Payment By Results: The Devil Will be in the Detail

The piloting of payment-by-results in children's centres is getting under way soon.

Most commentators welcome PBR in principle but point out the devil is in the detail.

The Social Market Foundation’s Ryan Shorthouse is concerned that some impact on children may be down to health visitors or teachers not children’s centres.

"While we advocate payment-by-results, there are problems. It is not right to withdraw or increase funding to Sure Start centres when it is not just them that have contributed to the results."

Others worry that PBR could result in children’s centres focussing on outputs - like how many mums and dads went on a parenting course – rather than the outcomes –whether the parenting course has meant any positive change for their children.

This latter concern is crucial which is why we helping to promote an outcomes-orientated approach to colleagues in the voluntary sector.

Upskilling those who do the actual work with parents and children to evaluate the outcomes of their activity will be vital to the success of PBR.

The dilemma is that they are in their jobs because they have  predominantly people,  rather than systems or data,  skills –and they must be allowed to focus on quality work with people.

So it is vital that they get  systems for measuring impact that are straightforward to use and assist their work with parents and children.

At Family Action we’ve been piloting the Family Star, a visual tool which our commissioners and practitioners find straightforward to understand , and is easily incorporated into the progress reviews that practitioners carry out with parents.

This means that service users get some say into whether they think the support they have been offered has had a meaningful impact on their lives.

And quite possibly the most important voice missing is in the debate about PBR is the voice of parents and children who use children’s centres.

Shouldn’t we be listening to them too about whether they think they’ve had a result?