NICVA's response to Minister Alex Attwood's letter on budgets

NICVA's Response

The remit of DSD covers many of the areas that matter most: of vulnerable and disadvantaged people, communities and families.  Supporting People provides a home and sense of independence to people living with disability or who are suffering from stress and trauma. Funding to advice services through DSD offers practical and often life changing advice and support to people right across Northern Ireland.  In 2008/2009 Advice NI’s 80 centres alone answered 227,802 enquiries from 107,703 clients. This resulted in £30 million identified for people over the course of the year.  Through programmes like Neighbourhood Renewal and the Community Infrastructure Programme, local communities have come together to regenerate their area and build social cohesion.

The Areas at Risk programme has targeted those areas that were in danger of passing the point of no return, while the Local Community Fund has invested in community leadership and self help in disadvantaged areas. The Regional Infrastructure Programme and support for volunteering contributes to the growth of social capital and a vibrant civic society, while support for women’s organisations has allowed women to seek training and information to improve their lives and those of their families. 

In all of these cases the key to success has been in the involvement of local communities and/or services users.  DSD has invested in helping people help themselves and this is an important step in ensuring programmes are successful and have a real impact.  User engagement and community development are key components of the voluntary and community sector and in many cases voluntary and community organisations are best placed to reach the most vulnerable and deliver effective and efficient services.

Voluntary and community organisations are truly at the frontline of providing services to meet the needs of vulnerable people, families and communities.  The sector exists to tackling poverty, inequality and deprivation and gives a voice to those who have none.  Often voluntary and community organisations have been created to fill gaps in statutory provision and to do things that government simply could not do. The contribution of the sector to everyday life in Northern Ireland cannot be underestimated.

NICVA and our members in the voluntary and community sector are concerned that the temptation to cut successful, efficient and cost effective programmes may be seen as an easy way out for those making decisions, with immense unintended consequences for services users and communities.

As Minister with lead responsibility for the voluntary and community sector, the DSD Minister can present the case for the protection of services to vulnerable people and communities to Ministerial colleagues.  The sector is not pleading for special treatment. However as the scale of the problem becomes clearer NICVA is keen to ensure that the services to vulnerable communities, people and families are not cut disproportionately or unfairly because they are provided by organisations outside the public sector.   This is especially true as these services, such as advice services and Supporting People, can help cushion people from the worst social and economic impacts of public expenditure cuts.

NICVA believes that community development activity is particularly vulnerable and there is a real fear that much invaluable work in communities will be allowed to unravel as funding is restricted.  The DSD Minister can play a role in asserting the importance of community self-help and participation, especially in times when the poorest and most disadvantaged communities are at risk of bearing the burnt of public expenditure cuts.

The progression of a strong concordat governing relations between government and the voluntary and community sector will be a useful tool in placing the importance of the contribution of the sector firmly on the agenda of the NI Executive.  However the negotiations around the 2011-2015 budget are very important for voluntary and community organisations and a strong Ministerial lead on the value and contribution of the sector will be crucial.  NICVA would be pleased to provide the Minister with any additional information he may need including case studies of how the voluntary and community sector offers a smart solution to the current financial situation.

Voluntary and community organisations are, in the main, very flexible and responsive to resource pressures.  NICVA submitted a previous paper to the VCU at DSD on this very issue giving examples of that responsiveness.  Organisations have made staff redundant, ended pension schemes and frozen pay in response to pressures.  NICVA has set up a separate company, Sector Matters, to help organisations outsource some of their back office services.  More organisations are involved in competitive tendering but perversely in both these, processes add cost as they incur VAT.

However it must be said that State of the Sector V showed that 86% of the income of voluntary and community organisations is spent on carrying out their charitable activities. This means that overheads account for only 14% of spending for voluntary and community organisations. As well as being efficient many voluntary and community organisations provide real value for money. For example Home-Start can support 40 children living at home for the cost of taking one chlid into care.

Since the third quarter of 2008, NICVA has made the likely impact of the recession a big issue for voluntary and community organisations in Northern Ireland.  NICVA has developed a Recession Toolkit on its website and has encouraged organisations to prepare themselves for potential impact. The Toolkit covers advice on a whole variety of risks around governance, operational matters, financial external issues and compliance. During 2009 NICVA issued three leaflets on the practicalities of collaboration and merger for voluntary and community organisations to consider.

Funders of services also have significant influence in encouraging collaboration and merger where it would be advantageous for those organisations that are involved in delivering public services. However in the past, government programmes have themselves actively encouraged competition and duplication and this should be avoided.

The first thing the Northern Ireland Executive should do is inform the public of the likely outcome of the Spending Review and the scale of the funding deficit Northern Ireland is likely to face.  This can be done in an objective way that is not prescriptive but “tells it as it is”.  Then they should encourage a frank debate in public about setting priorities explaining the reality of opportunity costs and the implications of either making decisions or not making decisions.

They should commit to a collective or collegiate decision-making process as is merited by this crisis.  It is likely that the Executive will have to develop radical new approaches to delivering services in a more holistic way and with less division between, departments, agencies, NDPBs and local government.  Northern Ireland is a small place and should not model its governance nor public service delivery on much larger countries.

The NI Executive should review all options for revenue generation and consider if it needs a combined strategy of expenditure cuts and income.

Other Responses

A list of the other organisations willing to share their responses. If you would like yours to be included, please forward to lisa.mcelherron@nicva.org

Smart Solutions in Tough Times

To keep up to date with what's happening in the sector on the issue of the Comprehensive Spending Review, including a number of events, check our Smart Solutions section or read the campaign blog.