SCHW ensures that our partner organisations are empowered to be involved in larger national major funding opportunities. It is a way of moving beyond local funding opportunities and to do specific pieces of work that may not be funded at a local level. The consortium approach offers organisations the opportunity to:

• Secure contracts or funding that would not otherwise be available.

• Extend their service provision into new fields.

• Gain new expertise or to extend their activities in to new geographies or other community groups.

What do Commissioners get?

Commissioners get a single point of contact with clear lines of responsibility through SCHW for the delivery organisations. They get certainty about the quality of delivery throughout the chain of Partners. They get greater impact for their investment in different communities. They achieve economies of scale by having one point of contact which ensures that funding is directed to delivery rather than spent on bureaucracy. SCHW deliver on outcomes rather than prescriptive services, this means that the consortium will use the appropriate methods to ensure successful delivery. As a result, service users will often progress to activities within the Partner organisation or be signposted to new support or learning opportunities following the delivery of the contract.

Over the last 10 years SCHW has been successful in setting up consortia of SCHW organisations to bid for, manage and deliver community led health and wellbeing improvement programmes. Over this time SCHW has attracted over £1.8million in funding to deliver community based programmes. The consortium model has evolved over this time. In some instances, SCHW manages a number of consortia contracts with multiple Partners. One major example of partnership working has been SPRING, a £3million Big Lottery funded social prescribing programme involving a consortium of 10 SCHW organisations working in partnership with 15 Healthy Living Centres in Northern Ireland. To learn more about our approach please click here