Our thoughts on the newly launched Civil Society Covenant

What is the Civil Society Covenant?

On 17 July, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer announced the launch of the Civil Society Covenant — a new approach to strengthening collaboration between the UK government and civil society organisations (better known by us as the VCSE (Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise) sector).

Essentially, it is a principles-based arrangement which aims to ensure civil society organisations can contribute meaningfully to policy-making and service delivery, moving beyond a transactional relationship with government, to one where the two work side by side to achieve shared goals.

The government says that the Covenant will 'create an environment in which civil society is respected, supported and listened to by government, both when working in partnership with civil society and independently, when civil society is holding government to account.'

The Rt Hon Lisa Nandy MP - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport said:

"It has been a difficult decade for many civil society organisations who have been asked to do more with less. Less funding, less recognition and less power. Funding has reduced as need has soared and the right to speak up on behalf of those most in need has routinely been challenged. It has cost us time and energy that could have been spent rebuilding our country and changing lives. If we are serious about renewal, civil society must be heard, not just at the margins but at the heart of decision-making."

Our thoughts on the Covenant

At Community Action, we welcome the Covenant as a recognition of the sector’s essential role - but we also emphasise the need for meaningful action.

Kim Harper, CEO of Community Action Derby said:

"We welcome the Civic Society Covenant as it recognises the vital role that the voluntary sector plays in solving the greatest challenges we face as a society, and this can only be done by working together at a local and regional level with our statutory partners in local government and health. However, the sector is facing real challenges after years of austerity and under-investment, twinned with rising costs and increasing demand for services, so we need to see real actions from government to invest in the sector and enshrine the covenant into policy and procurement practices."

At a local level, we have much to be positive about in Derby, and we hope that the Covenant builds on this. Representing and advocating for the voluntary sector, Community Action has had a seat at the table in many strategic forums like the City Partnership Board, Health & Wellbeing Board, Place Partnerships and the Integrated Care System Executive, to name a few.

We saw a real culture shift during the pandemic and cost-of-living crisis, where strategic partnership working between the voluntary and statutory sectors led to some innovative working that had real impact in our communities.

For example, by working in partnership with Derby City Council we were able to allocate some of the central government Household Support Fund grant to invest in our local community organisations to setup a network of Warm Welcome Hubs where people could get hot food and a drink, access to emergency vouchers, as well as wider health and wellbeing advice, a scheme supporting over 60 incredible community organisations to provide support to over 60,000 individuals.

Working with Public Health England and the NHS, we also created the Derby Health Inequalities Partnership (DHIP), which has invested in a network of voluntary sector community connectors who are working in innovative ways to address health inequalities in their communities.

Kim continued:

"‘Doing with’ rather than ‘doing to’ communities is crucial if we are to be serious about rising to the challenges and creating healthier, stronger communities. Through the Covenant, the government needs to recognise the importance of local civic society infrastructure organisations like Community Action Derby, which bring real knowledge of and reach into our local communities, whilst providing an effective bridge between our voluntary sector and public bodies, especially in the context of funding or commissioning relationships."

We hope that the Covenant will bring about real system change, bring much-needed investment into our communities, and we look forward to working with our sector and public sector bodies to see the Covenant in practice.

Backing from National Sector Leaders

National sector leaders have responded positively overall to the Covenant’s launch.

Sarah Elliott & Jane Ide, CEO’s of National Council for Voluntary Organisations & Association of Chief Executives of Voluntary Organisations on behalf of the Civil Society Advisory Group said:

"The challenges our country faces can only be tackled by working together. Real and lasting change requires a partnership that is equal, honest and fair, with an intention to put lived experience at the heart of policy decision-making.   

The Civil Society Covenant sets out solid principles for how we work together. Now the test is putting them into practice, both nationally and locally. As organisations rooted in communities across the UK, we’ll hold ourselves and the government accountable, speaking up on behalf of the people and communities we represent and working together to ensure meaningful and lasting impact."

Find out more about the Covenant

If you are interested in reading more about the Covenant, you can:

• Visit the Civil Society Covenant Hub on the Gov.UK website
• Read the government's press release about the launch of the Covenant.