NAVCA publishes results of quarterly members’ survey
23/07/2012
NAVCA has published the results of its first quarterly survey of members. The survey takes the temperature of NAVCA members and tracks trends in local voluntary. NAVCA has established a representative panel of members to undertake the survey to ensure that the findings accurately reflect the experience of our wider membership, which covers the whole of England.
Key finding from the first survey are:
- Members are pessimistic about the financial situations; 73% of members think their own situation will get worse and 71% think that the financial position of the local voluntary and community sector will get worse in the next 12 months.
- Collaboration by NAVCA members is increasing; 60% of members say that they expect to collaborate more with other local support and development organisations in the next 12 months. (This supports findings of another recent NAVCA survey that showed 10% of NAVCA members expect to merge in the next year).
- Relationships with local NHS organisations are improving but largely staying the same with local government.
- Over half of NAVCA members believe local councils and local NHS organisations will have a positive influence on their success over the next 12 months. A similar amount believe their success will be negatively affected by central government.
- The biggest issues facing NAVCA members over the next three months are increased workload, increasing earned income and local commissioning.
Joe Irvin, Chief Executive of NAVCA said,
“This survey is going to be a valuable tool for us to track trends amongst our members and the work they do to support local groups. It will help us to react quicker to new issues and target support more effectively.”
“The survey shows that Central Government has to do more to address the concerns of the local voluntary and community sector. Whilst the majority of members see their local council or their local NHS as contributing to future success, Central Government is seen as hampering them.”
“However, I’m really pleased to see that so many members feel that local councils and local NHS organisations are important to their success. The partnership between our members and both local councils and local NHS organisations is vital for ensuring local people are able to access high quality and appropriate local services.”
