April 2013 quarterly survey findings

NAVCA has published the findings of our fourth quarterly survey of members. The survey takes the temperature of NAVCA members and tracks trends in local voluntary action. NAVCA has a representative panel of members who we ask to complete a short survey every three months. The survey tracks trends among NAVCA members. The first survey took place in July 2012.

Headline findings

1. Pessimistic about prospects for local charities and community groups. For the first time, this survey shows that more members feel that the prospects for the local voluntary and community sector will get slightly worse over the next three months. In all previous surveys the prevailing view was that the outlook was broadly stable.
2. Nearly half are reducing staff levels. In response to the question are changes to paid staff are planned in the next three months, the percentage of respondents saying that staffing would stay the same fell to its lowest figure (32%) yet. However, this was due to both the figure increasing for NAVCA members planning to increase (24%) and decrease (44%) staff numbers.
3. Collaboration still seen as way forward. NAVCA members continue to say that increased collaboration with other local support organisations is likely over the next twelve months. Over half (54%) of respondents expect to see more collaboration and only 8% expect to see less.
4. Changes in policing may be improving relationships with the voluntary sector. Over a quarter of respondents (27%) say that their relationship with the local police has improved over the past 12 months (and just 4% say it has got worse). This may be in part due to the greater emphasis on working with local charities and community groups the elected PCCs have introduced.
5. Relationships with local authorities under pressure. For the first time the survey has more respondents saying the local authority will have a negative rather than positive effect on their success over the coming year.
6. Other Charities remain key to success. The majority of respondents (54%) felt that other charities will have a positive impact on their success over the coming year and no-one thought they would have a negative effect.
7. Cuts are creating increased workload. For the fourth time, increased workload remains the biggest issue for respondents. Increasing earned income is second.

Charity Commission must do more to maintain public trust in charities

NAVCA has supported calls for the Charity Commission to take stronger action to protect the public respect and trust for charities. Stuart Etherington, Chief Executive of NCVO, has today said that the Charity Commission must learn from the mistakes it made in the recent Cup Trust tax-avoidance case. He has called for the Commission to show more teeth in order to rebuild its credibility with the sector and with Government, and to regain respect.

The Cup Trust scandal broke earlier this year when it emerged that the charity raised £176 million in two years but only gave out £55,000 to good causes. Despite the Cup Trust doing little charitable work, donors were able to avoid £46 million of tax using Gift Aid incentives. The Charity Commission has been criticised for failing to take action and Parliament has asked the National Audit Office to study the Commission’s regulatory conduct.

Joe Irvin, Chief Executive of NAVCA said,

“I agree with Sir Stuart’s concern about the charity commission’s apparently timid handling of the Cup Trust case. Charities enjoy an enormous level of public support. But reputations can be trashed quite quickly by a few high profile cases.”

“For small local community organisations having a charity registration number is a vital mark of confidence when asking for public donations or funding from public bodies or foundations. We rely on the independent charity commission to root out questionable behaviour in order to maintain public trust.”

NAVCA confirmed as health and care strategic partner

The Department of Health has announced that NAVCA is one of the 21 voluntary sector organisations that will be part of the Health and Care Voluntary Sector Strategic Partner Programme for 2013-14. This strengthens the support NAVCA can offer members to build the capacity and capability of local charities and community groups. It will also help NAVCA members get their views heard by the Department of Health, about how to best support local voluntary action.

The programme provides a way for policy makers to reach hundreds of thousands of small charities and community groups. NAVCA being a strategic partner shows that the Department of Health values the reach of NAVCA members. It also reflects the fact that health and care is an increasingly important part of many NAVCA members work. NAVCA members are play a key role in almost a third of the new local Healthwatch organisations, set up to give local people a say over local health services.

Joe Irvin, Chief Executive of NAVCA, said;

“We’re delighted that NAVCA has been chosen to be a health and care strategic partner. This is recognition of the reach of NAVCA members and the role they play to get people involved in the design and delivery of local health and social care services.”

“Our members make sure the voices of local charities and community groups are heard. As a strategic partner, NAVCA will bring the local intelligence they gather to bear on the national debate. Our members are a bridge between local groups and statutory health bodies and will give DH, NHSE and PHE a unique perspective on the relationship between local public bodies and charities and community groups.”

Read the announcement from DH

NAVCA concern over additionality comments

NAVCA is concerned by comments reported yesterday from Ceri Doyle, director of strategy, performance and learning at the Big Lottery Fund, that BIG will be looking at the principle of additionality and producing a policy. The comments were made at a funding conference earlier this week. Additionality is a fundamental principle under-pinning the lottery and NAVCA believes that if it is to be changed a wide ranging debate is needed first.

The principle was first laid out by John Major’s Government in the 1992 White Paper that paved the way for the creation of the National Lottery. John Major recognised that Sport, Arts and Heritage play a vital part in the daily lives of most people but they would struggle to compete with the demands of health, education and defence for Government funds. In 1994 the year of the very first lottery grant, John Major said that “the money raised by the Lottery will not replace public expenditure.”

The National Lottery Act 2006 wrote the additionality principle into legislation. Lottery Distributors are currently required to outline the ways in which they ensure that Lottery funding does not act as a replacement for government funds.

Joe Irvin, NAVCA’s Chief Executive, said;

“This was a highly contentious issue when the Lottery was established, and the legislation only got though once the government promised that Lottery money would go to ‘good causes’, not to prop up government spending on public services. The principle was established in the 1992 White Paper and later enshrined in statute.”

“The failure so far to pay back as promised the millions of pounds Government ‘borrowed’ from the Lottery to pay for the Olympics (highlighted by the Public Accounts Committee today) only adds to concerns.”

 “Lottery money comes from the people who buy tickets. There is a general understanding that the money raised will go to good causes that the state won’t fund. If there is to be a rethink this should be done by asking both the public who buy lottery tickets and the thousands of small charities and community groups who benefit from lottery funding what they think.”

NAVCA welcomes Early Intervention Foundation

NAVCA warmly welcomes the launch of the Early Intervention Foundation (EIF) at 10 Downing Street on 15 April 2013. This follows the signing of a contract on 5 February 2013 between the Department for Education and the Early Intervention Foundation Consortium led by 4Children, which includes NAVCA and the Local Government Association. The EIF has been established to champion and support greater use of early intervention approaches. The EIF initiative has received widespread, cross-party support.

The EIF will

• Assess what programmes work to determine both the best Early Interventions available and their relative value for money
• Advise local commissioners, service providers and potential investors to enable them to make the best choices for supporting children and families
• Advocate for Early Intervention as a serious alternative to expensive and ineffective late intervention

Early Intervention identifies the early symptoms of social problems and then tackles the root causes - such as drink and drug abuse, teen pregnancy, low educational attainment, poor parenting and unemployment – by giving every baby, child and young person the social and emotional skills necessary to enable them to fulfil their potential. Tackling the cause of the problem breaks the intergenerational cycles of dysfunction and reduces later costs to the taxpayer as well as non-financial costs to society as a whole.

Further information:

• Early Intervention Foundation’s website
• Follow EIF on twitter
• NAVCA’s EIF webpage

Making membership matter

One of the things we’re currently talking to members about is improving membership schemes alongside other income generation activities. Bill Freeman has written the first of two blogs sharing ideas and approaches members can use to improve their membership schemes. The first blog, published today, looks at the benefits of being a membership association and how to reconcile the need to work with members and a broader range of groups.

We have created a framework to help you identify how to make more of your membership schemes and can use this to help you generate ideas and create the building blocks of a new business plan for your scheme.

If you received BIG Assist vouchers then this might be the perfect way to spend them. We understand that another 40 organisations have been awarded vouchers from the Big Assist programme. We are one of the approved suppliers, so if you are one of those organisations please invite us to make a proposal on how we can help you get the most value from your voucher.

Read Bill’s blog

NAVCA budget statement

Following the Budget announcement by George Osborne today,Joe Irvin, Chief Executive of NAVCA, said;

“We welcome the fact that charities that employ staff will benefit from the proposal that employers’ national insurance will be cut from April next year. However, we feel that George Osborne has missed a bigger opportunity. He could have demonstrated he understands that as well as providing vital support to communities, local charities and voluntary organisations that can help get our local economies moving.”

“We would have liked to see an investment fund to specifically help micro social enterprise and local charities to generate growth in the poorest areas. We didn’t get this and now need to see how the Lord Heseltine’s proposal to stimulate the economy by creating local growth deals with Local Enterprise Partnership can be used to support local charities and social enterprises.”

The key points from the Budget

• 1 penny off the price of a pint of beer, and the fuel escalator has been scrapped
• Fuel duty: the 3p per litre increase in the fuel duty scheduled for September is cancelled
• The economy is expected to grow by just 0.6% this year, not 1.2% as expected. Then growth of 1.8% in 2014, and 2.3% in 2015
• The national debt will hit 85% of GDP, and will not start falling until 2017-18 (a year later than expected)
• Whitehall spending cuts will reach £3bn, not £2.5bn as expected, to fund a capital expenditure programme.
• The Income tax allowance will rise to £30,000 by April 2014; corporation tax will fall to 20
• A new employment allowance will take the first £2,000 off the employer national insurance bill of every company in the country.

NAVCA welcomes local Healthwatch guidance

NAVCA has welcomed new guidance, Local Healthwatch Regulations Explained, published by the Department of Health and the Local Government Association. NAVCA was concerned that the regulations were unclear and might lead some to conclude that they might prevent a local Healthwatch engaging in local campaigns. We have worked with the DH and LGA to get clarification in this guidance that campaigning is a legitimate and vital role for local Healthwatch.

NAVCA has released a podcast in which Neil Cleeveley, their Director of Policy and Communications, welcomes the new guidance.

In the podcast Neil Cleeveley says;

“There was not enough explanation at the time about what the regulations meant for local Healthwatch particularly in relation to campaigning.”

“This guidance helps and clarifies the regulations and makes clear to everyone that Local Healthwatch is here to campaign on behalf of local people.”

• Watch the podcast
• Read Local Healthwatch Regulations Explained, on the LGA website.

NAVCA supports Ethical Care Charter

NAVCA is giving its support to the Ethical Care Charter drawn up by UNISON.  The Charter establishes a minimum baseline for the safety, quality and dignity of homecare and local authorities are being invited to sign up to the Charter. NAVCA has a long record of encouraging intelligent commissioning and has been an outspoken promoter of issues such as grant funding and social value.

Charities are important providers of care to support independent living. Research commissioned by UNISON identified commissioning practices pushing costs down at the expense of both the standard of care and the working conditions of those delivering care. The research found that rushed home visits are a false economy as they result in a greater likelihood of falls, medication errors and deterioration through loneliness. NAVCA believes these short-sighted, poor commissioning practices create the greatest disadvantage for mission-led organisations like charities which are reluctant to sacrifice quality for cost.

Joe Irvin, Chief Executive of NAVCA, said

“We support the Ethical Care Charter as it brings together those receiving care and their families with the people providing the care. They all want the same thing, a high standard of care that put the person needing care at its heart.

 “I hope that local councils feel able to sign up to this Charter. People who need care in their home deserve high quality support not a ‘race to the bottom’ where price is everything. Commissioners should consider the real cost of poor homecare, which can often result in premature admission to a residential home or hospital. |Commissioners should also recognise the extra ‘social value’ charities bring to people-centred services such as homecare.”

Read the UNISON Ethical Care Charter (link takes you to the UNISON website)

Considering the voluntary sector in Local Authority budget decisions

Local authorities are finalising their budgets for 2013-14. NAVCA has joined with ACEVO, NAVCA and Compact Voice to write to them all asking that they consider the value of voluntary and community organisations in delivering services and support to their local communities. They have also urged them to continue to support this vital work.

The four charities say that they understand the pressures on local budgets but the letter reminds them of their duties under Best Value Guidance and the Compact. This will mean they follow fair and appropriate processes when making changes to their funding relationships with organisations which will help charities and voluntary organisations to manage the impact of any changes.

Read the full letter (pdf 350kb)

NAVCA and Locality call for £150m fund for poorest communities

With the budget just a week away, NAVCA and Locality have called for the Chancellor George Osborne to create a fund to help micro social enterprise and local charities generate growth in the poorest areas. To tackle the stalling economic growth, they want a fund of £150 million to provide £3 million growth funding to the 50 most deprived areas in England.

NAVCA and Locality originally called for this fund in an Autumn Statement submission to the Chancellor last year. It noted then that for the first time since the 1960’s there was no national government regeneration programme for the areas of greatest deprivation. In response to this proposal in November 2012, the Treasury Minister Sajid Javid, said “While I am supportive of your ideas in principle, we… cannot give any firm reassurances on your ideas at present.”

Since then, economic growth has stalled and there are fears of a triple dip recession. Moreover, a report published by IPPR North called ‘Taken for Granted’ confirms small voluntary organisations in the most deprived areas have been hit hardest by public spending cuts.

The fund would boost growth by enabling local and neighbourhood community organisations and social enterprises to scale up their operations. This would create jobs and generate profits to be reinvested locally. It would support the creation of community or neighbourhood bonds to encourage social investment. It is a low-cost way of injecting resources into wealth creating social organisations in the most deprived communities and helping people who are furthest from the labour market. NAVCA and Locality believe that it could save the Exchequer money because the work of community organisations and social enterprises often involves intervening early to solve future problems.

Steve Wyler, Chief Executive of Locality, said;

“In neighbourhoods across the country there are many hundreds of community organisations with a can-do entrepreneurial attitude capable of acting as drivers for growth from the bottom up. An injection of social investment would be a much needed shot in the arm - stimulating ‘people power’ to bring untapped resources into productive use, stimulating economic activity and mobilising a coalition of the willing to turn round struggling communities.”

Joe Irvin, Chief Executive of NAVCA, said;

“I really hope the Chancellor seizes this opportunity to help people in the most deprived areas. It will allow charities and social enterprise to boost jobs and revive the country’s most deprived neighbourhoods. Investing in local charities and social enterprises can be one of the quickest and most cost effective ways of helping the most deprived parts of our country. And because they tend to spend locally, the initial investment will generate a boost to the local economy.”

Read the full proposals from NAVCA and Locality

NAVCA publish Transforming Local Infrastructure analysis

NAVCA has today published a report analysing the work that the 74 areas receiving Transforming Local Infrastructure (TLI) investment set out to do, much of which is well underway as the project enters its final phase.  The report pulls together common themes or similar areas of work based on the original funding bids. The report provides a valuable national perspective of the 74 local programmes and allows the sharing of information and ideas between the programmes. It will also help those who are not receiving TLI funding to get a greater awareness of the work that is going on so they can get some benefit from this work.

The report, produced for NAVCA by Sally Cooke, highlights the work going on up and down the country to transform how voluntary sector infrastructure services are delivered to help local communities. It also throws up a number of issues to be addressed. This report shows that there is a heavy emphasis on rationalisation within areas but not between areas.

There are also competing local initiatives which could make improving infrastructure services across England more difficult. For example, the planned development of different local performance frameworks for infrastructure services could hinder work to improve the quality of commissioning of infrastructure services across the country if there is no common view of the standard providers should be working to.

Joe Irvin, NAVCA’s Chief Executive, said;

“The report provides a fascinating insight into the work going on up and down the country to transform voluntary sector infrastructure services. NAVCA members are changing how they operate to ensure the people they work with get the best support possible. This report provides valuable learning to all those organisations involved in delivering TLI funded work as well as NAVCA members dealing with similar issues without TLI funding.”

 “This is a timely report, as there is currently a debate taking place about whether the tight timetables for TLI are tenable. We hope that some discretion can be applied on a case-by-case basis if it can be shown that a little flexibility provides a real advantage for taxpayers.”

 “More importantly, this report highlights the type of work that TLI is supporting. We know that areas that did not receive this funding are facing exactly the same issues. How are these areas going to be supported?  Big Assist may offer some support but it won’t offer enough to any one area to create opportunities for transformation on the scale that TLI has provided.”

Download the report