The Prince Update - May 17th
Our writer Richard Prince shares his regular horizon scan of the sector news, flagging up developments, new funding and opportunities in the social sector for portfolio careerists and others to be aware of.
Future of work: home working can just mean longer hours, not more productivity
On the #futureofwork front, Interesting research from Becker Friedman Institute for Economics in the US shows the picture on working from home during COVID-19 continues to be complex - they found workers at a large Asian IT company worked longer hours, but without the increase in productivity sometimes suggested by other studies. "These findings suggest that communication and coordination costs increased substantially during WFH, and constituted an important source of the decline in productivity. Employees with children living at home increased hours worked more than those without children at home, and suffered a bigger decline in productivity than those without children".
Also worth reading recent research from the CIPD on their expected trends to 2030, including digital skills, Diversity & Inclusion and shifting workplace expectations.
UK Community Renewal Fund: prospectus
The UK government is providing an additional £220 million funding through the UK Community Renewal Fund to help local areas prepare for the launch of the UK Shared Prosperity Fund in 2022. This Fund aims to support people and communities most in need across the UK to pilot programmes and new approaches and will invest in skills, community and place, local business, and supporting people into employment. All places across the UK are eligible for pilot funding. The Fund will also provide capacity funding to help places prepare for the introduction of the UK Shared Prosperity Fund. The UK Community Renewal Fund prospectus sets out how the Fund will operate across the UK.
Charities invited to apply for new Co-op funding
The retailer is encouraging applications from projects that support access to food, help improve mental wellbeing or provide opportunities for young people. Applications are now open to a fund that could allow hundreds of charities to access millions of pounds in funding. The Co-op said it was looking for charities to apply for the next round of its Local Community Fund. The retailer said its members had raised more than £70m for 21,000 local projects across the UK since 2016
Has COVID impacted charity mergers in 2021?
Article by EP. A substantial chunk of charity consolidation is timed for the turn of March/April and the new financial year. 20% to 25% of all charity mergers are announced or finalised around this time. In 2021, we have seen 17 mergers in this period (against 16 in 2020). Some referenced the backdrop of COVID as part of their decision to merge. In other cases, the current situation has led to the deepening of existing collaboration. It is clear that COVID is still not stopping charity mergers in 2021, with organisations undertaking significant new partnerships to create joint service offers for beneficiaries and strengthen their finances. And in some cases, it has even spurred them on.
Scouts and Girlguiding collaborate on £2m volunteer recruitment scheme
The Scouts and Girlguiding have been awarded a more than £2m grant for a joint project to streamline their processes for the recruitment of volunteers. The Pears Foundation has given the funding to the two charities, which said they would use it to work together on a project that would digitally transform how they engaged and welcomed new volunteers.
Scouts and Girlguiding said they had faced challenges in finding new adult volunteers over the past year because of being unable to hold face-to-face meetings during the pandemic. The new scheme will examine the behind-the-scenes processes involved in recruiting volunteers, look for opportunities to make economies of scale and share learning points and best practice.
Torbay Council proposes £1m ‘green bond’
Torbay Council has outlined plans for a £1m community green bond, as it seeks to become the third authority to launch such an investment. The bond would be used to help finance green projects earmarked for council development, including installation of solar panels. It would be marketed with a return above the current bank rate and be managed by a provider which will deal with all the financial transactions and administration. If approved, Torbay would follow in the footsteps of council in West Berkshire and Warrington Borough, which both issued community municipal investments to fund solar schemes last year. Torbay said the issue could be modelled on West Berkshire’s CMI, which was a five-year investment with an annual return of 1.2%, managed by crowdfunding platform Abundance.
CAF Bank - A guide to borrowing for charities
In this guide to borrowing, you'll find:
· Stories of how organisations with a social purpose have used loan finance to advance their missions
· A clear overview of the different types of repayable finance available
· Tips on what lenders look for and how to make your business case
NPC evaluation of the Youth Investment Fund
This dashboard has been published as part of the learning project for the Youth Investment Fund (YIF). YIF is one of the biggest investments in open access youth provision in recent years. As such, it provides a unique opportunity to gain insights into a field that, in terms of impact, is currently under-researched and poorly understood. You can use this dashboard to get an overview of the shared evaluation of YIF and to explore NPC’s findings.
SEUK - What do the local elections and Queen’s Speech mean for social enterprises?
The local election results in England were more complicated than they first appeared. The Conservatives continued to win council seats and mayors in the ‘Red Wall’, with their town and shire electoral coalition holding up well. But Labour also solidified its position in England’s cities, including London. For social enterprises, the national picture looks likely to be dominated by the Conservatives for some years to come. Given that the UK has a very centralised system of taxation and spending, this means that Conservatives will continue to shape the overall direction of travel. The focus on levelling up may provide opportunities for social enterprises.
There were some significant bills for our sector in the Queen’s Speech. The NHS Bill which has been discussed for two years will finally come forward in this parliamentary session. The Bill will shape the future of health service delivery for the next decade through the creation of a more integrated system, with new “Integrated Care Systems” (ICSs) coming to the fore to replace the strategic role that had previously been held by Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs). The Procurement and Subsidy (i.e. State Aid) Bills are also important, as they will directly impact over £300bn of procurement spend and hundreds of billions of government grants/tax reliefs per annum. The ‘surprise’ Bill was the Dormant Assets Bill which will reform how £880m of unused bank accounts, insurance policies and other assets will be distributed.
Half of pools, gyms and leisure centres in England at risk
More than half of public leisure facilities in England could close in the next six months unless the government provides greater financial support, the prime minister has been warned. Around 400 gyms, pools and community centres have already shut since the start of the pandemic. However Tanni Grey-Thompson, the chair of ukactive, has told Boris Johnson there is a “grave fear” across the industry that more will go bust, with more than 2,000 facing uncertainty and possible risk of closure, widening the health inequalities across Britain.
Comment: EP knows this sector very well and the lack of support to many excellent leisure organisations is a major concern
Website launched to help charities improve trustee recruitment
Reach Volunteering has launched a website to help charities improve how they recruit trustees and increase their board’s diversity. The Trustee Recruitment Cycle includes guidance, templates, and insight from other charities, with an aim to make it easier to recruit more openly and inclusively. It was created by Reach Volunteering, alongside the Association of Chairs, Small Charities Coalition and Getting on Board.
Comment: Useful to note competitors and complementary services to EP’s recruitment offers
Charity pay study 2021: The biggest earners
Every two years since 2013, Third Sector has compiled a list of the highest salaries paid by the biggest UK charities. The study has documented gradual growth in the pay packages earned by the voluntary sector’s highest-paid individuals. The top of the list is typically dominated not by household-name charities but philanthropic foundations, charitable private hospitals, arts bodies and educational establishments – that is, organisations that do little public fundraising. This year is no different, with the Wellcome Trust again topping the list by a wide margin. But the study, which is primarily based on annual accounts reflecting pre-coronavirus pandemic conditions, shows a considerable rise in top-level pay packages awarded by the UK’s largest charities compared with two years ago. While the median high earner’s salary among the top 100 charities was £185,000 in 2017 and 2019, this year it has jumped up to £205,000.
Although many of these numbers seem high, it is worth noting they are outliers in the UK voluntary sector, where most organisations have no employees, let alone individuals on six-figure salaries. ACEVO notes that “the largest 100 charities by income represent 0.06 per cent of registered charities in England and Wales. The salaries listed in this research are not representative of the breadth of the charity sector, in which it is much more likely that organisations will be run by volunteers.
Comment: The top 100 are not very representative of the whole sector, but an interesting report nevertheless
Queen’s Speech: government needs ‘more than just an ambition’ on social care
The brief mention of social care in the Queen’s Speech represents a “missed opportunity” to spur desperately needed reform, many in the sector have warned. Proposals will be “brought forward”, but no specific bill was mentioned despite solving problems in the sector being identified by Boris Johnson’s government before the 2019 general election. “A renewed commitment to social care reform is welcome, but today’s words are similar to what was announced in the 2019 Queen’s Speech,” said social care spokesperson for the County Councils Network David Fothergill. “We understand that the pandemic has taken precedence, but as the country comes out the other side councils need more than just an ambition to bring proposals forward.” The government has repeatedly said it will seek cross-party consensus on reform, and in March ministers said proposals would be brought forward this year.
Comment: It feels like this critical reform is not a government priority and is as far away as ever – unless there is a new disaster such as major provider failures that force action
Charity Commission - Dormant Assets Bill: Factsheets
These factsheets give an overview of the Dormant Assets Bill, which will allow the inclusion of additional assets across from the insurance and pensions, investment and wealth management, and securities sectors in the Dormant Assets Scheme. Scheme expansion has the potential to unlock an estimated £880 million for social and environmental purposes.