Board and SMT risk/benefit matrix GAEH

How do I assess the risks/benefits of involvement with the GlasgowAlliance to End Homelessness?

There are both risks and benefits in involvement in any form of procurement process. The following sets out some of the main risk/benefit areas with some supporting statements designed to prompt discussion of the relative risks of participating and not participating. The list is not meant to be exhaustive and should be read in conjunction with the provider FAQ’s/briefing.

The risk/benefit areas are:

  1. Governance
  2. Financial/resources
  3. Staffing
  4. Reputation and Profile
  5. Services
  6. Supported People
  7. Legal/compliance
  8. Improving and learning
  9. Collaborating and partnership

Organisations will have their own risk management approaches and processes – the following template is suggested as a complement to these.

  1. Governance [1]

Risks / Benefits
Participating is not in the Interests of the charity / Participating clearly aligns with the interest of the charity
This action is too risky for the charity (Care and diligence) / We have assessed the risk to the charity and put in place plans to manage these and are confident they are manageable.
This action goes against our Charitable purpose / This action clearly aligns with, and promotes our charitable purpose
  1. Financial /resources

Risks / Benefits
This a may lead to income loss / This action may lead to income gain
This action may increase the instability of our funding and threaten our sustainability / This action may increase the styability of our funding contributing to our sustainability
The contract duration and payment mechanisms are too risky / The contract duration is acceptable and payment mechanisms (and levels) are acceptable
The transaction costs of potential subcontracting are too high / The transaction costs of potential subcontracting a reasonable OR we are agreed not to offer subcontracting
Dual running costs for re-designed services are too high/not met in the contract / Dual running costs for re-designed services are manageable and/or met within the contract.
The investment of time and resources required is too great / The investment of time and resources required is proportionate to the possible business gains.
  1. Staffing

Risks / Benefits
This action may lead us to lose staff / This action may lead us to gain staff
Staff will require re-deployment/retraining / Staff will required re-deployment/retraining
The TUPE implications of this are too risky for the organisation / There are no TUPE implications OR we are confident that we can manage these
The staff time required from our senior management team/CEO to participate is too great / The staff time required from our senior management team/CEO is proportionate.
We don’t have the expertise or internal capacity to manage this level of change. / We have the expertise and internal capacity (or a way to bring it in) to manage this level of change
  1. Reputation and profile

Risks / Benefits
Our reputation will suffer if we work with these partners / Our reputation will be improved through work with these partners
If we aren’t involved we might lose profile (and therefore business) / If we are involved our profile will increase.
Open book accounting is too risky for us / We are comfortable sharing our costs through open book accounting. [2]
  1. Services

Risks / Benefits
We are not ready to innovate/ re-design our service offer / We are ready to innovate and re-design our service offer
We have a lot of buildings based services and risk losing these / We don’t have buildings based services OR we are able to dis-invest in these and change our provision
  1. Supported people

Risks / Benefits
Services for supported people will be disrupted or lost to an unacceptable degree / This offers us the opportunity to change the way we deliver support to meet people’s needs better.
Supported people will have worries about the future of their service / Supported people will get the chance to reshape their support if they want to.
Supported people’s expectations might reduce/increase/change / Supported people’s expectations might reduce/increase/change
Quality of support may suffer / Quality of support may improve
  1. Legal and compliance

Risks / Benefits
Contract law- how will the alliance deal with legacy contracts / Contract law- legacy contracts continue until review point
Care inspectorate gradings / Care inspectorate gradings
SSSC registration / SSSC registration
Loss of intellectual property / Loss of intellectual property
  1. Improving and learning

Risks / Benefits
We don’t learn anything from participating in the alliance. / The learning about other services and the additional learning from working together will be significant
We already have a good understanding of the system, and our role in it. / The ability to work more systemically and understand how to make things work better together will be significant.
  1. Collaboration and Partnership

Risks / Benefits
We have had a negative experience of consortium/collaborative working in the past. / We have had a positive experience of consortium/collaborative working in the past.
We have no track record of collaboration/consortium working and are not sure how to go about this. / We have a track record of successful collaboration/consortium working and know our organisation can evidence the right behaviours and approaches to this.
We don’t know who we can work well with in partnership or the kinds of organisational ethos, characteristics, values and approach that form the right foundation for partnership working. [3] / We know who we can work well with in partnership. We are clear on the ethos, characteristics, values and approach we need as a foundation for partnership working.

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V 3 updated 22nd June 2017

Board and SMT risk/benefit matrix GAEH

Risk/benefit analysis template

Benefits / Is this true for your organisation? / Plan to maximise / Risks / Is this true for your organisation / Plan to mitigate / Do the benefits exceed the risks?
1. Governance / Participating clearly aligns with the interest of the charity / Participating is not in the Interests of the charity
We have assessed the risk to the charity and put in place plans to manage these and are confident they are manageable. / This action is too risky for the charity (Care and diligence)
This action clearly aligns with, and promotes our charitable purpose / This action goes against our Charitable purpose
Other / Other
2. Financial/resources / Income gain / income loss
increased income stability / decreased income stabilitiy
The contract duration is acceptable and payment mechanisms (and levels) are acceptable / The contract duration and payment mechanisms are too risky
The transaction costs of potential subcontracting a reasonable OR we are agreed not to offer subcontracting / The transaction costs of potential subcontracting are too high
Dual running costs for re-designed services are manageable and/or met within the contract. / Dual running costs for re-designed services are too high/not met in the contract
The investment of time and resources required is proportionate to the possible business gains. / The investment of time and resources required is too great
Other
Benefits / Is this true for your organisation? / Plan to maximise / Risks / Is this true for your organisation / Plan to mitigate / Do the benefits exceed the risks?
3. Staffing / This action may lead us to gain staff / This action may lead us to lose staff
Staff will required re-deployment/retraining / Staff will require re-deployment/retraining
There are no TUPE implications OR we are confident that we can manage these / The TUPE implications of this are too risky for the organisation
The staff time required from our senior management team/CEO is proportionate. / The staff time required from our senior management team/CEO to participate is too great
We have the expertise and internal capacity (or a way to bring it in) to manage this level of change / We don’t have the expertise or internal capacity to manage this level of change.
Other / Other
4. Reputation and Profile / Our reputation will be improved through work with these partners / Our reputation will suffer if we work with these partners
If we are involved our profile will increase. / If we aren’t involved we might lose profile (and therefore business)
[We are comfortable sharing our costs through open book accounting.] / Open book accounting is too risky for us
Other / Other
5. Services / We are ready to innovate and re-design our service offer / We are not ready to innovate/ re-design our service offer
We don’t have buildings based services OR we are able to dis-invest in these and change our provision / We have a lot of buildings based services and risk losing these
Other / Other
Benefits / Is this true for your organisation? / Plan to maximise / Risks / Is this true for your organisation / Plan to mitigate / Do the benefits exceed the risks?
6. Supported People / This offers us the opportunity to change the way we deliver support to meet people’s needs better. / Services for supported people will be disrupted or lost to an unacceptable degree
Supported people will get the chance to reshape their support if they want to. / Supported people will have worries about the future of their service
Supported people’s expectations might reduce/increase/change / Supported people’s expectations might reduce/increase/change
Quality of support may improve / Quality of support may suffer
other / Quality
7. Legal/compliance / Contract law- legacy contracts continue until review point / Contract law- how will the alliance deal with legacy contracts
intellectual property is protected/shared / Loss of intellectual property
SSSC registration / SSSC registration
Care inspectorate gradings / Care inspectorate gradings
Other / other
8. Improving and learning / The learning about other services and the additional learning from working together will be significant / We don’t learn anything from participating in the alliance.
The ability to work more systemically and understand how to make things work better together will be significant. / We already have a good understanding of the system, and our role in it.
Benefits / Is this true for your organisation? / Plan to maximise / Risks / Is this true for your organisation / Plan to mitigate / Do the benefits exceed the risks?
9. Collaboration and Partnership / We have had a positive experience of consortium/collaborative working in the past. / We have had a negative experience of consortium/collaborative working in the past.
We have a track record of successful collaboration/consortium working and know our organisation can evidence the right behaviours and approaches to this. / We have no track record of collaboration/consortium working and are not sure how to go about this.
We know who we can work well with in partnership. We are clear on the ethos, characteristics, values and approach we need as a foundation for partnership working. / We don’t know who we can work well with in partnership or the kinds of organisational ethos, characteristics, values and approach that form the right foundation for partnership working. [4]

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V 3 updated 22nd June 2017

[1]As a trustee of a Scottish Charity you have specific duties. These include:

  • Acting in the interests of the charity
  • Acting in way that is consistent with the charity’s purpose
  • Acting with care and diligence

Managing conflicts of interest

[2] See page 45 of for a discussion of open book contracting/accounting

[3]

[We are comfortable sharing our costs through open book accounting.]

[4]