Children England Legacy

Children England closed on 31st December 2023 after 80 years.

They said they wanted to close loudly and proudly – and today they offered 5 episodes of legacy podcasts – which they hope will resonate and connect with the charity sector, children and families sector, youth leadership, fellow infrastructure bodies and more.

We encourage you to watch/listen, share – consider posting them on your own websites if they resonate – whether individual episodes, or the whole set. Please do share and comment by social media.

We have just listened to the first in this series – “Markets and Commissioning for Charities for their Services”.

Plenty of food for thought. This podcast mentions the need for trustees to be rigorous in their thinking about the needs of their beneficiaries before engaging in a commissioning process. With the example of Carillion in 2015 being the canary in the coalmine – how important it is to protect margins, but also how the competitive nature of the commissioning squanders resources and leads to a loss of independence.

What particularly struck us is the thought that a lot of the market and commissioning drivers have ended up commodifying our children.

Definitely worth listening to and sharing with others.