OCS cuts number of strategic partners from 42 to 15 1

Governance | Gareth Jones | 6 Aug 2010

The Office for Civil Society has revealed it is to cut its number of strategic partners from 42 to a maximum of 15 and reduce their funding by nearly 40 per cent.

A letter to the partners from civil society minister Nick Hurd (pictured) confirms that total strategic funding will fall from £12.2m to £7.5m and that no one organisation will receive more than £500,000 a year.

The change, which will take effect from March 2011, will also ensure that no organisation will receive more than 25 per cent of its funding from the OCS.

On the reduction in partners, the letter argues that “strategic partners themselves have been saying for some time that the OCS has too many strategic partners and that the programme is insufficiently strategic in its current form”.

Key funding criteria are listed as an organisations’ ability to represent part of or all of the sector to help shape government policy, and its ability to help deliver the Big Society concept.

Hurd adds that he will be overriding the usual 12-week consultation period for a new programme due to “the spending review timetable and the need to minimise a funding gap for future partners”.

Acevo’s director of strategy Seb Elsworth said the news was not a surprise. “The OCS has actually been pretty good at saying this programme will expire at the end of March and it was originally from ‘06 to ’09, so the 2 years extension was agreed off the back of the original programme anyway.

“It’s helpful that Nick in the letter started to outline what a future plan looks like and we’ll continue to work loosely with the OCS as they develop thinking and hopefully play a role in the partnership going forward.”

NCVO grant halved

NCVO’s most recent strategic grant was £1m, meaning it will lose at least half of its OCS funding under the new system.

A spokeswoman for the umbrella body said: “‘We are pleased that they have announced their intention to have a new programme from 2011.

“It is helpful to give us an indication of their current thinking. We had been scenario planning and this was one of the scenarios we were planning for. This will help to inform the decisions of our board later this year.”

Directory: Association of Chief Executives of Voluntary Organisations (ACEVO) | National Council of Voluntary Organisations (NCVO) | Office for Civil Society

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Carl Allen
6 Aug 2010

Less funded strategic partners. But does it mean less strategic formulation activity and/or less strategic partners at the meeting table?

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