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Acevo to look at viability of sector pension scheme

Fundraising | Tania Mason | 11 Jun 2008

Acevo is to explore the possibility of setting up a sector pension scheme after this was one of the recommendations to emerge from a report it commissioned into relationships between charities and trade unions.

Nita Clarke, the author of The way ahead: Trade unions and the third sector also used the report to attack Capacitybuilders’ decision not to create a workforce theme to replace the workforce hub.

“It seems extraordinary that government has not made improving industrial relation and human resources a key part of its capapcitybuilding effort with the sector,” she wrote. “It is hard to understand the rationale behind the recent decision by Capacitybuilders not to add workforce issue as a theme to the nine national ChangeUp programmes that will replace the hubs in 2008.”

Clarke, a former trade union adviser to Tony Blair, was hired by acevo last year to investigate why there is unease within trade unions at the government’s plans to enable more charities to deliver public services, and to examine concerns about charity sector working conditions.

Relationship of deep ambivalence

In her report, released this week, Clarke said the relationship between trade unions and the sector “continues to be characterised by deep ambivalence on both sides”.

“There is a deep desire by third sector leaders to be good employers, but many are uncertain whether trade unions are a help or a hindrance,” she wrote.

Added to this, there is a “surprising dearth of hard information about union membership within the sector” – neither unions nor sector bodies have reliable figures for memberships.

However, she said there are many issues of common interest where lobbying together would be very effective, such as fair funding, length of contracts, full cost recovery, skills development and securing a level playing field for all types of providers.

Good employer kitemark scheme

The report outlined a number of recommendations for improving relations between the two groups. Among these were:

• Acevo should instigate a dialogue with trade unions and the Trades Unions Congress in order to begin identifying common agendas
• The two sides should look at developing a union/third sector protocol and dispute resolution procedures
• Discussion of the potential for a third sector pension scheme
• Discussion of possible joint representations to government
• Consideration of a joint sector/union ‘good employer’ kitemark scheme
• Unions that recruit sector employees should work together to develop a common approach for engaging with sector leaders, and should begin discussions on how to meet the HR and industrial relations nees of the sector.
• Unions should accept that ‘one size does not fit all’ and each should reassess their offers to third sector employees to ensure they are meeting their needs.

Acevo chief executive Stephen Bubb said the umbrella body would explore the recommendations, including a sector pension scheme, and will “put in place mechanisms for formalising discussion with unions and look forward to greater collaborative working to meet shared goals”.

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