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Compact Award 2011 winner to make compact officer redundant

Finance | Vibeka Mair | 9 Nov 2011

CVS CASE Kent, which was recognised at last night’s Compact Awards, has said the future of its compact is under threat as it has been forced to make its compact officer and engagement officer redundant due to loss of funding.

Last night’s Compact Awards was held at HM Treasury and hosted by minister for civil society Nick Hurd. It saw the Department for Communities and Local Government win the National Compact Award for its Best Value Guidance and the Merton Compact celebrate an award-win for the eighth year running.

However, the night was somewhat poignant for CVS CASE Kent, which was highly commended in the Compact Innovation Award category for its Dover District Compact with the Kent Fire and Rescue Service.

Compact officer Sue Beer and network development officer Louise Rogers, who picked up the award on behalf of CASE Kent, told civilsociety.co.uk that they were heartbroken that their posts were to cease by the end of the year due to funding cuts.

Beer said that they had told Hurd on collecting the award that their posts were coming to an end soon.

“Our compact will suffer when we go,” she said. “There will be no longer be a voluntary sector representative at partnership meetings. They won’t have a dedicated officer spending time on developing partnerships. I am pessimistic about its future.”

The two posts are being lost as funding from the Big Lottery Fund, which was used to set up the posts, has now come to an end.

“We spent a year looking for money,” said Beer. “But because of the economic crisis we are looking at the wrong time. If this was three years ago we would have found the money and the partnership would still be funded.”

The Dover District Compact with Kent Fire Rescue Service has forged successful links between the sectors. Stuart Pickle, the Fire Service’s partnership manager, said the Service was now considering paying the voluntary sector to do home-safety visits on its behalf.

Beer said that while the Kent Fire Rescue Service had been keen to partner up, the police force and NHS in the area had not engaged.

Merton Compact eight-year run

Elsewhere, Merton Compact, which won the Compact Impact Award last night, its eighth win in as many years, was lightly ribbed by Hurd as he presented the award. He said the team were wonderful, but added he’d be delighted if the winner one year was not Merton, as it would show others had caught up with the Compact.

Last night's winners are as follows -

• Compact Advancing Equality Award – For delivering activities which help eliminate discrimination and which promote equality of opportunity through better partnerships.
  Winner: Lancashire United Against Hate
• Compact Champion of the Year – For the contribution of an individual working to embed Compact principles wherever possible, alongside promoting and supporting others to use the Compact.
  Winner: Jackie Sully, Rainbow Services Essex
  Highly Commended: Ged Curran, London Borough of Merton
• Compact Impact Award - For those using the Compact to address issues arising from challenging times, and tackling adversity while maintaining or developing strong partnerships.
  Winner: Merton Compact
  Highly Commended: Watford Compact
• Compact Innovation Award - For effectively supporting the Compact with fresh ideas and a new approach.
  Winner: Changing Times, Changing Roles initiative – Wolverhampton
  Highly Commended: Dover District Compact
• Local Compact Award - For demonstrating the ongoing or long-term impact that positive partnership working can have in a local community.
  Winner: Gateshead Compact
• National Compact Award – For demonstrating how the Compact has developed better partnership working on a national scale, through new programmes, policies or practice.
  Winner: Department for Communities and Local Government

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