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Transition fund must not reward bad practice, says Navca chief

Finance | Tania Mason | 20 Oct 2010

Navca has described the £100m transition fund as a “big surprise and very welcome” but warned that it should not be allocated to charities in areas where the council has treated the local sector badly.

Chief executive Kevin Curley said the amount worked out to be around £500,000 for a typical unitary area or county, which means say ten grants to local charities.  

“So, huge competition and there will need to be a debate about priorities,” he said.  “Navca will not want government to reward bad local authorities which have cut the sector deeply and unfairly."

Curley said that if charities who had fallen victim to severe and irrational cuts in funding from their local authority were to obtain replacement funding from the transition fund, this would effectively let the local authority off the hook and reward its bad behaviour.

He said he knew that local groups in 'bad' local authority areas would not thank him for saying this, but sometimes "tough love" was needed to encourage local authorities to buck up their behaviour.

"Instead the government should reward and incentivise good practice by councils such as that in Thurrock and Newcastle, and should also reward organisations with clear plans for raising more money from places other than the local state.  And organisations which use lots of volunteers and plan to increase that.”

He said civil society minister Nick Hurd has told Navca that it will help to shape priorities for use of the transition fund.
 
Curley also said the ringfencing of public health funding to be transferred to local councils is a huge relief. “This means a guarantee of help for local voluntary organisations tackling local health inequalities and issues like obesity, young people's sexual health problems and substance misuse.”

Acevo CEO Stephen Bubb said: "We now have a fight on our hands to ensure the headline cuts announced today are implemented in partnership with our sector, and to ensure that the supportive measures announced are built upon."

Sir Stuart Etherington, chief executive of NCVO, said the transitional relief fund was “very helpful”.

“It demonstrates that the government has listened to the sector and understands the important role we will play in helping to address the challenges we all face in the coming years.”

Oxfam: Poorest will pay the most

Oxfam was less complimentary about the review. “The coalition government said their spending review would be fair, but we are still a long way from a fair society,” said Helen Longworth, acting director of UK poverty. “Signs from local authority cuts announced so far are that once again the poorest people in the country are being made to pick up the bill. If the government wants to show their leadership in ‘fairness’ then they should impose a Robin Hood Tax on the banks that caused the financial crisis in the first place.”

Prison funding

Frances Crook, director of the Howard League for Penal Reform, called on the Ministry of Justice to look to the Canadian model in order to cope with cuts to its budget of almost 28 per cent.

“The Canadian government reduced public spending by a fifth and as a result reduced the country’s prison population by 11 per cent.

“By reducing the unnecessary use of custody and investing in community interventions, the Canadian government both saved money and saw crime fall.”

Support for small charities

The Foundation for Social Improvement said it would be increasing the free capacity-building services it provides to small charities.

"We are determined to ensure that any small charity feeling anxious in light of government cuts can access this support and, as such, we are looking at ways to increase the support available including additional training days and road-shows that will take training and advice sessions to cities across the UK."

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Directory: National Association of Voluntary and Community Action | National Council of Voluntary Organisations (NCVO)