Fears Betrayed: Initial Impressions of Contracting for United Kingdom Social Services

Purchase-of-service contracting is both new and relatively underdeveloped in the United Kingdom (UK) personal social services system. It already appears likely, however, that POS contracting will become the principal, and possibly sole, form of state funding for voluntary organizations in the social services field within the next few years. Unlike the United States, where contracting has developed on an ad hoc basis, in the UK it is a deliberate aim of government policy (Deakin, 1993).