Agenda item

Report of Newcastle CVS

The Committee received an update from the Voluntary and Community Sector on the work they have been doing in Gateshead.  Newcastle CVS carried out a survey in January 2018 across both Newcastle and Gateshead, however, the results can be read with reference to Doing Good in Gateshead, the survey of Gateshead’s Voluntary and Community Sector carried out in 2017.

168 responses were received to January’s survey and were received from directly contacting around seven hundred and fifty organisations.  The breakdown of the type of the respondent group illustrates that as usual, smaller community organisations are under-represented in those who responded.  However, the profile of the respondents is similar enough to that of registered charities in Gateshead and Newcastle to be able to draw reasonable assumptions.

The Voluntary and Community Sector can be divided into three different groups.  The first group is the large number of smaller and community organisations mainly with an income of under £25,000.  The second is the group with an income of usually £25,000 to £500,000.  The third is the small number of larger registered charities with an income of over £500,000.

Alongside the survey Newcastle CVS ran a search of the Charity Commission website for registered charities and Charitable Incorporated Organisations listed in Gateshead, however, results of the search cannot be considered definitive.  There are charities working with Gateshead communities which will not be registered in Gateshead and therefore don’t appear in a search.  Also the register changes on a daily basis as the commission has become more efficient at removing dormant charities.

In addition to searching the Charity Commission website Newcastle CVS carried out a similar search of Companies House data to find out how many Community Interest Companies and mutual are currently registered in Gateshead.

The estimate of voluntary, community and social enterprises in Gateshead are around:

·         321 registered charities based in Gateshead

·         24 mutuals

·         30 CICs

·         Between 960 and 1300 small, local groups, activities and organisations

·         516 local charities that are not based in Gateshead, but cover Gateshead in their activities.

Key Findings from the Survey are as follows:

·         Funding and Sustainability – is the most pressing issue for voluntary and community organisations in Gateshead and Newcastle.  This is regardless of whether they are small, medium or large organisations.

·         Increase in Demand in Services – seven out of ten organisations have noted an increase in demand for their services in the last year.

·         Recruitment and Retention of Volunteers – this is the second largest area of organisational challenge.

·         Optimistic of Future – despite the challenges the majority of respondents remain optimistic about the future of their organisations and over a third want to increase the number of beneficiaries.

The key challenges for people using the services and facilities was the impact of, Welfare Reform, Universal Credit and Personal debt.  The rate of change and short terms grants and contracts were having a de-stabilizing effect on medium and larger size organisations in relation to staffing, accommodations and strategic planning and engagement.

Certain groups of people were identified as having additional needs that weren’t being met, in particular refugees and asylum seekers, young people and older people.

The themes of loneliness and isolation, not just around older people were also raised.  The withdrawal of the public sector was becoming more noticeable and a number of services were harder to access due to changing criteria.

The big challenge remains of greater demand, fewer resources and more clients having more complex needs.  The issue of the number of clients with a much high level of needs and more problems needing resolution is a major challenge.

RESOLVED – that the information contained within the report be noted.