NAVCA is leading a project to develop local profiles of the
voluntary and community sector.
Benefiting the voluntary and community sector
VCS profiles aim to:
- Provide comprehensive information on the local VCS, increasing
knowledge and understanding of which groups exist, their range of
services and their geographic coverage.
- Assist service planning, improving the quality of services for
users.
- Demonstrate the full value of the sector in each locality.
- Give evidence of any service gaps, providing opportunities for
voluntary and community groups to seek resources to plug those
gaps.
- Indicate whether the VCS in each locality is allocated adequate
funding from the statutory sector.
- Help voluntary and community organisations to protect existing
funding sources, by supplying additional evidence of the value they
provide to a local community.
Benefiting the public sector
VCS profiles aim to:
- Help local authorities, Local Strategic Partnerships and Safer
and Stronger Communities partnerships to improve their
understanding of local voluntary and community groups and their
role in the provision of services.
- Inform Local Area Agreements.
- Assist public bodies to improve service planning, assisting
them to provide services in a more complementary manner.
- Enable statutory bodies and partnerships to quantify the role
of the local VCS and its contribution to public sector
targets.
The pilot studies
VCS profiles have been piloted over two years in six local areas.
Local pilot projects in Birmingham, Chester, Liverpool, Penwith,
Rhonnda Cynon Taf and Selby demonstrated the VCS profiles project's
practicality, challenges and benefits.
- The Selby VCS profile established that the local sector was
even larger than thought. There are over 1,000 organisations based
in the locality, compared with the statutory sector's prior
knowledge of 300 to 400 groups. The research provided evidence that
the major challenges are shortages of funding and volunteers.
Findings emphasised the difficulties in a small town in obtaining
resources, when most funding initiatives are designed either for
cities or rural areas.
- Research for the Liverpool VCS profile revealed 666 local VCS
groups that had not previously been recognised. Awareness of
tenants' and residents' associations has increased significantly as
a result of the study.
- In Rhonnda Cynon Taf, profiling provided a clearer picture of
the sector. Almost half the sector - 46% - operates at electoral
ward level. VCS groups were found to be important providers of
public services: over 300 groups supply health, social care and
well-being services. They have budgets of £27m, but the local
authority and health board contribute less than half -
demonstrating the leverage capacity of the sector.
Contributing to awareness of local quality of life
VCS profiles are intended to contribute to a broader Audit
Commission project - Area Profiles - that provides information
about the quality of life and quality of public services for each
local authority area in England. However, VCS profiles can be
applied in any area in Britain.
Statutory bodies stand to gain significantly from VCS profiling
and NAVCA hopes that public bodies will provide practical and
financial support for local profiling.
The successful completion of the VCS profiles project should
assist the Audit Commission's Area Profiles to accurately reflect
the contribution of voluntary and community groups to the provision
of local services and the local quality of life.
VCS profiling is supported by national, regional and local
authority standardised indicators developed by GuideStar UK,
including information on income and expenditure, activities and
beneficiaries.
VCS profiles are backed by the Audit Commission, Capacity
Builders, the Charities Aid Foundation, GuideStar UK, the Home
Office, the Improvement and Development Agency, the Local
Government Association, the National Council for Voluntary
Organisations and Wales Council for Voluntary Action.
For more information on Area Profiles go to
http://www.areaprofiles.audit-commission.gov.uk.