Compact Voice Provides Advice across Sectors

Background and key findings

At three recent Compact Voice events we asked our participants from local government, the voluntary and community sector and social enterprises to write down their top tip to develop the best relationship with their sector. We also asked them to write the least helpful thing that other sectors could do in working with them.

Delegates from across the country provided their responses. A number of themes emerged around Compact-working, communication, building relationships, innovation, understanding and partnership working. What became exceptionally clear from reading the responses is that all the sectors are open to working together, with open communication and relationship building described as the most important factors for successful partnership working. A significant problem for partnership working seemed to be the sectors wanting to work together but waiting for the other sector to approach them.

So the best lesson overall is don’t be afraid to approach and communicate with other sectors and don’t wait for them to approach you. By being proactive, open and willing to communicate you will be taking necessary steps into building good relationships and further developing better partnership working.

Advice direct from our delegates is provided below, and is separated by which sector is offering advice and also by theme. By providing this information, we hope that all sectors can gain a better understanding of where the other sectors are coming from and how they can best work together.

Thank you for reading and we invite you to engage with us and provide any advice on behalf of your sector that was not previously mentioned. Please visit us at or Email your advice to .

According to local government, this is the best way to work with them:

  • Compact
  • “Adopt the principles of Compact”
  • “Working at good, open, communicative relationships. Consider Compact Chair at local/central level MUST be high profile, e.g. leader of council”
  • Communication
  • “Take responsibility for facing the financial cuts – it’s a two way street”
  • “Develop relationships with your commissioner because we need to know what the issues are”
  • “Keep me informed, don't work on your own - help is available” (more than one respondent)
  • “Keep informed, open, honest, transparent and accountable” (more than one respondent)
  • “If you have a problem/issue, come and discuss it early before it is a crisis”
  • “Open dialogue around service provision and recognise that local authorities have funding challenges too”
  • Relationship building
  • “Be aware we face similar issues over continuity of important finding streams”
  • “More engagement with voluntary sector - i.e. Compact Champions to be briefed on responsibilities”
  • “To have an open and friendly relationship”
  • “Take an active, high level, involvement in partnerships (e.g. LSPs)”
  • New ways of thinking/working
  • “Think outside the box - include private sector within local compacts to encourage partnership working within the latest cuts”
  • “Achieve agreements with the involvement of upper management, not just individual workers”
  • “To look at ways in which we can act as flexibly as possible in order to adapt to changes”
  • “Develop consortia working to cut costs by sharing resources”
  • “To step up and voice your opinion. Your knowledge and experience is vital to shape services for the future - together we can do more for our mutual service users”
  • “To have a policy that provides contact for community groups and SMEs and also build capacity to bid”
  • “To understand the timescales and restrictions we sometimes face”
  • “To understand the difference between outcomes and outputs and to be prepared to think radically”
  • “Assisting with bidding process to tender for contracts”
  • “Prepare generic bid packs prior to actual tenders going out that you wish to apply for”

According to local government, this is the worst thing to do to work with them:

  • Understanding
  • “Being overly critical”
  • “Be adversarial”
  • “Be complacent and expect others to act on their behalf”
  • “Under pressure, become purely defensive”
  • “Promises without plans/process in place”
  • Partnership working
  • “Maintain a sceptical attitude, withhold information, do your own thing in isolating, ignore the changes and not be ready when the time comes”
  • “Keep reorganising so it's impossible to build relationships and communicate”
  • “Talk and not take Compact seriously. Locally all sectors need to develop publicity for Compact (very important under localism agenda)”
  • “Use the Compact as a tool to sometimes beat us around the head with”
  • “Stop working in partnership with each other”
  • “Keep complaining about how the council does not communicate - work with them to make it better” (more than one respondent)
  • “Retreat into silo, ignore possible effects of own decisions (e.g. cuts) on others”
  • Innovation
  • “Complain about the funding cuts but fail to plan for the future”
  • “Create unnecessary bureaucracy, it hinders our ability to engage effectively”
  • “Carry on as they are at the moment”
  • “Ignore possible benefits on participating in consortium/group bids”
  • Communication
  • “Rely on internet/website information as Leeds Gov website unfit for purpose”
  • “Engage too late when the decisions are about to be implemented.”
  • “Breakdown in communication and involvement”
  • “Not engage, breakdown communication”
  • “The Compact principles work both ways - an organisation who breaks all the principles but expects everyone else to keep them + complains to everyone when others don't keep compliant, e.g. blog, Facebook, local press”

According to social enterprises, this is the best way to work with them:

  • Compact
  • ” Strongly encourage profitable business to engage with and fund the 3rd sector, based on principles similar to the Compact”
  • Relationship building
  • “Promoting partnership especially in Leeds where it is least advertised, I believe”
  • New ways of thinking/working
  • “Be clear on what you want us to do, and give us the means to do it”

According to social enterprises, this is the worst thing to do to work with them:

  • Understanding
  • “Give large organisations carte blanche to run all government services”
  • Partnership working
  • “Disengage and leave it to the voluntary sector to try develop partnerships alone”
  • Communication
  • ”Restrict information to their website”

According to the voluntary and community sector, this is the best way to work with them:

  • Compact
  • “Better discussion of information on the Compact within local authorities to all staff ‘Compact Champions’”
  • “Know there are guidelines for fair practice, and apply them”
  • “Treat Voluntary and Community organisations as equal partners and develop mutually beneficial partnerships”
  • Communication
  • “Make GP consortia aware of preventative measures, and encourage umbrella organisations to increase real partnership commission through them”
  • “Provide evidence based information, which is shared and discussed”
  • “Open, transparent, fair communication with all providers, large or small” (more than one respondent)
  • “Come and speak to us and have a real look at what we actually do and the impact it has”
  • “Clarity and transparency in policy and process” (more than one respondent)
  • “Keep lines of communication open and make realistic proposals” (more than one respondent)
  • “Clarity, transparency of requirements and implementations”
  • “Don't try to change everything”
  • Relationship building
  • “Understanding our similarities (with the private sector), whilst respecting and acknowledging our differences”
  • “Plan ahead! Partnerships are not forged the week a PQL is issued”
  • “To build up that trust that is needed to work together”
  • “Establish ongoing relationship with policy officers from OCS, Home office and community sector infrastructure organisations, regional and national”
  • “To realise the VCS is a highly professional and efficient range of organisations in the 21st century”
  • “Make volunteers feel valued. Don’t put obstacles in the way which volunteers will find frustrating”
  • To government - “Give us our independence back and stop micro-managing”
  • “Involve us in decision making at early stages”
  • “To consult before, after and during every partnership”
  • “Grow trust and develop an understanding of VCS groups you work with”
  • “Focus on outcomes rather than implying you’re doing us a favour”
  • “To acknowledge our (VCS) experience and knowledge and use it for everyone's benefit”
  • “Engage with the organisations which know their community and have experience of working with them”
  • “
  • New ways of thinking/working
  • “Give us the tools and training to enable us to deliver public services”
  • “Be prepared to consider innovative approaches that may not accord with rigid policies”
  • “To encourage more (preferably all) of the community to participate and take an active interest in community affairs”
  • “Encouraging partnerships with and between smaller charities to provide services. Local services from local charities.”
  • “Planning - longer contracts, i.e. 1-3 year contracts includes follow up plans and implementations” (2 people)
  • “Understand Value for Money - where is the capacity to see the added value.”
  • “To understand that volunteers are not to be viewed in the same way as paid staff in respect of their time”
  • “Be very clear about what service you are commissioning”
  • “Stop taking a top down approach”
  • “Provide support and ideas/framework to local authorities/govt, because despite reassurances they are just cutting frontline services”
  • “Understand 'value' over 'cost', proportionate risk, equality and transparency”
  • “Be open and flexible and creative with monitoring and reporting requirements”
  • “Look at ways outside of standard commissioning of public services in order to support small charities (e.g. use of estates, procurement, use of staff expertise)”
  • To Government - “To engage and communicate with the VCS at the soonest possible time”
  • “Be clear about the timescale and value of any tender you are commissioning”
  • “To ensure that commissioning and procurement processes measure value as well as the social impact the voluntary and community organisations can offer”
  • “Obtain structured framework/set of processes for volunteer working”

According to the voluntary and community sector, this is the worst thing to do to work with them:

  • Understanding
  • “Make cuts without giving us the time to adapt to change” (more than one respondent)
  • “Ignore our contribution, i.e. our research into local communities” (more than one respondent)
  • “Make sudden decisions, negate our views, minimize our concerns”
  • “Treat voluntary bodies as thought they are an 'arm' of the government (we need to help those who fall through the net) and we don't belong to the local authorities or central government” (more than one respondent)
  • “Suppose that any voluntary sector organisation - infrastructure or otherwise - represents the community sector”
  • “To not consult with the group and impose conditions without finding out what has already been done and what the interests of the group are”
  • “Not specify properly, not stick to time tables and trying to micro-manage”
  • “Throw Big Society idea to localism. Losing voluntary sector voice in the name of Big Society. Keeping Compact on shelves without implementing it.”
  • “To take us for granted”
  • “Not consider cash flow in small organisations when authorising payment”
  • “Ask us to provide services at the end of process without having involved us earlier on”
  • “Blame cuts (no matter how justified in view of local councils bearing greater burden)”
  • “Researching and reviewing central government’s performance/engagement with Compact in the past”
  • “Continue to pay only lip service to Compact and to assume that large charities/private sector are best placed to provide local services since they lack local knowledge and expertise. Emphasis should be on social, as well as financial risks” (more than one respondent)
  • Partnership working
  • “Avoid partnerships or draw up their barriers due to competing for funds”
  • “Encourage an environment of competition which means everyone stays in their silos”
  • “Keep cutting funding to local authorities”
  • “Not involve CSOs in design and development of services”
  • “Create a commissioning environment which relies on red tape and bureaucracy to function”
  • “It is up to local authorities to make bad decisions = passing the buck”
  • “Promises without plans/process in place”
  • “Allow big contractors to cream off profits at the expense of service provision”
  • “Say they agree with those principles and then ignore them - breaking trust”
  • “Weaken initiatives like Compact, give them teeth”
  • Innovation
  • “Carry on as they are in the belief that all is working as it is”
  • “Reject innovation out of hand because it doesn't fit the directional structure”
  • “Cut infrastructure”
  • “Add more layers of bureaucracy”
  • “Overload monitoring/info requirements to assess quality and outputs”
  • “Leave volunteers enthusiastic and without structured support process”
  • Communication
  • “Keep us in the dark”
  • “Not engage with the VCS. Breakdown in involvement”
  • “Make changes without consultation leaving little reaction time for volunteers”
  • “Stop talking to us”
  • “Avoid open and honest discussions” (more than one respondent)
  • “Ignore us”
  • “Lack of clarity and not being upfront”
  • “Be unclear about timelines for commissioning, and not give notice when uncertainty can effect staffing”
  • “Steam ahead without identifying need, mapping current provision or talking to us”