NCVO is accused today of harming voluntary groups and the communities they serve. In a forensic examination of NCVO activities over the last decade or so, Les Huckfield shows how NCVO has made voluntary agencies subservient to Government policies and begging for crumbs from private corporations. As damaging to the reputation of NCVO is the … Continue reading
‘Leadership’ groups, at both national and local levels, have failed to protect voluntary services groups and their users and communities from the damaging changes of the last decade. This is the broad conclusion of two Inquiry reports released today.
The position and role of national infrastructure bodies concerning the cuts to and privatisation of public … Continue reading
In what is going to be a pretty massive release, we have today uploaded the first two of sixteen reports from our Inquiry into the Future of Voluntary Services. The general background to our Inquiry is provided by Dexter Whitfield’s ‘The Ideological Context’, which sketches out how neo-liberal ideas have damaged public services and … Continue reading
Inequality and poverty is increasing in the UK. Policies that cut rights and entitlements, and dismantle and privatise public services, make this worse. Voluntary and community agencies cannot be silent on this. They must speak out and act alongside those campaigning to stop this damage. It is the job of charities to fight poverty and … Continue reading
CVSs are “adrift from the grassroots and they tend to be silent around issues such as welfare reform”. So says the Chief Executive of Community Action Southwark. “There isn’t that voice. We have been seduced. The more fundamental questions aren’t being asked. That seduction is diminishing voluntary and community action.” And he’s not the … Continue reading
Ian Jones, the Chief Executive of Volunteer Cornwall, has written to the Chair of the Commons Public Accounts Committee complaining that local services are being taken over by large corporations focussing on “profit, not people”. The letter advocates that outsourced public services providers should be restricted to small local businesses, charities and social enterprises that … Continue reading
In hard hitting evidence to the Baring’s Panel on Independence, commentator Les Huckfield accused lambasted the “London-centric” ‘leaders’ of the voluntary sector. “Rather than protecting voluntary and community organisations from the effects of Government policies and supporting their independence from Government,” he said, “national Third Sector Organisations have assisted and supported Government initiatives to fashion … Continue reading
We have now produced a full briefing for the work we are undertaking on our Inquiry into the Future of Voluntary Services. You can download this paper here. If you want to know more about the inquiry or let us have evidence please get in touch with Andy Benson – andy@independentaction.net… Continue reading
London Voluntary Services Council and NCIA are organizing a joint event with and for CVSs from all parts of the country to debate their role to support local communities under pressure and those active to resist cuts and austerity policies. The meeting will be on Friday September 13th, 11-3.30 at a central London location near … Continue reading
Bucking the trend towards mergers, acquisitions and single contracts to corporate predators, positive news is coming in from West Sussex, where fresh agreements between the local authorities and the County’s seven CVSs explicitly recognise the importance of locally accountable provision.
Several years ago, the County was a focus of an NCIA study into the effects … Continue reading