Advocacy is the key to the success of legislation designed to protect the interests of people who lack the capacity to make important decisions on issues such as where they live.
So it’s shocking that many councils are only offering advocacy agencies year-long contracts to provide an Independent Mental Capacity Advocacy (imca) service, as required under the Mental Capacity Act 2005. Despite many years of campaigning by the sector, many local authorities still believe it is acceptable to expect voluntary agencies to exist in such a hand-to-mouth fashion. Consequently, voluntary sector resources – human and financial – are swallowed up by retendering for business at regular intervals when they should be used on providing good quality services.
Why are local authorities so reluctant to give three-year contracts to the voluntary agencies? Maybe fears – largely unfounded – persist that they are disorganized and badly-run. It doesn’t help that central government says that three-year contracts “may be appropriate” when it should be insisting councils offer them as the norm.
Not only is it unfair to the organisations, it will also undermine the effectiveness of those providing advocacy services if they cannot get on with the job in hand because they bogged down with the bureaucracy created by submitting bids for cash.