Nonprofit Sector Cross-nationally’, Voluntas, 9, 213–248.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sharp, Z. (2018), ‘Existential Angst and Identity Rethink: The Complexities of Competition for the Nonprofit’, Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 47,4, 767–788.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, A. (2016), Filling the Gap: Cities and the Fight Against Homelessness in Canada, doctoral thesis, Université de Montréal Department of Political Science.Google Scholar
Smith, S. R. and Lipsky, M. (1993), Nonprofits for Hire: The Welfare State in the Age of Contracting, Cambridge: Harvard University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stroup, S. and Wong, W. (2017), The Authority Trap: Strategic Choices of International NGOs, Ithaca: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Taylor-Gooby, P. (1999), ‘Markets and Motives Trust and Egoism in Welfare Markets’, Journal of Social Policy 28,1, 97–114.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Toronto Shelter, Support and Housing Administration (TSSHA) (2018), Request for Proposals (RFP) for the Provision of Housing Supports to TCHC Rooming House Tenants, Toronto: City of Toronto.Google Scholar
Tuckman, H. (1998), ‘Competition, Commercialization, and the Evolution of Nonprofit Organizational Structures’, Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, 17,2, 175–194.3.0.CO;2-E>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weisbrod, B. (1998), ‘The Nonprofit Mission and its Financing: Growing Links between Nonprofits and the Rest of the Economy’, in Weisbrod, B. (ed.), To Profit or Not to Profit: the Commercial Transformation of the Nonprofit Sector, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1–24.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wolff, N. and Schlesinger, M. (1998), ‘Access, Hospital Ownership, and Competition between For-profit and Nonprofit Institutions’, Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 27,2, 203–226.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
York Region (February 2017), ‘Update on the Transformation of the Housing Stability and Homelessness Prevention System in Ontario’, Report from the Commissioner of Community and Health Services to the Committee of the Whole, https://www.york.ca/wps/wcm/connect/yorkpublic/bdae5853-1d06-4732-a306-a7e9fde5bbb3/feb+2+update+ex.pdf?MOD=AJPERES [accessed 07.07.2021].Google Scholar
Supplementary material: File

Pue supplementary material

Pue supplementary material

Download Pue supplementary material(File)
File 14.4 KB