Herefordshire Third Sector Support Services Review: Strategic Statement.
This paper has been prepared by the six third sector Local Support and Development Organisations (LSDOs) under review, i.e. The Alliance; Age Concern, Herefordshire and Worcestershire (ACHW); Community Voluntary Action, Ledbury and District (CVALD); Community First Herefordshire and Worcestershire (CF); Herefordshire Voluntary Action (HVA); and Herefordshire Council of Voluntary Youth Services (HCVYS), to submit to the review of support services to third sector organisations in Herefordshire. The Chairs and Vice Chairs of the six organisations are leading an initiative for the six organisations to work together to address the issues raised for their organisations by the review, building on preparatory work undertaken by their Chief Officers over the past nine months.The aim is for this group to make a positive contribution to the design of the architecture for sustainable support services that will meet the actual and anticipated needs of third sector organisations and communities over the next decade, based on their individual and collective knowledge, experience and roles within the third sector. This is proving a challenging task, not least because of the rapid pace of change over the period within which the group has been working.
The election of the Coalition Government, the advent of the ‘Big Society’, a renegotiated Compact, more emphasis on localism and the prospect of a savage Comprehensive Spending Review with widespread public spending cuts, combine to create a very uncertain environment. In this context, the group has worked to hold to basic principles and values and maintain an emphasis on quality services to support organisations and groups within the sector as the main focus of the review.