Let’s make the VCS thrive in the post-Covid world

It seems like a lifetime ago, but back in April 2019 Voices asked for views on how the VCS saw the sector’s future and how it could be co-ordinated. This led in June 2019, to a call for people to get involved in an interim “Board” to guide progress with the first meeting took place in December 2019. This produced a clear agreement on the principles and an outline plan. Things were looking good.

2020 and the arrival of the Covid-19 pandemic stalled the work as some organisations went offline and others were completely drawn into supporting the people of Worcestershire through the crisis. Voices focussed on addressing the impact of the pandemic on the VCS itself and in the summer of 2020 surveyed the sector producing a detailed report on the short and long term impact followed by a series of papers on the “looming cliff edge” feeding in to the local and national response.

It was clear that the pandemic had changed the way that the VCS was working as well as its relationship with other parts of civil society. The original questions about the future of Voices had become wider and more profound. To address this, we got the help of New Philanthropy Capital, a well-respected national charity to “facilitate a series of workshops with local stakeholders with the aim of exploring and advancing potential short-term and long-term opportunities for greater coordination and collaboration within the county’s charity and community sector.”

These sessions took place between December 2020 and March 2021 with the group clear that they were ”stewarding” a new collaborative approach. One thread of the work addressed the immediate demands of the new Health and Wellbeing Strategy being developed by the County Council’s Health and Wellbeing Board and the other firming up an infrastructure to facilitate collaboration and communication within the sector.

The approach to the latter thread had clear consensus that there is a need for:

• improved collaboration and coordination amongst the Worcs. VSCS, preventing duplication, increasing efficiencies, improving systemic working

• a body to better represent the interests of and advocate for the role of the VCS within local authority agencies, taking a more active role in decision-making and strategy around the issues and interventions that affect the sector and the communities it serves

• greater visibility and profile for the sector, enabling it to demonstrate its value and attract more investment and capacity

In respect of the potential organisation’s approach and activities there was consensus that it should:

• Be flexible and inclusive, responding to different organisations’ capacities, needs and ways of engaging, Resource and/or support may need to be provided to enable lower capacity community groups to participate where desired

• Engage and liaise with full range of statutory bodies, offering single point of contact, providing strategy input, and channelling information and opportunities to wider VCS

• Work with existing VCS umbrella organisations, perhaps linking them together, whether they be thematically or geographically organised

• Be co-designed with broader VCS at the appropriate moment - whilst also taking advantage of the current momentum and tangible opportunities in the short term

• Improve coordination across the VCS, although this should be in the sense of facilitating partnership working rather than centrally distributing tasks/ resource

The inevitable question was how do we turn these ideas and principles into a practical and pragmatic reality.

The VCS is a very broad church. It certainly includes the 1,980 charities registered in the county, but also many national and regional charities that work in Worcestershire but are registered elsewhere, smaller organisations that are not registered, Not for Profit organisations for who charitable status is not the preferred business model, sports clubs registered in a different way, community organisations that see no need for registration, ad hoc groups and many others. This means that there will never be a single “solution” relevant to all. However, part of the strength of the VCS is this “glorious messiness” that sees a constant morphing and flexing to respond to the local context.

Having looked at a number of options the best way forward looks like building a closer relationship with the Chamber of Commerce. Why? Because:

• They have a robust existing infrastructure
• They already have many VCS organisations as members
• They are a VCS organisation themselves
• This gives us greater traction with and access to the business sector
• It amplifies the VCS as a serious “business” making a real and significant contribution to Worcestershire’s economy

We also have an exciting opportunity in the shape of funding from the County Council and health that will allow us to recruit someone to work within the Chamber structure and drive the communications between VCS organisations and with the statutory sector. The initial main focus of this will be on integrated care, health and wellbeing.

The relationship will also improve access to the Chamber’s support services providing help and advice where this is not available through existing arrangements.

This is just the start of a journey. There are lots of details to be worked through and we want to share the journey with all VCS colleagues, so watch this space and if you have any thoughts or comments, please do share them by e-mailing rogerb@comfirst.org.uk We will collate and share the responses and use them to formulate the next steps.

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