Blog

By James Rees

The Government created high expectations at the outset of the Work Programme that the third sector would be closely involved. But the programme has generated a considerable amount of concern and critisism. James Rees highlights the risks that the programme poses to the third sector’s role in the delivery of employment services...

By Pete Alcock

The Big Society has become one of the key political concepts of the UK Coalition Government. It was developed by the Conservatives in the run up to the 2010 election, with the personal endorsement of the leader, David Cameron. Since the election it has become a central feature of the new government’s policy programme, and has continued to be promoted by Cameron, who in July 2010 described it as his ‘great passion’.

However what is meant by the Big Society, and what the implications of it are for policy and practice, particularly in the third sector, are far from clear or uncontested.

There has been a lot of talk about how the voluntary sector is being affected by the recession and public spending cuts. The sector provides vital services, and cuts to these are and will affect people right across society. But cuts to the sector are also affecting those who work within it. As with every part of the economy, jobs are being lost and becoming less secure. The sector has historically high rates of job satisfaction, but is there a risk that this will be eroded by job cuts, insecurity and increased workloads?

Jeremy Kendall

The Future of the Third Sector, Cumberland Lodge

Have you ever felt that the world of organisations between market and state, the scope of research upon it, and the nature of the policy environment to which practitioners and researchers must respond is evolving at break neck speed? Would you think it worthwhile to pause for a little while, step back from the moving goalposts, frantic change and frenetic action to consider whether all this energy is being sensibly directed and constructively expended?

Attending today's Europia Conference in Manchester 'Getting on... ' has inspired me to return to my very neglected blog! Despite the event being a stones throw from hotels that are famous for their high noon tea and cocktail bars frequented by footballers, the occasion was set within a modest building. Unlike many conferences I have attended over the past few years, tea was offered in plastic cups, there were quaver crisps, polish salad and women with their children sat on the carpet accompanied by a full-house of attendees. I'm not quite sure what I expected, but it was enough to get me blogging again

The 'Big Society’ has become a key element of the new coalition Government. Whilst the term itself is new, and accompanied by the ‘new language’ of social action, there are continuities between current policy objectives and those of the previous Government.

Let’s be clear here, this isn’t a brand new idea...

Last week, TSRC and NCVO held a fascinating event where we explored the evidence behind the idea of the Big Society. As part of the TSRC’s social enterprise programme, I was thinking about how our work adds to some of the debates and how we can shed more light on this elusive concept.

Thanks for all the good feedback from those of you, both in social enterprises and government, who have read our paper on the 'Approaches to measuring social enterprise'. Our aim is to shed light on what is being reported, and it is interesting that different people read the findings in different ways. Measuring social enterprise is always going to be difficult so, in some ways, each data source may be under estimating the scale of a particular type of social enterprise.

Some may find the results surprising and some might find they challenge their previous ideas. We hope our work will encourage the social enterprise sector and others to discuss what they mean by social enterprise and to be more precise when they use any figures. Our working paper is just that - work in progress - so we welcome your views on our findings.

One of the highlights of my first year working in TSRC is the opportunity I’ve had to develop a legwork-mapping project in two areas of England for the Below the Radar work stream. The main task has involved traipsing through neighbourhoods looking for social activities, groups and organisations that don’t appear in regulatory national lists. I’ve been trying to build a picture of what groups are out there and the different types of work they are doing in their community and beyond.  These activities and groups are frequently referred to as ‘grassroots organisations’, ‘civil society organisations’ and ‘below the radar groups’.

In reality, whilst juggling other work at the TSRC, this work has involved a day a week over the year. This doesn’t amount to much time and I have not been short of things to do!