Compact Wins in Merton

1. Compact Wins in Merton

2. Third Sector empowered to improve funding processes in Merton • Third sector consulted with regards to the funding process that took place to allocate resources in 2009. • This learning was fed back to council funding officers at a meeting with the voluntary sector and actions were identified to improve the funding process in 2010. • Learning has been reflected in new standardised grant application forms, assessment and allocation processes and monitoring arrangements and the lessons learned event will be part of the annual review of our processes

3. Supporting voluntary groups to access National funding On 12 October 2009 Merton successfully hosted a sub regional Awards for All Big Lottery workshop/ seminar. A total of 33 voluntary sector groups attended, of which 21 were from Merton. Merton Council’s support was appreciated by the groups attending and our Big Lottery partners. Traditionally, Merton groups do not make enough funding applications to the Awards for All scheme, therefore we are not winning our borough’s proportion of funding. MVSC were also at the event and intend to promote the opportunity. This is not a fund that the Council can directly apply to and is suitable only to Voluntary sector groups.

4. Adoption of Third Sector Strategy Early in 2008 LB Merton adopted a Third Sector Strategy, developed by a group of council officers and voluntary and community sector partners. The strategy includes over 40 actions to ensure the effective realisation of the strategies aims and objectives. These include: • establishing a Third Sector Coordinator post, providing corporate leadership across the council and driving forward improvement, • standardising application forms, monitoring arrangement and payments across the council to reduce the burden on voluntary groups, and • promoting communication with the VCS.

5. Minimising the Impact of Fund Reductions Merton Council’s budget gap has meant voluntary sector grant streams have to be reduced by 10%. The council consulted the sector at the earliest opportunity and as a result of this a range of principles were agreed for allocating the reduced funding pots for 2009/10. This work culminated in: • All parties having greater appreciation of the funding challenges facing others and there is joint working to find solutions • More transparent funding application and allocation processes have enabled difficult decisions to be made together, achieving greater value for public money and better services for the community • Work between the council and the Compact Funding & Procurement subgroup explores how proposed savings to council budgets could impact on the sector, for both grant funding and proposals for service cuts. This provides an opportunity for the sector to advise public agencies on how they could organise services to better meet the needs of local people and save money • Voluntary sector representatives are now routinely asked to sit on grants panels

6. Value of Volunteering Recognised Merton Partnership has through its first Local Area Agreement recognised the contribution of volunteering through encouraging learning, developing key life skills and preparing people to return to work after periods of worklessness. Priority has been given to increasing the number of people engaging in formal volunteering with separate targets looking at engaging residents in volunteering specifically from socially excluded groups.

7. Volunteer Recruitment In order to promote volunteering, VCM has worked with partners to deliver a comprehensive package of advertising, outreach and recognition to draw more people into volunteering. The key outcomes relating to this work include: 1. varied and innovative methods have been used to attract new volunteers in Merton, including: • regular volunteering awards events, • volunteering recruitment drop-in sessions held in the community, • regular features on volunteering in My Merton, the council magazine, that is distributed to over 80,000 households across the borough every two months, 2. demonstrable increases in the number of new volunteers in Merton, for example: • the total number of new volunteers from the ‘Go on… Make a Difference Volunteer’ campaign events totalled over 150, with a further 60 expressing interest, • volunteers registered by Volunteer Centre Merton for the April to June period doubled to 380 compared with the same period in the year before

8. Working Together: Collecting data about number of volunteers in Merton The Local Area Agreement stretch target regarding increasing the number of volunteers in Merton has seen a significant increase in joint working between Volunteer Centre Merton, the council and other partners to provide mutual support to achieve the stretch target. This has included holding joint events and the council and Merton Partnership identifying additional resources to support data collection and promotion activities.

9. INVOLVE NETWORK INVOLVE, Merton’s community engagement network, brings together members of the voluntary and community sector (VCS) to make sure the needs and preferences of service users, carers and the wider community are identified and kept central to planning and delivery services in Merton. Key outcomes resulting from the work of the INVOLVE network: • Greater awareness within the VCS of issues that impact on the sector • A strong voice for VCS within the Merton Partnership with elected INVOLVE representatives acting as champions for the sector • Greater understanding of sector issues amongst LSP partners • Wide involvement of the VCS in the development of the 2009-19 Community Plan, Merton’s sustainable community strategy, which is valued by all partners • Greater understanding of the role and the capacity of the sector to contribute towards meeting agreed local targets • Maintaining contact, good relationships and a shared sense of purpose between the voluntary and community sector and Compact partners

10. Budget Influencing:the 2010/11 council budget • Following a session at INVOLVE, a special Funding & Procurement Group took place on 16 October to present the council’s 2010/11 budget proposals to the sector and to gather their views and suggestions. • Suggestions from the voluntary and community sector were collated to input into the formal council meeting. This will be followed up in December with an opportunity to look at the next round of proposals as they emerge. • This is the first time that the VCS have been proactively involved in scrutinising Council budget proposals as they develop.

11. Transformation Programme Briefing The council’s Chief Executive attended a meeting of INVOLVE to update the sector on the council’s Transformation project, which will outline what the council will look like by 2014 and will see key changes in the way services are delivered. The session provided an opportunity to ask questions of the Chief Executive and share views.