Archived decisions

Improving Hampshire County Council's relationship with the Voluntary & Community Sector (VCS)

We already have a strong relationship with the Voluntary and Community Sector but recent reviews have shown that we need to make some changes to continue to improve. This is even more important as the Council faces the increasing challenge of matching scarce resources to the different community aspirations of our residents and communities. Local authorities are facing major changes to the way services are provided especially the transformation of social care and the `Universal Offer' which is about making sure that everyone gets something. There are 3 key elements:

· Access to quality information and advice

· Access to everyday life

· That little bit of help to keep people safe, well and fulfilled

It is important to be realistic about the challenge in improving the relationship with the VCS; this will take time and commitment from both sectors to move away from established ways of working in order to think and act creatively so that together we can make a difference to the wellbeing of people in Hampshire.

What does the relationship look like?

The County Council delivers a wide range of services to Hampshire residents directly and in partnership with other organisations. In order to do this effectively we need to understand and respond to the needs of different communities, both rural and urban, across the County. Voluntary and Community groups play an important role; they connect with local people and contribute to the wellbeing of communities by providing some support and care services as well as promoting volunteering opportunities. The VCS is made up of many different organisations who are well placed to respond to community aspirations by doing things differently, identifying capacity within the community and attracting funds that the Council is unable to access. These organisations are important partners for the Council as we develop our approach to community engagement and involvement in service design and delivery.

There are different relationships across the Council:

The way that the County Council works with the sector needs to reflect this recognizing the dynamic and changing relationship.

The sector is diverse:

The Voluntary & Community Sector is not homogenous. It is hugely diverse ranging from unincorporated small local community groups to multimillion pound organisations. The way they deliver services is diverse too through a mix of paid staff and volunteers.

Traditionally they all have the following common characteristics:

· they are not set up by statute nor are they directly responsible for statutory services

· they do not distribute profits/ surpluses for private gain

· their governance is undertaken by volunteers (trustees)

· they are driven by values and beliefs

Given this diversity the Council needs to understand the scope of the sector and take a flexible and proportionate approach when working with different groups and organisations. For example there should be different performance and monitoring requirements for support to a local arts project than for a grant of £10,000 or a contract worth £200,000.

Why do we need to work with the sector?

The County Council wants to have a mature relationship based on mutual trust and respect. To achieve this we need to work more closely in and with local communities to improve services and tackle deprivation so that we can:

· Take decisions which are clear about how and when communities are informed through consultation.

· Design and deliver services which reflect community priorities and needs - either through constructing structured consultation or acting on existing community information.

· Respond to deprivation with sustained, joined up action between services and with partners - with tangible outcomes.

· Build on the role of HCC Elected Members in joining up the Council's and partner resources locally to deliver all of this in the most efficient and effective way.

· Create community capacity to respond to new ways of working e.g the "Universal Offer"

This will have the following outcomes (some of these objectives are in the LAA):

· People feel they have an influence and a stake in Hampshire and their community

· Strong and self supporting communities with a sense of belonging and participation

· Service users and residents have a say in service design and delivery

And represent the following principles:

· Tackling inequality and deprivation requires sustained, joined up action between Hampshire County Council, partners and the communities themselves.

· Better value for money will be achieved by joining up the services and resources of Hampshire County Council, partners and the communities themselves.

· Engaging people and communities and helping to strengthen communities and their resilience

· All partners to be responsible for safeguarding vulnerable people

The County Council's relationship with the VCS will be key to delivering this. The Council and the VCS infrastructure bodies ¹will need to help develop capacity in communities especially those that are deprived or usually excluded. Local authorities have a crucial social inclusion role and therefore we will expect the VCS to be more inclusive. We want to harness the talent in all sectors to bring about more innovative ways of working together moving towards more collaborative working by encouraging alliances which will support smaller organisations to thrive

Improvement will take time!

The challenge is to take action that will:

· Improve the nature of the partnership with the Voluntary & Community Sector

· Work with the VCS to develop their capacity to deliver services in support of the County Council

· Ensure that the Council can be a better client

· Find ways for the Council to be a better Commissioner providing value for money for Hampshire taxpayers

· Make sure that the Council can manage performance in a pragmatic and proportionate way.

These are challenges for us all, both sectors need to be patient and understand that change takes time and effort.

This is what we will do

· Review the Council's approach to the Compact

· Create a strategic partnership group with Members to oversee the work

· Annual HCC + VCS seminar

· Increase volunteering by coordinating our approach and encouraging staff to volunteer

· Improve consistency of grants process

· Find ways to support VCS through tendering process where appropriate to facilitate service provision

· Pump prime VCS where appropriate to facilitate innovation in service provision

· Improve performance management - report to CPEG

· Promote awareness of this plan to staff, Members & VCS highlighting respective roles

· Provide different ways to support new organisations to develop that may challenge the status quo especially underrepresented/overlooked groups

This is how we will monitor progress

Corporate Improvement target aim 3 - Improving Capacity to Deliver through increased engagement & developed capacity in the voluntary & community sector. Progress monitored through the Corporate Performance & Efficiency Group (CPEG).

Performance relating to the Local Area Agreement priority outcome "to ensure there is an environment for a thriving third sector" will be over seen by the Hampshire Senate. The County Council's performance against this target will be measured through this strategic plan.

The strategic partnership group involving Members, VCS reps & Officers will oversee this plan and report annually to CPEG. Each department will monitor service specific liaison with relevant third sector organisations and report to this group.