The Compact Code of Good Practice -  - recognition that “  short term grants or service agreements fail, almost every 'best value' test … “?

Published in April 2005 (on http://www.thecompact.org.uk), this welcome agreement between the government and the voluntary sector breaks new ground. It includes:

Main government undertakings

• provide whenever possible an opportunity for the voluntary and community sector to contribute to programme design;

• ask for information on application forms which is relevant to deciding who will receive funding or be awarded the contract;

• discuss risks up-front and place responsibility with the public sector body or voluntary and community organisation best able to manage them;

• respect the independence of the sector;

• recognise it is legitimate for voluntary and community organisations to include the relevant element of overhead costs in their estimates for providing a particular service;

• with public procurement, avoid seeking information about management fees and overheads;

• make payments in advance of expenditure (where appropriate and necessary) in order to achieve better value for money;

• implement longer term funding arrangements where these represent good value for money;

• be proportionate in monitoring requirements and focus on outcomes;

• consider joining-up or standardising monitoring requirements; and

• give enough notice of the end of grants or contracts.

Initial reactions from DSC

The document is intended, as before, to be the basis of further local compacts. The proposed 'Compact Plus' initiative will add strength to get this and other Compact initiatives taken more seriously

The key point is the recognition that typical current arrangements don't just make life hard for voluntary organisations but also offer rotten value for money to the funders themselves. In particular, short term grants or service agreements fail, almost every 'best value' test. They do not allow us - the providers of services, especially of ongoing services - to recruit, train and retain staff and volunteers in any efficient or sensible manner; they put the future of vulnerable clients at unnecessary risk; and they are expensive and time wasting for the funding bodies themselves.

These arguments are independent of the amount of money being spent. They are simply about getting better value for existing money. There is a strong common interest here between charities and their funders.

There is an increasingly clear distinction between 'grants' and 'procurement'. With the latter the details of how we organise ourselves are NOT the proper concern of the funder who is solely concerned with the 'outcomes'.

The full document can be downloaded from http://www.thecompact.org.uk. Hard copies are available from NCVO and from the Active Communities Unit at the Home Office. There are invaluable supporting documents as follows for those seeking to make the case locally for improved funding arrangements:

http://www.dsc.org.uk/charityexchange/funding&procurement.html

Funding for infrastructure support and capacity building:

Funders recognise “ … Councils of Voluntary Service etc … but is this right? … most support for local voluntary action comes from quite different organisations, ones that are not usually included … “ as well as “ … national federations … “ such as “ … Women's Aid Federation … “

 … Some of the new (funding) programmes are already set in stone. However the Big Lottery Fund is still considering how best to allocate its 'infrastructure' money and is also looking for ways of avoiding duplicating the work of other funders. DSC suggests that these other 'umbrella' organisations might offer a constructive alternative approach to making sure that people trying to do good locally have access to the specialist support they may need as well as to the generalist support of their CVS's and so on.

Full article at:  http://www.dsc.org.uk/charityexchange/blf0505.html

Criticism of proposal for Charity Commission to be both regulator and ‘leader’

Go to http://dotm1.net/t.asp?l=53783&i=20496689

Information from DSC May Newsletter.