Drive to reward ‘compact’ councils

Councils that have agreed to improve relationships with the
voluntary sector may win extra funding under new proposals.

The government money would go to those councils that have
established a compact – a plan agreed between the council and
voluntary sector.

The proposal will be discussed in April at the annual meeting of
the Compact Working Group, which comprises organisations from the
voluntary sector.

It follows a survey of 356 councils by the group which shows that
just one in three have compacts and one in five of the country’s
poorest areas have no plans to establish one.

The voluntary sector in two-thirds of the 88 most deprived areas
feel they do not receive enough from the neighbourhood renewal
fund.

Only 40 per cent of neighbourhood renewal areas say their compact
is effective and a third are unhappy about how their local
strategic partnership is working.