Public Service Funding Cuts

Many voluntary and community organisations in Birmingham are in the process of dealing with recent decisions around public service funding cuts. You may find the following information useful in the current circumstances:

• The Empowering the Voluntary Sector Team at NAVCA (National Association of Voluntary and Community Action) has produced a useful briefing on what to be aware of when considering challenging public funding cuts. It can be found on the NAVCA website here: http://www.navca.org.uk/news/cutschallenge.htm  

• The team can also provide advice on specific issues, through their Compact Advocacy project. Details of that service are here: http://www.navca.org.uk/services/learningopps/evs/adviceline.htm  

• Our colleagues at NCVO are also collecting information on how the cuts are affecting the voluntary and community sector across the country. See http://www.ncvo-vol.org.uk/cuts  

If you are facing cuts, please contact Brian Carr, BVSC Chief Executive, at brianc@bvsc.org or email a member of the VCS Matters Team at vcsmatters@bvsc.org  - It would be particularly useful to know how the process is being handled – of course, we need examples of where things are going badly, but we hope also to be able to find examples where funders are handling things well by consulting effectively and engaging your organisation in discussions about how to deal with the problem - perhaps by proactively offering up efficiencies in order to preserve essential services.

The information we gather will be used to support BVSC’s negotiations with local funders, and will be shared with NAVCA and NCVO, who are in regular contact with the Department of Communities and Local Government and the Office of Civil Society. We want to ensure that the government at all levels understands (and takes full advantage of) the benefits to be realised from handling this situation in partnership with the sector, in order that we can work together to achieve the best possible outcomes for the most vulnerable in society.

With best wishes,

Brian

Brian Carr
Chief Executive
BVSC, The Centre for Voluntary Action