Listen Up - Social Welfare Portal

listenup!78 | Chapter 11Throughout the country, there are programmes being delivered bycharities, social enterprises and voluntary groups that work brilliantly. It isgroups like these at the front line of delivery who know about what works andwhat doesn’t. Their creativity, their innovation, their energy, and their capacityto build trust are helping us to meet the tough challenges ahead and to driveimprovements, to extend choice and to give a voice to the public.Tony Blair, Prime Minister, Cabinet Office,Office of the Third Sector, 2006in difficulty. One had funding stopped at short noticeand, at the time of going to press, was campaigninghard to prevent its successful counselling servicefrom being closed down. The other was informedthat it was unlikely funding would continue beyonda basic level, but a last-minute change meant thatthey actually received a higher level of funding thanexpected. Although this was good news, the latenotice had led to their services being wound downand all staff had been served notice of redundancy.Such funding issues can have a huge impact onthe stability of voluntary sector organisations, cannegatively affect staff morale and hinder creative andinnovative planning. It can also stifle the expansion ofservices in high demand which are restricted by thesize of their premises and/or staffing levels. Withoutlonger-term funding they are unable to fully assesswhether it is a viable option to expand.Smaller organisations also struggled with bidsfor funding as they did not have the time orstaff expertise that would be available in largerorganisations. In addition, some funders specifiedthat money had to be spent on certain types orprogrammes of work, meaning that the organisationhad to decide whether they could fit potentialfunded work in with their broader organisationalaims and goals. One partner site said this can leadto programmes of work being funding-driven ratherthan based on local need.There are a number of organisations that helpvoluntary sector organisations source funding. TheNational Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO)provides training and opportunities for networking, aswell as running a sustainable funding project whichhelps voluntary sector organisations to find all the bestopportunities for funding (www.ncvo-vol.org.uk).VCS Engage is a programme funded by theDepartment for Education and Skills (DfES) whichaims to strengthen the engagement of thoseworking with children and young people in thevoluntary and community sectors in the planning,commissioning and delivery of services(www.vcsengage.org.uk). This is a time of bigchange as children’s trusts are being developed andarrangements for integrated working are currentlybeing developed by local authorities in England.The Community Sector Partnership for Childrenand Young People, supported by VCS Engage, areencouraging voluntary and community sectororganisations to keep involved in the planning anddelivery of services as these changes occur.