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Concerns raised about upcoming refreshed Compact 1

Finance | Vibeka Mair | 9 Nov 2009

Acevo and the Directory of Social Change have voiced serious doubts about the proposed updates to the Compact in response to the Refreshing the Compact consultation. 

Compact Voice released a summary of responses to the consultation last week in which it said over 60 per cent of respondents believed that the refreshed Compact was a clear improvement. It received responses from 79 organisations and three individuals to the consultation, which closed last month.

Full responses to the consultation have been released  under the Freedom of Information Act (FoI). 

Compact 'is irrelevant' 

Jay Kennedy (pictured), policy officer at the Directory of Social Change, has warned in his response that the Compact is destined for irrelevance.

“If the Compact continues to pretend that the relationships between government and voluntary organisations are partnerships between equals, it is destined for irrelevance – now matter how clear and updated the guidelines are.

“The bulk of the sector will remain uninterested, many of those organisations which do care will continue to lose faith, whilst those which are influential enough to assert their own position will do so with little reference to the Compact.

“Despite the refresh, we think the outlook is still doubtful. The refresh is an improvement, but not in itself the fundamental change that is needed.”

Acevo 'cynical' about commissioners

Seb Elsworth, head of strategy at Acevo and member of the Compact Voice Board on behalf of Acevo, said Acevo remained a strong supporter of the Compact but raised concerns about clarity in the refreshed document.

“It is essential that clarity is given to what the Compact is for and how is should be used,” Elsworth said. “Its intended audiences must be clear. The top priorities for those target audiences must be firstly statutory commissioners and secondly third sector providers.

“Distinctions must be drawn between the principles of Compact working and how they are described in the commitments which fall both to government and the sector, and details about their application and lengthy background contextual information about the sector itself.”

“Currently the proposed document does not make this distinction and runs the significant risk of not being of use to either key audience.”

Elsworth also said that Acevo members were generally cynical about the ability of the Compact to be a vehicle for change in the behaviour of the commissioners with whom they work.

Further, the Community Development Foundation, a non-departmental government body, has warned that grant funding had been largely overlooked in the Compact; Voice for Change England said it placed weak and superficial commitments over public bodies and the government to support equality groups and was therefore not ‘fit for purpose for the BME third sector', and Durham County Council complained that not enough focus was put on smaller community groups.

The recently ousted chair of Local Compact Voice Carl Allen also voiced criticism in his personal reponse to the consultation, calling the document, inelegant, too long, with an "unclear status."

The refreshed Compact is now due to be unveiled before Christmas. Its release has already been delayed to allow further fine-tuning.

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Directory: Association of Chief Executives of Voluntary Organisations (ACEVO) | Commission for the Compact | Directory of Social Change (DSC)
Who's Who: Vibeka Mair | Jay Kennedy | Seb Elsworth