“Our raison d’etre is based on dissent – dissent from a policy that endorses destitution.”

asylum seekersWe hear a lot from service providers about how they have no alternative but bend to government and state policies or risk going out of business. But another way is possible. Those of us who went to the recent NCIA meeting in Sheffield were lucky enough to hear Gina Clayton talk about the work of … Continue reading

This Volunteers Week…. let’s keep it voluntary

KVV posterIn the year since Keep Volunteering Voluntary launched, over 550 charities and voluntary groups have pledged to turn their backs on workfare. Together we are highlighting the value of volunteering and building a strong consensus that responsible voluntary organisations will not take part in workfare schemes and put people at risk of devastating welfare sanctions. … Continue reading

Third Sector and the NHS – The Trojan Horse?

Trojan_HorseSussex is one area of the country lucky enough to have a feisty local Defend our NHS campaign. Lately the group has been taking a look at the role of voluntary agencies in the struggle to stop the break-up of the Health Service. The result is an impressive paper. Whilst voluntary groups can both oppose … Continue reading

Barings Panel say the right thing but then lose the plot

Independence-Panel-Report_An-Independent-Mission-PR-1-212x300The Barings Panel on the Independence of the Voluntary Sector finished its work with the publication of its fourth report. Faithfully repeating the evidence it received – the state of the sector is bad and getting worse – the report broadly supports what NCIA has been saying for years. But sadly lacking is any kind … Continue reading

Speaking out: why the voluntary sector needs to hold on to its campaign roots

megaphoneResponding to Mike Aiken’s report on campaigning and voluntary services, and with the General Election looming, Gavin Barker explores what we might actually do to counter our “hollowed out democracy hijacked by a corporate elite”. Linking the muzzling of dissent to the general weakening of democracy, Gavin argues that the election provides the opportunity to Continue reading

Struggling to Survive… Independently – 5 stories from the frontline

do-nothing-go-forward-pic-monkey2Latest production from our Inquiry into the Future of Voluntary Services….five stories from locally-based Voluntary Services Groups struggling to survive in the environment of cuts to funding and moves to the use of contracting approaches by public bodies. They illustrate the difficulties and dilemmas experienced, and some of the responses being adopted, by groups operating … Continue reading

Peterborough Prison and Social Impact Bonds – what’s going on?

Kenneth Clarke, then justice secretary, talks to an inmate at Peterborough prison in 2010Recently the Government announced that it was pulling the plug on the Peterborough Prison Social Impact Bond (SIB) pilot, despite an interim evaluation showing “promising results”. This scheme – due to have run for seven years instead of the three now planned – has been dragged round the conference circuit now for several years by … Continue reading

More evidence of Big Society sham

Armine_IshkanianThe government’s largely discredited ‘Big Society’ mantra promised to strengthen the capacity of civil society. More evidence of the empty rhetoric that surrounds the idea now comes from LSE’s Armine Ishkanian.  In an article published in Critical Social Policy, Armine examines how “…. The Big Society agenda, coming alongside public spending cuts, is affecting the … Continue reading

Equal citizenship – why we need our Welfare State

Simon DuffyHere’s the latest in our series of essays as part of our Inquiry into Voluntary Services. This comes from Simon Duffy of the Centre for Welfare Reform, and Campaign for a Fair Society, who argues that our defence of the Welfare State needs to be rooted in the idea of equal citizenship.

“The purpose of Continue reading