Empowering the Voluntary Sector

Public law workshops

These workshops are designed to equip voluntary and community organisations (VCOs) with the skills to negotiate effectively with public bodies on:

• Funding cuts
• Policy change consultations
• Decisions concerning the provision of services

More about the course

Workshops take place across the country and are open to all VCOs funded by, or seeking funding from, public bodies.

These one-day sessions include group activities and case study examples of solving disputes with public bodies, as well as providing guidance on how to manage such issues in the future.

More information is available on dates and venues

What will I learn?

Workshops cover the following topics:

• What is public law, who are public bodies and what are public functions?
• What duties and powers do public bodies have in relation to public law?
• What happens when things go wrong?
• What can you do when faced with such problems?

For further information about the training programme, including bookings, please contact Terry Perkins

Resources

The EVS project has produced many news articles and resources to help you understand and use public law. They are split into sections to make it easier to navigate.

If you need advice and support straight away, you can contact the NCVO Compact Advocacy Programme advice line.

Organisations wishing to take advice on how to manage a breach of Compact or public law can contact the advocates to discuss the case and identify a way forward.

If, as a result of initial discussions, the dispute appears to require legal advice the advocacy team will help you gain support.

The advice line is available Monday to Friday, 10am to 4pm.

If your dispute centres on a tendering and procurement issue please contact NAVCA's Local Commissioning and Procurement Unit.

Other useful sites

Compact Advocacy Project (opens in new window)

Public Law Project (opens in new window)

LawWorks (opens in new window)