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Total Place and the Third Sector

Total Place is an ambitious programme that has the potential to transform landscape of local public service delivery.

In response to the budget 2010 announcements, OTS has drawn together examples of third sector contributions from the 13 Total Place Pilots and other areas demonstrating Total Place ways of working.

The economic climate is driving severe constraints on public finances. We need to find ways of working that enable us to address serious economic and social issues while at the same time delivering more efficient services. Total Place is about drawing on the frontline experience to find solutions that meet people’s needs and which deliver better value for money.

The third sector has a key role in Total Place through:

• Facilitating community engagement and empowerment of citizens to be involved in design of their services
• Using the sector's own aggregated expertise on needs of individuals and communities and the solutions
• As a service provider in their own right, making a practical contribution in redesigning and delivering services to be more efficient as well as more effective, and responsive to user needs.

Many of the examples in the report are from Total Place areas, many are not but demonstrate a ‘Total Place way of working’ – cutting across service or sector lines to design and deliver a holistic, efficient service around the needs of communities and individuals. We can learn from all these examples. 

Further information

The full Total Place report on the findings of the 13 pilots can be found at:

• Total Place report [external link]

Discuss Total Place at the online Communities of Practice:

• Total Place [external link]
• Third Sector [external link]

Find out more about about how third sector organisations have already been following Total Place principles:

• 'The Third Sector & Total Place' - a collection of case studies [PDF, 174KB, 13 pages]