With pressure building across the sector the Western Australian Council of Social Service in partnership with Community Employers WA will be holding a consultation with community service organisations to assist with funding, contracts, and how to renegotiate the terms of your contracts. This is particularly important given the increasing impact of the Equal Remuneration Order (ERO) and changes to indexation policy.

Programs and services are increasingly being squeezed, with pressure to deliver high-quality, sustainable services that achieve positive outcomes under old contracts, while also meeting the ERO requirements.

Louise Giolitto, CEO, WACOSS and John Bouffler, Executive Director, CEWA, will facilitate a free workshop, to help equip services with tools and resources to support the renegotiation of funding agreements with contract managers.

As well as financial budgeting spreadsheets to assist with renegotiations, other potential advocacy resources will be shared and discussed. It will also be an opportunity for services to share their strategies in working through the challenges, and to contribute to our collective advocacy initiatives.

Under the Delivering Community Services in Partnership (DCSP) Policy, all organisations have the right to renegotiate a contract, especially contracts that have been extended multiple times without appropriate adjustments to cover the impact of increased costs of service delivery.

24/7 homelessness services are especially encouraged to attend,  as we have heard from many services how difficult it is to sustainably deliver these contracts that were originally signed in 2009.

Don’t miss the opportunity to help develop the tools and resources to ensure we can continue to provide the community with the best services and outcomes.