Challenges for Third Sector Organisations in cutback management: a sporting case study of the implications of publicness

Cutback management is a key theme for public services in an era of austerity, but the responsibilities for implementing public funding cutbacks do not always fall upon managers employed in the public sector. This article focuses on the cutbacks at third sector organisations (TSOs) - three national governing bodies (NGBs) of sport - which were affected by UK Sport’s ‘No Compromise’ policy following the 2012 Olympics. The article introduces the public funding cutback decision hierarchy as a novel framework which is used alongside existing theory to assess the implications of the severity and immediacy of cutback.