Coventry's Compact gets a smart new format

In such difficult financial times, Coventry's Compact is more important than ever is encourage effective joint working and setting out good and unacceptable practice. New codes on funding, commissioning and conflict resolution were adopted by Coventry Partnership in May, and a new Compact leaflet will be available at the Coventry Partnership conference on 3 December, illustrating the range of Compact materials available and how to access them. VAC members will also receive copies in the VAC December mailing.

The Coventry Compact codes will also be available in the new format shortly afterwards, together with new Coventry Compact Awards to recognise good practice in joint working.

We will be measuring the effectiveness of this awareness raising campaign and would appreciate your comments. Please complete the two page questionnaire below or visit http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/Y2TYBXY

Future funding picture gets grimmer

Voluntary and community organisations using local and national government funding to deliver services need to brace themselves for a big reduction in funding, particularly from 2011. £1.5 million of Supporting People funding has fallen out already (approximately a third of this relating to homelessness services) and difficult decisions lie ahead for commissioners as other external funding regimes come to an end or are reduced, and any ‘mainstreaming' (i.e. absorbing within core Council or PCT budgets) implications for these externally-funded projects are further exacerbated by falling internal budgets.

The Council has already set out the difficulty of its position at its budget consultation meetings with the voluntary and community sector took place on 27 October and 11 November. Although the Council can borrow to address a shortfall in its capital budget, its revenue budget must balance. The Council is currently facing a £10m revenue deficit for 2010/11, rising to £24m in 2011/12 and £38m in 2012/13. The savings proposed would eliminate the 2010/11 deficit, and reduce the 2011/12 and 2012/13 deficits to £8m and £20m, if all options are accepted by Elected Members, and it is the task of the ABC programme (which stands for a better Council for a bolder Coventry) to identify means of delivering these further savings, particularly by looking at how services are delivered and whether better outcomes can be achieved at lower cost. The biggest savings proposed for 2010/11 include:

• £270,000 through implementing the approved policy on community centres gap funding
• £500,000 through meeting Single Status costs through the Dedicated Schools Grant
• £500,000 through reviewing the service with CV One and looking for economies of scale
• £350,000 through reviewing street cleansing and grounds maintenance
• £540,000 through continuing to personalise care and giving greater choice by putting more money in domicilary and home-based care rather than more expensive institutional care
• £1,100,000 through vacancies and staff turnover
• £300,000 (leading to £600,000 p.a.) through removing 10 senior management posts
• £250,000 through reviewing administration generally
• £1,500,000 by freezing standard supplies and services budgets
• £500,000 through reviewing the policy on debt repayment
• £500,000 through a review of procurement

Service providers in particular need to continue to prepare for greater personalisation of care and the greater use of individual budgets for people to buy their care with, given the greater emphasis this is now being given.

Grant-funded organisations will, as with last year, be expected to absorb a 3% reduction.  Although this will come with an impact, this approach is still preferable to specific services being taken out completely. Organisations who can demonstrate a strong business case may be exempted from the reduction, as was the case last year with advice services facing increased demand for their services due to the recession. There is a further £24m deficit on capital expenditure over the next 2-3 years which will be partially addressed through borrowing.

Reductions in expenditure from 2011/12 onwards could be far deeper than those proposed for 2010/11. To download the report including the proposed savings, click here

http://cmis.coventry.gov.uk/CMISWebPublic/Binary.ashx?Document=14682

Partners or suppliers?

As partnerships increasingly take on board a joint commissioning role, it is important that the voluntary sector is not excluded from partnerships' ‘top table' and relegated from "partner" to "stakeholder". There may be conflicts of interest when taking decisions, but these do not necessarily apply solely to the voluntary sector as commissioning organisations are often also providers themselves. There are ways to identify and manage conflicts of interest including withdrawal from specific decisions, but to exclude the voluntary sector wholesale is not the only solution nor a particularly fair one. If the statutory sector does want us to be partners and not just suppliers, then we need to be treated as such.