The latest news from NAVCA including;
- Volunteering
- New Vision partner
- Latest VCSE Barometer
- Energy Bills Support Scheme
- #StandWithTrans campaign
- Integrated care
- LGA toolkit on partnership working
Volunteering – deep dive
As the Vision for Volunteering work is developing, we have been giving some thought to some of the wider issues around volunteering. We’ve produced the attached deep dive Volunteering: thinking for the future drawing on recent research and analysis to explore some of the issues and challenges, acknowledge recent national initiatives and support wider thinking on volunteer strategies and engagement with the Vision for Volunteering.
Read Volunteering: thinking for the future here.
We’ve also published a blog post on our website, based on the think piece, which you are free to share with your networks. Read it here.
New Vision partner: Muslim Charities Board
New Vision partner: Muslim Charities Board
The Vision for Volunteering are pleased to announce Muslim Charities Forum as the newest member of their partnership board.
The Vision for Volunteering, which is funded by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), is run by an equal partnership of organisations which already includes DCMS, NCVO, NAVCA, AVM and Volunteering Matters. In April 2023, the board started looking for a new partner to diversify its perspectives and bring new voices to the table.
Muslim Charities Forum represents a large community of faith-based social action, volunteering and aid organisations. It aims to support, connect and represent the sector by providing access to resources, training, networking and advocacy to encourage the spread of good practice.
Latest VCSE Barometer Report
The latest VCSE Barometer report has now been released, following last month’s survey, and you can visit the Barometer dashboard where you can discover more in-depth information about the trends and issues the May survey uncovered. Some of the key findings are:
Charities of all sizes are feeling more optimistic about their finances than they were in November last year – the proportion expecting their finances to improve over the next quarter has almost doubled (from 17% to 32%).
Six in ten (63%) small charities now cite volunteer recruitment as a major organisational concern
A third of charities (34%) cite the cost of living crisis as an issue for volunteer retention
A quarter of charities (27%) cite a lack of organisational capacity as a key issue preventing volunteer recruitment.’
The VCSE Observatory is holding an online seminar on Friday 30 June for VCSE groups and organisations, where they will share and discuss the findings of Wave 3: VCSE Barometer Wave 3 Seminar Tickets, Fri 30 Jun 2023 at 13:00 | Eventbrite.
The aim of the VCSE Observatory is to further develop the Barometer so that it becomes the largest, most useful UK indicator of trends and issues in the voluntary and community sector.
#StandWithTrans – support the campaign
At NAVCA, we want to continue to develop as an organisation in our understanding of the trans community and the marginalisation that people are facing. Following our ‘Trans inclusion is for everyone’ session at our 2022 conference, we have undertaken some internal training on LGBTQ+ topics and we look forward to learning more and exploring this issue with members.
We have been having conversations with Charity So Straight, who are launching their #StandWithTrans campaign next week (from 3 July). There will be a pledge that your organisation can sign up to, and an event happening later in July (details tbc). For now, please see an extract from the pledge, and we will share more details when we have them.
”As charity leaders, we want to reiterate our absolute commitment to supporting the rights of our trans, non-binary, and gender diverse communities.
We invite you to join us and be a proud, visible ally to your trans colleagues, volunteers, supporters, and beneficiaries and say a firm NO to anti-trans hate.
We believe that we, as voluntary sector leaders, have an important role to play in helping to shape the fibre of our country both now and in the future by stating that our sector MUST remain a safe place for all trans and non-binary people to work, volunteer or seek support.”
Government measures to support integrated care systems
On Wednesday (14 June), the government announced that it has committed to a number of measures to support integrated care systems in response to two key reports – the recent Health and Social Care Select Committee Inquiry and the Hewitt Review.
In its response, the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) outlines the steps it will take, working with NHS England and local health and care systems, to support learning and improvement and join up care for patients and communities. As part of this, DHSC will review and streamline national targets.
Alex Boys, our Deputy CEO, recently sent members our response to these developments. 1687966587-NAVCA response to Hewitt review June 2023 (1).
Announcement:
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-takes-action-to-strengthen-local-care-systems
Government response to the Health and Social Care Committee’s report and the Hewitt Review:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/government-response-to-the-hscc-report-and-the-hewitt-review-on-integrated-care-systems
LGA toolkit: VCS partnership working
You may remember that the Local Government Association commissioned Locality to conduct research into the state of strategic relationships between councils and their local voluntary and community sector. The final report was published in December 2022: https://www.local.gov.uk/publications/state-strategic-relationships-between-councils-and-their-local-voluntary-and-community
The LGA has now published a toolkit based on this research aimed at senior officers and lead elected members. The aim is to give a self-assessment tool to assess partnership working with the VCS. Whilst the toolkit helpfully identifies five different types of relationship between local authority and VCS (from shaping to commissioning and delivery only) and suggests four principles for strategic relations to have, it does not acknowledge the place of local infrastructure in convening, leading and facilitating these relationships. Although LIOs are mentioned in the research report, they are not mentioned in this toolkit. We raised this at draft stage and have subsequently raised it again as a problem omission from the final version. Nonetheless it is of some use, particularly to help guide an inexperienced officer in work with you and the wider VCS. See more here: https://www.local.gov.uk/publications/toolkit-partnership-working-voluntary-and-community-sector
