Call to Councils to Invest in Existing Involvement Structures

Reporter: David Bartlett (RoFTRA)
Date online: 28/04/2008

Research published this week by the the national umbrella organisation Urban Forum highlights the dangerous trend in Local Authorities withdrawing funding from the country's 85 Community Empowerment Networks (CENs). Rochdale Borough has one of them - its Voluntary & Community Sector Partnership (VCSP).

CENs were set up as the model for community engagement, particularly with the then new Local Strategic Partnerships (LSPs), by the Government to represent the voluntary, community and faith sectors within the LSP as well as providing important outreach, communication and capacity building for the sector.

The main findings of the research, carried out in March this year, are that of the 85 CENs: 

• (85) had collapsed due to lack of funding
• 14 (18%) will lose all their funding this year
• 17 (22%) will lose part of their funding with 9 of them losing more than 50% of it
• 9 (11%) were expecting the receive the same funding
• 4 (5%) were expecting to receive more funding.

Urban Forum make the point that with a new Empowerment White Paper due from the government this summer and the new Duty to Involve requirement on Local Authorities to ensure structures are in place for providing 'community voice' coming into effect in April next year it makes no sense to starve CENs of funding.

The Report's conclusion states: Representational structures are essential mechanisms for an effective community voice. There is a very real danger that if CENs are allowed to perish that similar structures will have to be reinvented at considerable expense and with significant loss of experience and expertise.