These findings show that voluntary sector organisations concerned with the supply
of drug treatment services have found the challenges placed on them by the expansion
in service provision difficult to manage. In particular they have struggled to recruit
suitably qualified and experienced workers, with three-quarters of respondents
indicating difficulties. These findings paint a similar picture to studies conducted in
other parts of the voluntary sector where there has been an increased involvement in
the provision of publicly funded services (Nickson et al., 2008), but suggest a more
pervasive problem than in the sector more generally (Wilding et al., 2003). It is perhaps
not surprisingly that the significant expansion of drug treatment services had had the
effect of exacerbating existing recruitment problems, caused by the apparent stigma
attached to the work and the lack of permanent employment as a result of contract
funding. A surplus of suitably qualified and experienced staff simply did not exist and
given the time lag associated with gaining such qualifications and experience, a
strategy of major expansion in the provision of drug treatment services had, almost
inevitably, created a significant labour shortage.
Consequently, provider organisations had to compete with one another for the
available labour. However, this situation of scarcity of skills had not, in line with
conventional wisdom (Price, 2004; Claydon, 2001), had a major impact on the pay and
conditions offered to workers. Whilst some voluntary organisations reported that they
had attempted to increase the pay they offered, they had been unable to do this at a
level that would alter the dynamics of this labour market and enable them to compete
with public or private sector providers. This can at least in part be explained by the
contract environment in which these organisations operated, whereby the need to
control costs, including labour costs was dominant.
If an organisation is unable to respond to a labour shortage by raising pay levels to
a level where they can attract labour, they need to look to other non-financial means of