The changing face of local infrastructure: why effective VCSE infrastructure matters more than ever

Communities, public services and the voluntary sector are changing rapidly. Devolution, local government reorganisation, neighbourhood health, financial pressures and changing community needs are reshaping how places work.

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Across the country, local community organisations build the relationships, opportunities and support that help people and places flourish. They strengthen belonging, improve health and wellbeing, respond to crises and enable communities to shape their own futures.

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But a strong and resilient VCSE sector does not emerge by chance. It requires coordination, collaboration, investment and organisations that bring people together around shared priorities. That's where local infrastructure organisations come in. At a time of significant change, NAVCA members provide continuity, trust and long-term leadership, and their role has never been more important – or challenging.

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Adapting to the changing environment

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Public policy and service delivery are increasingly focused on neighbourhoods and communities, while local government reorganisation, devolution, neighbourhood health and evolving Integrated Care Systems are reshaping how decisions are made. There is a pressing need to address community disconnection and inequality, through increased community power and decision making.

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Financial pressures continue to affect public services, with short-term and fragmented funding, and investment often directed towards individual themes and programmes rather than whole-place development. As support functions are split across multiple contracts and initiatives, competition is increasing and the wider strategic value of infrastructure can be overlooked.

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At the same time, we are seeing a growing range of organisations providing specific and specialist support, particularly with minoritised and marginalised communities. This diversity is a strength, as well as driving a greater need for collaboration. Infrastructure organisations have a vital role in bringing organisations together, ensuring that collective influence is strengthened, specialist expertise is recognised, and community development happens through connected networks rather than in isolation.

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Investing in local infrastructure is an investment in stronger partnerships, more effective public services and communities with the capacity to shape their own future. Communities benefit from stronger local organisations, more opportunities to volunteer and greater capacity to respond to local needs. Public bodies gain deeper insight into communities, stronger relationships with the VCSE sector and more effective policy development, service design and commissioning.

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By creating open and trusted relationships between communities, voluntary organisations and statutory partners, local infrastructure helps ensure public services are informed by local knowledge and experience. By drawing together local intelligence into strategic insight, they ensure community voices shape local decision making and public policy.

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A future-focused network

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The role that LIOs fulfil is essential, challenging, and evolving. In that context, they need to adapt and develop to be future-ready and create the conditions that enable community organisations to be agile, collaborate effectively and work with those most in need. These factors will support LIOs to be future-ready:

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Footprint

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Local infrastructure is most effective when it is close enough to communities to be of them, but far enough away to see the bigger picture - making connections within the voluntary sector, as well as between community anchors, neighbourhood-based VCSE organisations, and statutory systems. To do this most effectively, infrastructure needs to adapt to the new Unitary structures, operating and influencing across a local authority footprint.

To make the most of the opportunities of devolution, LIOs need to strengthen collaboration at sub-regional level, forming partnerships and structures to ensure that community voices are heard. They will work together more closely, federate, or adopt new operating models to combine local legitimacy with strategic influence.

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Strategic connection

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The four functions of infrastructure remain important. But the defining characteristic of LIOs is their role as the connective tissue both within the VCSE sector, and between the VCSE sector and the statutory sector. They strengthen collaboration, build bridges and make connections which otherwise are lost. The most successful approaches will be those that combine local legitimacy with strategic connection.

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Independence

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Local infrastructure builds trust, brokers relationships and advocates for the whole voluntary sector, while providing constructive challenge where needed. To do this well, LIOs need to be independent of the statutory sector and separate from individual causes or delivery.

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Equity

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Local infrastructure organisations amplify the voices and experiences of organisations that support marginalised and minoritised communities. When these organisations, led by the people they support, are empowered to do their vital work, we build the right conditions for community cohesion and improved wellbeing.

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Quality and development

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The best of the NAVCA network is transformational, but we know that, like any other system, it needs development. At NAVCA, we will build on the Local Infrastructure Quality Accreditation (LIQA) as the gold standard for excellence in local infrastructure. It provides assurance to funders, commissioners, statutory partners and VCSE organisations that an LIO is delivering effective, high-quality and strategic infrastructure support. As expectations increase and resources become more constrained, quality accreditation will become an increasingly important marker of capability, credibility and impact.

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What next?

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It is clear that infrastructure embedded in place is needed more than ever.

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At NAVCA, we are committed to strengthening local infrastructure so that communities, the VCSE sector and public services work together more effectively. We will continue to support and develop the network to meet new challenges, adapt to changing systems and be sustainable for the long term. That is particularly relevant as a new Government with a focus on community power, devolution, and a message of hope implements its agenda. It will need to partner with the VCSE sector to achieve its ambitions, to connect with the aspirations communities have, and support the agency needed to drive change.

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This means focusing on the distinctive strengths of local infrastructure: connecting organisations and sectors, convening partnerships, and building collaboration across place. These functions are often invisible and underfunded, but they are essential. They depend on trusted relationships, independence and a deep understanding of local communities. To make a reality of social action, and as public service structures evolve, local infrastructure must work across neighbourhood, local and regional levels, ensuring that community voice and voluntary sector expertise informs decision-making.

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We must remain focused on equity, working alongside communities that are too often overlooked, supporting organisations that bring lived experience and trusted relationships to ensure those voices influence the decisions that affect them. We will continue to support our members to build connections and be leaders and advocates for equality.

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Local infrastructure is not an optional extra. It is the foundation that enables communities, public services and the voluntary sector to work together effectively. As public systems continue to change, NAVCA will work with members, government and partners to ensure local infrastructure receives the recognition, investment and support it needs so communities can thrive.