Conditions for private renters – now a bigger group than those renting ‘socially’ from the council or a housing association – have become so bad that a new wave of housing activist groups has begun to form. Since the deregulation of private renting in 1989, when rent control and long-term tenancies were done away with, … Continue reading
Today we publish the next two reports from our Inquiry into the Future of Voluntary Services.
The impact of contracting and commissioning on volunteers and volunteering in Voluntary Services Groups by Colin Rochester charts the rise of the ‘workplace model’ and the formalisation of volunteer management that “threatens the untamed and often maverick expression of … Continue reading
The right to very little at all: NCIA submits evidence to House of Commons Communities and Local Government Select Committee
The Localism Act 2011 offers communities a set of new ‘rights’. They may now challenge councils to run public services, bid for ‘assets of community value’, build local facilities and make statutory neighbourhood plans. As … Continue reading
Our latest newsletter is now available… launch of Localism Watch, more Inquiry reports, all the latest news, downhearted and uplifting. Get it here… Continue reading
We thought that Lisa Nandy MP, Labour Shadow Minister for Civil Society, might bring a fresh and enquiring eye to the tired politics we are used to. We were wrong. The message we take from the Labour Party “consultation with the third sector” is that Labour will do just the same as the Tories but … Continue reading
Two more Inquiry reports are released today. ‘Lenin’s Useful Idiots? Voluntary Action and Public Service Reform in Northern Ireland, from Nick Acheson of the University of Ulster, reviews recent developments in relations between voluntary agencies and the devolved administration. It summarises the main similarities and differences between Northern Ireland and the other jurisdictions in … 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
Ever wondered where our money goes? The National Audit Office has. So has Adur Voluntary Action, who are “mega pissed off” by the grim story painted by Radio 4’s analysis last night of the chaos that is the Big Society Network. “The receipt, and use, of funds by the Big Society Network’s associated projects…is … Continue reading
Most of our Inquiry reports focus on the voluntary services ‘industry’ in general. But the history both of government policy and of voluntary sector services has shown that minorities, and especially ethnic minorities, repeatedly fare worse than other sections of the population. So today we are releasing two reports that focus on aspects of this … Continue reading
You know those gagging laws and clauses we’re faced with in UK? Well, don’t take it personally. It’s a global thing. In Australia, new conditions , which come into force on July 1st 2014, specifically state that organisations cannot use Commonwealth money for any activity directed towards law reform or advocacy. The federal government is … Continue reading