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Transforming Local Infrastructure www.transformbh.wordpress.com

Impact of the January 2013 service redesign proposal consultation on the TLI organisation’s strategic business

plan

You said…We did…

September 2013

Contents1 Context.................................................................................................22 Principles underpinning all activities of the TLI organisation (Section 5 of service redesign proposal)......................................................................33 Prioritisation of free and lower cost provision (section 8 of service redesign proposal).......................................................................................64 Services to be provided........................................................................95 Development of partnerships with other infrastructure providers......126 Location..............................................................................................14

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1 Context

The TLI organisation, formed through an amalgamation of the Community and Voluntary Sector Forum (CVSF), the Volunteer Centre (VC), the Performance Development Service (PDS), and Skills Exchange will be officially launched at the end November 2013, with a new brand, a new board and staff structure, and amended charitable objects.

The vision of the TLI organisation is:

We want community and voluntary action to have the greatest possible impact on people in Brighton & Hove.

Its mission is:

We create the support structure and networks that enable individuals, community and voluntary organisations and businesses to contribute their time and energy most effectively.

Its goals are:

1. To develop and strengthen community and voluntary groups and organisations to survive and thrive.

2. To build a strong, vibrant base for volunteering and voluntary activity.3. To improve equalities practice within the community and voluntary

sector and throughout the city.4. To promote and support influential, effective partnerships within the

community and voluntary sector, and between the community and voluntary sector, statutory sector and corporate sector.

5. To develop the TLI organisation as an effective, efficient and sustainable organisation.

What it does, in summary, is:

Help individual community and voluntary organisations become as effective as possible.

Enable people, organisations, businesses and the public sector to work better together.

Make it easier for people to volunteer their time to the greatest effect. Speak up for the vulnerable and underrepresented in our society. Champion and offer a united voice to everyone in the community and

voluntary sector.

The launch of the organisation will be the culmination of work undertaken through the Transforming Local Infrastructure project, which ran from April 2013 – September 2014.

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Throughout the Transforming Local Infrastructure project, the project partners sought to involve community groups, voluntary organisations, other support providers, statutory sector partners and corporate partners, capturing their views and enabling them to influence the outcomes of the project.

To inform the core partnership (the Programme Delivery Group)’s redesign of services, a panel (the Service Redesign Panel) met ten times between October and December 2012 to discuss what services the TLI should deliver directly and how it should work in partnership with other support providers. The panel consisted of ten members of the project’s advisory group (the Strategic Working Group) and was chaired by the TLI project manager (the Transformation Manager).

The panel’s discussions were informed by an assessment of unmet needs, plus data gathered from providers on current provision, previous experience and gaps in provision. In December 2012, the panel produced a recommendations paper, having considered which the Programme Delivery Group produced a proposal for the redesign of services, which it took out to consultation from January to mid-February 2013. Consultation activities included the following:

Making the proposal available on the TLI website (http://transformbh.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/tli-service-redesign-proposal-jan-2013-for-consultation4.pdf), with an invitation to comment there or in person

An online survey An event for community and voluntary sector groups and

organisations, on January 15th 2013, attended by approximately 30 organisations.

Consulting the following organisations able to give us an insight into issues for specific equality groups:o Women’s Services Strategic Networko Brighton & Hove Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender

Switchboardo Friends, Families & Travellerso Brighton & Hove Refugee & Migrant Forumo Glen Poole, formerly of The Men’s Networko Mosaic o Speak Outo CVSF’s Small Groups Network o CVSF’s Small Groups Representativeso CVSF’s Reps Council

Consulting Brighton & Hove City Council and the Clinical Commissioning Group (as funders)

Consulting Brighton & Hove City Council’s Equalities Co-ordinator

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http://transformbh.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/tli-service-redesign-proposal-jan-2013-for-consultation4.pdf

http://transformbh.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/tli-service-redesign-proposal-jan-2013-for-consultation4.pdf


An event for the Strategic Working Group, on 23rd January 2013.

This document summarises how feedback on the proposal influenced the TLI organisation’s strategic business plan.

The Programme Delivery Group thanks all those who provided such useful feedback on the service redesign proposal.

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2 Principles underpinning all activities of the TLI organisation (Section 5 of service redesign proposal)

You said

The principle of accessibility could be strengthened by further explanation as to how it will be applied.

Small groups want “human” contact with people they can trust.

CVSF doesn’t reach a wide enough variety of communities, especially BME, disabled and probably trans.

A significant proportion (20 per cent) of Brighton & Hove’s population consists of members of BME communities so their issues need to be adequately considered at every level. Issues specific to BME groups (e.g. fear of attending groups due to risks to families in home countries, aims of groups being linked to political situations in home countries) require expert support.

We did

The strategic business plan states that the TLI organisation is underpinned by a commitment to achieving the highest possible standards in specific areas, including accessibility. This is expanded on to state that the TLI organisation will:

Work in partnership with organisations able to provide a voice to communities that might otherwise lack such a voice.

Identify and address historical, embedded, structural, social, physical and environmental barriers to take-up of services experienced by individuals, groups and/or organisations, which arise as a result of being a member of a group with characteristics protected under the Equality Act 2010 or being socio-economically disadvantaged.

Recognise that some people experience disadvantage or vulnerability as a result of other characteristics and that certain specific characteristics of the above groups tend to be overlooked, such as the need among members of specific race/ethnicity and disability groups for interpreting services.

In August 2013, the TLI project held a workshop with organisations able to provide a voice to communities that might otherwise lack such a voice, to consider:

The support needs of equality groups How to address barriers to accessing support, including providing

support in partnership

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How to ensure provision responds to need.

The outcomes of this workshop influenced the development of the section of the TLI organisation’s business plan which sets out the organisation’s approach to ensuring accessibility.

A report of the workshop, which documents how the workshop’s outcomes influenced the TLI organisation’s strategic business plan, is available from http://transformbh.wordpress.com/2013/08/27/equality-workshop.

You said

As part of its equality & diversity function, the TLI organisation should support groups and organisations to understand and take account of the needs of non-white British potential service users.

We did

The TLI organisation will embed the promotion of good equality practices in all its services. This will include addressing issues of equality and diversity when supporting organisations to develop by, for example, assessing equality and diversity practice within health checks, embedding equality issues in training provision, signposting to good equality practice guidance and examples of good practice, and encouraging equality Reps to challenge poor practice across sectors.

You said

How will the new organisation prioritise between equality groups? How will it assess whose need is greatest?

We did

Equality groups will be identified for support in liaison with funders, drawing on the needs assessment undertaken within the TLI project.

You said

Because the principle of impartiality specifies that the TLI organisation will represent the sector around, lobby on, and seek to influence for, only the collective issues of member community and voluntary sector groups and organisations, there is a risk that this principle could undermine the principle of accessibility. This could arise, for example, if a minority of members from a group with protected characteristics had a dissenting view.

We did

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http://transformbh.wordpress.com/2013/08/27/equality-workshop


The strategic business plan states that the principle of impartiality will not be implemented in such a way as to override the principle of accessibility. Where a minority of members from a group with protected characteristics had a dissenting view, the TLI organisation might still support them, for example by supporting them to lobby, mediating, or even supporting the minority view.

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You said

One of the strengths of People Can was that the workers trusted people to take the actions they needed, giving them space even to learn from their own mistakes.

We did

The TLI organisation’s underpinning values include empowerment: seeking to empower individuals, groups and organisations to achieve social change, building their capacity rather than acting “for” them.

You said

Would it be more meaningful to state that the TLI organisation will model good practice in ‘resilience’, rather than ‘sustainability’?

We did

At this stage, we are continuing to use ‘sustainability’. Resilience refers to something’s ability to return to return to its original shape after being subjected to an outside force, which perhaps doesn’t capture the need/intention for the TLI organisation to adapt nimbly and flexibly to changing circumstances.

3 Prioritisation of free and lower cost provision (section 8 of service redesign proposal)

The service redesign proposal consultation document stated:

“The PDG proposes that type one to three1 organisations would be prioritised for lower cost and free support2, and that groups and organisations facing the following challenges would be prioritised for low or no cost in-depth development support:

Those that work specifically with groups with characteristics protected under the Equalities Act 2010, the economically disadvantaged and those requiring language support.

1 This refers to a rough typology of community groups and voluntary organisations used by the panel. The typology can be found in the service redesign proposal. Types one to three are smaller organisations.

2 As well as developing a charging structure that enables cross-subsidy of provision, the TLI organisation will investigate the possibility of attracting funding from a range of sources to fund support to prioritised groups.

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Those that are in crisis, need support to manage dissolution, or would like to merge with another organisation.

Those moving into employing a paid member of staff. Those facing significant change in resourcing requirements, i.e.

expanding or contracting. Those that own or manage premises. Those where trustees are at risk of incurring personal liability”.

You said

The factors we’d identified as eligibility criteria for free or lower-cost support needed further specification. Turnover alone is not an adequate criterion and the other factors we’d specified were not adequately nuanced. For example, all groups and organisations work with groups protected by the Equality Act 2010, and all trustees are at risk of incurring personal liability (by the nature of the role). You suggested that eligibility should be based on:

Barriers to service take-up that result from being a member of group with protected characteristics (rather than making protected characteristics themselves the criteria for priority support).

Facing significant sustainability challenges.

We did

Instead of committing to providing free or lower cost support to “groups and organisations that specifically work with groups protected by the Equality Act 2010, the economically disadvantaged or those requiring language support”, we clarified the principle of accessibility, as described above.

We drew on CVSF’s Small Community Groups Networks’ position statement (January 2013), which further breaks down groups with turnovers of up to £35,000 into size categories.

The intention behind our criteria was the principle that the TLI organisation should offer free or lower cost support to organisations in need that can’t afford to pay. In response to your feedback, we refined our criteria to stipulate that the organisation will provide free or lower cost support to groups and organisations whose area of benefit is not limited to a neighbourhood with community development support, and which: o Have an annual income below £5,000, oro Have an annual income between £5,000 and £35,000 and can’t

afford to pay or can’t afford to pay the full rate, for free or lower-cost support, or

o Have an annual income over £35,000, can’t afford to pay, and- Are in crisis

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- Need help to deal with significant sustainability challenges, e.g. due to:

o lack of sufficient funding/incomeo moving into employing a paid member of staff o facing a significant change in resourcing requirements

(expanding or contracting)- Need support to manage dissolution- Need support to progress an interest in merging with another

organisation.

The TLI organisation defines “in crisis” as not having sufficient resources (be that funding, human resources, physical resources, skills or knowledge) to address the group or organisation’s strategic objectives.

The TLI organisation will only provide lower cost or free support to organisations with an annual income over £35,000 where it judges that the support has the potential to improve the organisation's sustainability, or to ensure dissolution is appropriately managed.

The TLI organisation will also prioritise:

Identifying organisations that own or manage premises and lack appropriate indemnities or governance structures to do so effectively

Identifying organisations whose trustees lack understanding of their personal liabilities and/or appropriate indemnity, and organisations whose trustees are not appropriately informed and trained to enable them to fulfil their duties and responsibilities

Advising such organisations on how to address these issues.

You said

Break down the categorisation of groups further, drawing on CVSF’s Small Community Groups Network position statement (updated in January 2013).

We did

The TLI organisation's strategic business plan draws on this position statement, including in specifying eligibility for free and lower cost services.

You said

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The proposal lacked information about what services the new organisation will provide for larger organisations. Further, in section 7.2, it stated that the TLI organisation will facilitate, and quality assure, large voluntary organisations to support smaller ones (linking with corporate partnerships, mentoring and the CEO network). You suggested that the proposal implied that the new organisation would expect more from larger organisations that it provided.

We did

We recognised that, in an attempt to ensure that we achieved equality of access for smaller groups and organisations, we were not clear enough about our offer to larger organisations.

We suggest that the TLI organisation services larger organisations will find most useful is:

The support we will be providing to form consortia to bid for, and deliver, services. The TLI organisation will seek organisations to match with partners, including matching smaller and larger organisations, ensuring that all groups and organisations are provided with the same information and opportunities, seeking to facilitate a shift away from a culture of within-sector competition towards one of collaboration.

The TLI organisation’s strategic business plan also states that the organisation will develop a Commissioning Network to support Chief Executives and senior managers of larger organisations. It will focus on the role of the sector in public service delivery, and issues such as commissioning, prospectus, strategic influencing and engagement. It will feed directly into the Reps Council and seek to influence commissioning practice, for example helping to ensure that medium-sized member organisations are not disadvantaged for grant and commissioning opportunities by comparison to larger organisations.

Consultancy support with:o Management o Governanceo Policies and procedureso Fundraising o Monitoring and evaluationo Quality managemento Human resourceso Equality and diversityo Legal issueso Financial management.

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Developing and maintaining good practice in recruiting, deploying and managing volunteers.

We also recognise that medium-sized member organisations are likely to be interested in different information content by comparison to smaller member groups and organisations.

In addition, the strategic business plan states that the TLI organisation will consider the possibility of providing free or discounted membership to organisations that it brokers to provide specific types of support to smaller organisations.

You said

There is a risk that organisations who have a regional or national office in Brighton & Hove (putting them into a higher size category by turnover although only a proportion of this relates to local delivery) will be disadvantaged by a charging/prioritisation structure designed to ensure smaller groups and organisations have equal access.

We did

In response to this useful feedback, the TLI organisation’s strategic business plan states that, to avoid voluntary organisations with regional or national headquarters in Brighton & Hove being disadvantaged, the organisation will aim to ensure that eligibility for free and lower cost support is determined by the scale of local activities.

You said

How would a network be assessed for support if its joint income put it in the “medium-sized” bracket but the amount it was able to spend on service delivery was restricted?

We did

The TLI organisation will assess groups and organisations’ eligibility for free/lower-cost support using criteria that, in addition to income, include an assessment of sustainability challenges. Organisations that were facing significant sustainability challenges and couldn’t afford to pay for support would be eligible for free or lower cost support. This would include an organisation hosting a network and the organisations within it.

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4 Services to be provided

You said

The proposal doesn’t mention some important areas where there are gaps in the provision of support, such as with human resources, legal issues and financial management.

We did

The TLI organisation’s strategic business plan clarifies that the range of support to facilitate community and voluntary groups and organisations to access the skills, knowledge and physical resources they need (which includes pro bono support, consultancy support, training, enabling groups and organisations to share learning and good practice, disseminating information and enabling sector discussion, and signposting) will address these areas.

You said

Including the CVSF e-list in the list of services to be reviewed along with networks suggests that it may not continue to be delivered. This is a valuable service because it’s accessible, and responsive. It’s the easiest way to stay in touch with what’s happening in the sector.

We did

This feedback will be taken into account in developing the TLI organisation’s communications plan. This will be produced by the end of January 2014, building on the outcomes of the rebrand and website development currently underway.

You said

It will more valuable for the new organisation to coordinate communication about training than to provide it directly. Training should be directly provided only to address gaps.

We did

The TLI organisation’s strategic business plan states that the new organisation will directly deliver training only where necessary to address a gap in provision.

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You said

Face-to-face volunteer brokerage, with a shop-front presence, is needed.

We did

The new organisation will seek to develop a team of volunteers to provide face-to-face brokerage, in partnership with Community Base’s reception service.

You said

Smaller voluntary organisations struggle to compete effectively with larger providers (both voluntary and corporate organisations). Amongst other things, this leads to neighbourhood-based providers losing out to providers who are not locally based (who then sometimes sub-contract to the neighbourhood- based providers at a lower rate), even when the neighbourhood-based providers are better placed to provide locally.

We did

The new organisation will develop and facilitate a Commissioning Network for groups and organisations interested in bidding for service contracts. The network will enable groups and organisations to share effective practice, and to form consortia to bid and deliver collaboratively.

You said

There is a need for a citywide micro-financing fund. Organisations which support relatively small, but non-neighbourhood based communities of interest (such as gypsies and travellers, and the trans community) can do so more effectively by bidding for commissions across commissioning areas, while funders find it challenging to join up commissioning processes accordingly.

We did

The TLI organisation is working in partnership with Sussex Community Foundation to provide the £35,000 Health Improvement micro-financing Programme (with funding from the Public Health Directorate of Brighton & Hove City Council) between April 2013 and March 2015. Sussex Community Foundation manages the grant programme and manages the project, ensuring delivery and reporting against the specification. Pre- and post-application support, provided by the best placed organisation, is co-ordinated by a dedicated Development Officer in the TLI organisation.

You said

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If the TLI organisation provides computers for drop-in use, users will inevitably demand support from TLI staff. Rather than provide such facilities, the TLI organisation should concentrate on raising awareness of the wide range of partner organisations that already do this, e.g. Whitehawk Inn and libraries.

We said

We accepted this recommendation. The TLI organisation will facilitate access to computers through signposting to other public facilities, and through brokering access to computers with corporate partners.

You said

Small groups need training relating to running a group, such as: governance; being part of a committee; making meetings effective; what responsibilities to take on; how to distribute responsibilities more evenly.

We did

The TLI organisation’s delivery plan includes a commitment to investigate ways to provide facilitated peer learning/action learning sets, perhaps addressing issues identified within networks.

You said

It’s helpful for training to be provided on a regular schedule.

We did

The TLI organisation will address this as far as possible with minimal, often short-term resources. Without specific funding, the TLI organisation will be able to provide training only on an ad hoc basis.

5 Development of partnerships with other infrastructure providers

You said

The strength of the TLI organisation will derive from it working with other providers. It should focus on coordinating and improving information on where to access services rather than on providing services directly.

We did

The TLI organisation will involve specialist organisations in the design, promotion and delivery of services.

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The delivery plan includes principles for partnership working agreed by members of the Strategic Working Group, and a structure devised by Strategic Working Group members to facilitate them to build on the collaborative approaches developed through the TLI project.

Examples of ways in which the new organisation plans to work in partnership with other providers include the following:

Leading the development of an approach to assessing the needs of community and voluntary groups and organisations (diagnostics);

Delivering the Health Improvement micro-financing Programme in partnership with Sussex Community Foundation and other support providers;

Supporting organisations to bid for contracts collaboratively; Joining up volunteer brokerage with Active Student and Community

Base; Developing a shop-front presence in partnership with Community Base; Linking TDC’s support for small community group volunteering with the

support provided by the Volunteer Centre to:- enable people to take up citywide and cross-neighbourhood

volunteering opportunities;- enable people to move between citywide roles and small group roles

and vice versa;- Capture evidence on the impact of volunteering citywide and in

neighbourhoods; Working with TDC to streamline networks for members of small

community groups and to develop a plan around peer support for small/neighbourhood groups.

Sub-contracting appropriate elements of consultancy assignments to specialist support providers.

You said

How will the new organisation support equality infrastructure organisations to develop a second-tier role?

For example:

Organisations approach LGBT Switchboard for informal advice on how to make their services more LGBT accessible. Although LGBT Switchboard lacks capacity to develop infrastructure services, it has expertise and its board is committed to developing a strategic approach to training provision and undertaking consultation activities for other organisations.

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A needs assessment of women in neighbourhoods commissioned from TDC showed that the Women’s Strategic Circumstances Network would benefit from support to become a more formal network, and recommended that recruit a Development Worker.

We did

The TLI organisation will explore with funders the possibility of seconding a worker/workers to specialist organisation(s) to develop their capacity to provide infrastructure support.

You said

Bring neighbourhood based small groups together with others so they can support each other and become independent.

We did

The TLI organisation will continue to work with the Trust for Developing Communities to streamline networks for members of small community groups, plan peer support for small/neighbourhood groups, and link TDC’s support for small community group volunteering with the support provided by the Volunteer Centre (to enable people to take up citywide and cross-neighbourhood volunteering opportunities, and move between them).

You said

The TLI organisation must have a strong influencing role locally and nationally. It’s this that makes membership attractive. It’s done well at the moment, driven by good strategic thinking.

The TLI organisation should “make the business case for the voluntary sector”.

Can the TLI organisation raise awareness of the value of volunteering, perhaps expressing it in monetary terms?

We did

The TLI organisation will be a visible interface between the community and voluntary sector, and the public sector, private sector and individuals. This will include communicating the value of community and voluntary groups and organisations. The TLI organisation’s strategic business plan includes the following strategic objectives:

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4.1 To raise corporate sector awareness of the value of community and voluntary sector activity. This will be achieved through:- Developing and maintaining a distinct brand and point of contact for

businesses to engage with the voluntary sector- Attending strategic and networking events- Seeking corporate sponsorship for Sector Star awards

4.2 To ensure that the needs and contribution of community and voluntary groups and organisations are appropriately taken into account in public sector planning, delivery and evaluation, and that the impact of this is fed back to them. This will be achieved through:- Regular meetings with Brighton & Hove City Council’s Communities

and Equality Team- Building relationships with local health partners- Establishing a programme of activity to increase the profile of

volunteering and health- Supporting the Sector Leaders’ Council- Ensuring sector representation on strategic partnerships- Facilitating networks- Supporting the quarterly meeting of the Community Engagement

Partnership.

6 Location

You said

The location of the organisation will influence its profile and effectiveness. It would be best if it had a shop-front presence. While Brighton Junction’s got great facilities, it’s hard to find and doesn’t have a high footfall.

We did

The new organisation will be located in Community Base for the following reasons: Cost Central location Footfall Co-location with other community and voluntary sector organisations,

enabling informal links to be developed Facilitating alignment of the TLI organisation’s and Community Base’s

services.

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Documents

Context - transformbh.files.wordpress.com€¦ · Web viewThe panel’s discussions were informed by an assessment of unmet needs, plus data gathered from providers on current provision,