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Compact

Established in 1998, the Compact is an agreement between Government and the voluntary and community sector in England. It recognises shared values, principles and commitments and sets out guidelines for how both parties should work together.

Many areas including Bromley have developed local Compacts between local public bodies and the voluntary and community sector.

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posted 8/12/08

The Bromley Compact is launched

The voluntary sector annual conference this year saw the historic launch of Bromley's Local Compact.

Partners from the voluntary sector, local authority, primary care trust, hospital and mental health Foundation Trusts and the Met Police were present to sign the document agreed late last year.

The signing, which took place at Bromley's second annual voluntary and community sector conference Inclusion and Involvement, marks the end of over a year of complex development work and negotiations led by Community Links Bromley.

Some 60 representatives of voluntary and community organisations attended the day which also included a range of in-depth workshops on local government, premises, funding and governance.

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What is the Bromley Compact?

The Local Compact is the agreement between local public bodies and voluntary groups to improve their relationship for mutual advantage. It helps join every thing up and do things together that make a difference. It makes commitments on both sides, clarifies what partners can expect from each other and how to work together.

Lindsay Harkett, Head of Partnership Development at Community Links Bromley, speaking at the launch said that the Compact was more than a document. "It's a way of working - recognising the Compact as a living document for building relations that change how partners behave, engage and work together at an individual, organisational and partnership level."

"It is also a reference", Lindsay Harkett added, "to be cited and followed, but also used to hold each other to account, ensuring through compliance mechanisms that we stick to what we signed up to do."

Seven voluntary sector representatives put their names forward to act as Compact Champions and help to ensure Compact is fully implemented in the Borough.

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The Bromley Compact - a summary

Bromley now has a Compact agreement between the voluntary and statutory sectors.

The Compact is a formal document agreed by all parties. The document is called Working Together Better: Compact on Relations Between the Statutory and Voluntary Sectors in the London Borough of Bromley.

The document sets out the key principles and values underpinning the statutory / voluntary sector relationship, and state the commitments to be given by the voluntary and statutory sectors.

The Compact's ownership is with the Local Strategic Partnership and the partners are:

The document sets out some agreed principles in the following areas:

Partnership

The Compact builds on the long history of partnership working in Bromley. It highlights how partnership working has changed in recent years, with all partners recognising the importance of partnership at strategic as well as operational levels.

One of the principles in this section is that the statutory sector recognise the independence of the voluntary and community sector and its right to campaign within the law.

Resources

This section sets out commitments by partners to be clear, consistent and open about the way resources (funds and support) are provided for voluntary organisations. The commitments here include a recognition by the statutory sector that voluntary organisations will require support to participate in the commissioning process (where funding is awarded by tender rather than grant).

Consultation, Participation and Involvement

This section sets out the agreements around user and public participation in activities. The commitments here include the principle that voluntary organisations require at least 12 weeks to respond to major consultations (where reasonable and practical within imposed timescales).

Volunteering

This section places emphasis on the importance of volunteer contribution to Bromley's voluntary activities, services and economy. The voluntary sector commits to implement good practice in the management of volunteers.

Monitoring and Review

This section recognises that this is our first Compact for Bromley and a starting point rather than a finished exercise. The Compact sets out general principles. Detailed codes of good practice will be produced via the Local Strategic Partnership to deal with specific issues.

What happens next?

Compact Update

At the recent LSP meeting in December 08 members were reminded that one of the major commitments within the Compact is to ensure regular reviews. Community Links Bromley, VC representatives and the local authority are now looking to get together a working party to review how the Compact is working in the borough.

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The Bromley Compact - full version

The full Bromley Compact - Working Together Better:

The Bromley Compact - full version - 58 KB

The Bromley Compact - full version - 58 KB

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The Compact nationally and around the country

The Compact on Relations between Government and the Voluntary and Community Sector, first introduced in 1998, is the agreement to improve on the relationship between government and the sector.

The Compact is based on Codes of Good Practice on:

(The links are to the downloadable documents on the Compact website.)

Together the Compact and Codes set out a shared vision and principles, along with commitments for both sides of the relationship.

Local Compacts

Local Compacts are local level agreements for partnership working between voluntary and community sector organisations and public sector bodies. 98% of local authority areas have, or are developing a Local Compact.

The Purpose of a Local Compact

The purpose of local Compacts is to improve working relationships by developing partnership between local government, the voluntary and community sector and other partners.

Local Compacts offer the means of supporting the development of the voluntary and community sector's capacity so that independent, accountable voluntary and community organisations can do more to meet both their own aims and those of their statutory partners, thereby enhancing their contribution to the community.

The Compact is a tool, not an end in itself.

Links

www.theCompact.org.uk - the main Compact website with all the documents, more resources and examples of the Compact in use.

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National Compact update 8/12/08

Debate on the future of the Compact – conclusions

Sir Bert Massie CBE, Commissioner for the Compact, has produced a report with his recommendations about its future and the role of the Commission for the Compact. Significant conclusions are that the Compact should not become statutorily enforceable local strategic partnership’s role have more prominence.

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Page updated: 18 December 2008