Politicians and public bodies are making a big ‘mistake’ by not investing in third sector capacity as they commission services under the Big Society banner, a leading charity chief has warned.

Javed Khan, chief executive of Victim Support, told The MJ that while he supports the empowerment of charities and other third sector bodies under the Big Society initiative, it is too often viewed as a cost-cutting programme with commissioners less focused on longer-term benefits.

He urged national and local politicians, and public managers – including council officials – to view the regime as an ‘invest to save’ initiative, and said decision-makers should somehow find crucial cash to train volunteers to ensure future providers could deliver tough service requirements.

Failure to do so, he warned, could see few contractors come forward to provide vital services in some areas.

Victim Support is one of the largest UK charities and is part-funded by the Ministry of Justice [80%] and local authorities [10%]. But Mr Khan has not refrained from acting as a critical friend of organisations promoting the Big Society.

‘We’re talking at government level about our experience of what works and what doesn’t, and telling them that it can’t be done on the cheap,’ he said.

‘It’s an invest-to-save model – but you’ve got to invest. The mistake I see up and down the country is that they’re not investing and they are trying to do it overnight – and it’s not working because people are not coming forward.’

Criminal justice-related services, such as extra support for victims and witnesses, could become a focal point for Big Society-style programmes. Volunteer or charity-led services are already snowballing across the leisure and youth sectors, including many plans for residents to run local libraries.

But Mr Khan, a former senior manager at Birmingham City Council and Harrow LBC, said too many projects are a ‘financial deal’ backed by politicians ‘desperate to save their libraries [for example] because they know the public use libraries and that it’s a vote loser to close down libraries’.

In contrast, he said, charities such as Victim Support have long pioneered ambitious Big Society programmes that reconfigured services to secure improvements.

‘Our [7,000] volunteers put in over one million hours of their personal time each year. In labour terms that’s a £20m to £30m contribution. ‘But we support them – these are trained volunteers. It’s compulsory and high-class training with consistent standards.

‘That is the Big Society, really, with local people trying to make a difference in their community – and I don’t think that’s fully understood by local authorities,’ he said.

A council executive endorsing Big Society programmes responded: ‘This is partially about saving money – there’s no getting away from that. But in my experience, service quality is the primary consideration.’