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The big hole in ‘big society’
Excellent article from Bernard Collier, chief executive of Voluntary Action Westminster in the Guardian, highlighting the fundamental flaws in the Big Society agenda at a local level.
Local authorities are one of the key funders of local voluntary action, but they are facing unprecedented budget cuts. Central government cuts have led to social service budgets being reduced and support to the most vulnerable is increasingly being rationed. The funding crisis in local authorities is leading to pressures on discretionary grant funding for the sector. In some areas grants have disappeared completely. Local voluntary organisations are finding it harder to support their users.
The local sector does have a role in trying to find its own way forward but often calls for the sector to rationalise, cut back office costs and merge are misguided. They fail to understand that individual organisations and their relationships with communities give them legitimacy and make them valuable. Organisations often have no back office to cut out, so there is little or no efficiency gain for a loss of effectiveness. The actual result is a net loss of social value.
The local sector often grows up where the state is not. It delivers before the state knows it needs to. It has complex knowledge and intelligence that is invaluable in supporting communities. If the state wants to get the best out of the sector, it will have to develop a policy which actually addresses the sector’s needs where it is based – at a local level.
Currently, the government’s policies and programmes on the sector are too narrowly focused, relying on market mechanisms, selling or individuals. Policy needs to be aimed at the cohort which make up the majority of the sector – local organisations. Policy which is not based around contracting, but around building local social capital. The continued lack of policy or resources to support local voluntary and community action is the big hole in the middle of the big society.
Worth reading the whole thing, which you can find by clicking here The big hole in ‘big society’