Civil society

Do you use the Code of Good Governance? Have you found it useful? What could be improved? Are aware of the Code? How did you find out about it? Share your experiences in the Code of Good Governance survey.

The Good Governance - a code for the voluntary and community sector is a code written by the sector for the sector. It is published and maintained by a steering group made up of representatives of ACEVO, ICSA, NCVO, SCC and WCVA, with support from the Charity Commission. It aims to help boards adopt and apply good practice in governing their organisations.

The Foxton Centre in Preston has been working with rough sleepers, street sex workers, young people, people with alcohol abuse issues and other people in the community who need their support for over 40 years. The Centre employs 18 staff and engages dozens of volunteers in providing its services.

We have responded to the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement today. Ben Kernighan, Deputy CEO of NCVO said:

"The sobering assessment of the state of the country’s finances will provide little comfort to vulnerable people in our society and the charities that support them.

"As charities tighten their belts, or worse close their doors, it is ultimately the people they support who will suffer. Many charities help people find and keep a job, while others provide support to some of the most vulnerable people in our society, easing pressure on the Chancellor’s welfare bill.

7 out of 10 charity sub-contractors say that their Work Programme contracts are at risk of failure in a new report released today.

Our report found that 47% of respondents felt that their contacts were at risk of failure within the next six months and 26% thought they were at risk of failure before the end of the contract.

The report also found that half of the charities (48%) were subsidising the delivery of the Work Programme from their own reserves.

Big Lottery Fund and NCVO have teamed up for a new £6 million initiative. The Assist programme will help voluntary sector support and development organisations adapt to the changing needs of the frontline.

Assist is the first stage of Big Lottery Fund’s Building Capabilities for Impact and Legacy approach. It is a radical departure from previous capacity–building investments, as the majority of funding will go directly to local support and development organisations. These organisations will then be able to choose what support they need in order to adapt their services to changing needs, funding and expectations of frontline organisations.

We are pleased to announce the launch of ‘iKnowHow’, a new service on our KnowHow NonProfit website which aspires to become the voluntary sector’s Wikipedia.

The project, funded by the Nominet Trust, aims to open up the way the sector manages online advice and support materials, whilst also reducing the time and costs associated with web publishing.

We have responded to today’s decision by the Upper Tribunal on the issue of charities, public benefit and fee charging.

The case, which went before the Upper Tribunal in May, draws on two sets of proceedings exploring what educational charities charging high fees must do in order to meet the public benefit requirement. NCVO has a long-standing interest in charity law and acted as an intervener in the case.

Read more.

New research finds that the children and young people’s voluntary sector is amongst the hardest hit by government funding cuts and local authority austerity measures.

‘The Ripple Effect’ (PDF 2.3MB), a new book by the National Children’s Bureau with input from NCVO, paints a picture of the children’s voluntary sector as heavily reliant on government funding and less likely to receive funding from the private sector.

Read more.

Employment in the voluntary sector has fallen by 5% over the past 12 months according to the latest Labour Force Survey.

The figures for the second quarter of 2011 show that the voluntary sector employs 768,000 people, a fall of around 38,000 employees since the second quarter of 2010. The voluntary sector workforce has now experienced two consecutive quarters of decline following the 'flatline' witnessed towards the end of 2010.

The NHS is going through a radical change with new structures and new organisations for health and social care commissioning set to come into play in 2013.

NAVCA, NCVO and Regional Voices have produced a joint briefing Influencing the New Health System in a Local Area (PDF 387KB) to help local voluntary and community organisations navigate their way through upcoming changes now.