Beyond Innovation: Stopping the Chaos
“The constant politically motivated ideological change, short-term parliamentary thinking and quest for ‘innovation’ is risking both the VCFSE sector and community capacity for resilience.”
In the introduction to The Labour Manifesto, Keir Starmer sets out the need to ‘Restore Hope’, ‘Stop the Chaos’, ‘Turn the Page’ and ‘Rebuild our Country’.
In Liverpool City Region, the Voluntary, Community, Faith and Social Enterprise (VCFSE) sector, often the first line of defence for communities, have been operating in ‘the chaos’ for more than 15 years. While we whole heartedly agree and stand ready to support the government to restore hope, to do this priority number one has to be to stop the chaos.
Since 2008 we have seen and supported people through many challenges; the Financial Crisis and the enduring Austerity agenda; the social unrest following the vote to leave the EU; the COVID pandemic; the disruption of leaving the EU; the cost of living crisis; the support of refugees following the invasion of Ukraine and crisis in Afghanistan; all topped off with the increased financial pressures following Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng’s ‘Mini Budget’ which dragged more people into the cost of living crisis.
All these events have significantly impacted the resilience of our communities, our economy and people’s wellbeing.
Throughout all this though, the VCFSE sector has been adapting, innovating and delivering for the diverse communities they serve – older people, younger people, families, people with disabilities, unemployed people, people with addictions, asylum seekers and of course all of the people who are in work and housed but who cannot afford to heat their homes or feed themselves.
It's okay though because that is what the sector does best… Isn’t it?
Chaos from events such as the global pandemic or the invasion of Ukraine is often unavoidable and the VCFSE sector has proved time and again that, when circumstances dictate, we will step up.
However, the constant politically motivated ideological change, short-term parliamentary thinking and quest for ‘innovation’ is risking both the VCFSE sector and community capacity for resilience. The good news is that this is entirely preventable.
To build strong, healthy communities with a thriving VCFSE sector, we need to stop the chaos. To begin to do this, to go beyond innovation and towards lasting change, we need to see an end to:
Procurement processes that are both confused and confusing
The unnecessary use of contracts for work that can be legitimately grant funded
The contract management of grant funding and the attempted claw back of funds from successfully delivered contracts
The constant grant funding of pilot programmes with no planned long-term funding
The use of ‘external consultants’ to inform organisations on the ground of what they already know
Short-term funding of business-as-usual programmes
Short-term funding of capital programmes with no support for core costs
