Policybite Update No 170 : 17 February 2017
Sector news
VCS wish list ahead of Budget
A more strategic approach to voluntary sector funding, 100% mandatory
business rate relief and more resources for the Charity Commission are
among proposals submitted to the Treasury by nine charity sector
representative bodies before next month's Budget. The letter puts forward six
proposals, namely:
1 reduce irrecoverable VAT for charities
2 increase mandatory charitable non-domestic business rate relief to 100%
3 increase pay back of National Insurance Contributions for charities, in
order to specifically address the additional cost of the National Living
Wage incurred by charities
4 lower the Insurance Premium Tax for charities to 6%
5 adopt a strategic approach to voluntary sector funding – since 2013 the
government has committed some £550m of Libor fines to good causes.
Government should ensure future funding for voluntary organisations
outside of normal departmental spending (such as Libor fines) is
distributed on an impartial basis according to the sector’s strategic needs.
This is as opposed to individual charity giveaways.
6 increase funding for the Charity Commission to fully cover the cost of
delivering the Commission’s support and regulatory functions
The letter was signed by Navca, Charity Finance Group, Institute of
Fundraising, Association of Charitable Foundations, Voice4Change England,
Social Enterprise UK, the Small Charities Coalition, Children England and
Locality.
Charity sector faces £390m pa business rate bill
Civil Society reports that the sector is facing a business rate bill of just under
£350m in the current financial year, rising to just over £390m next year,
according to figures released by the Department for Communities & Local
Government. Charities receive an 80% mandatory relief on business rates on
property occupied for charitable activity, and local authorities can apply a
discretionary 20% relief. However, the article says most choose not to do so.
Business rates are the third largest tax the charity sector pays, after VAT and
National Insurance.
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Government publishes guidance on volunteering in public services
Six guides, published by the Office for Civil Society, are the result of a project
conducted last year with the New Economics Foundation, and aim to help
commissioners embed volunteering and social action in public services. The
guides are:
1 A description of social action
2 Making the case for social action in the public sector
3 Leadership and culture change to enable social action
4 Commissioning for social action
5 Creating the conditions for social action (inc priorities and outcomes need
to be decided with people and not for them)
6 Enabling social action methodology
OCS commented: “When the public sector works with communities – listening
to citizens, growing their capacity to act, and working with them as equals –
social action can become a powerful way of meeting people’s needs.
Review of the Social Value Act
At Social Enterprise UK’s Social Value Summit, Minister for Civil Society Rob
Wilson announced that there will be a review of the Social Value Act. He said:
“My priority is two-fold, first a public sector that is a catalyst for innovation and
gets much more social-impact for every single pound that we spend. Second,
a small charity and social enterprise sector that is thriving, competing
effectively and being recognised for the additional benefits and huge impact
that they both deliver.” In a blog post, NCVO’s Paul Winyard has written that
while NCVO welcomes the review, the Act needs far more ‘teeth’. As well as a
lack of skills in the public sector to implement it, there also exists in some
quarters a lack of inclination.
Charities spend £1,500 per second improving lives, new analysis shows
Every day, charities spend £136.4m – equivalent to £1,578 per second –
improving lives and supporting communities, according to analysis carried out
by ACEVO, the Charities Aid Foundation (CAF), the Institute of Fundraising
and CharityComms. On top of that, around 2.29 billion hours each year are
given by volunteers – worth £16.5bn if that time was paid at the rate of the
Living Wage
John Low, CAF chief executive, said that from medical research and
treatment to heritage, social care to supporting children, virtually everyone in
Britain benefits from the work of charities even if they don’t realise it.
£2m for early years development and money management volunteers
Nesta and The Office for Civil Society have just launched two new innovative
volunteering funds worth £2m to support early years development and
improve money management skills. The funds will aim to gear up volunteerled initiatives and demonstrate the role that volunteers can play in supporting
public services. The two new funds are:
 Savers Support Fund: four to six grants of between £150,000 and
£250,000 to scale proven approaches to help people better manage
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money. Projects must work with families considered to be ‘just about
managing’ and /or young people aged 14-25.
Early Years Social Action Fund: four to six grants of between £150,000
and £250,000 to help grow the reach and impact of existing volunteer led
initiatives that supports parents of 0-4 year olds achieve their
developmental milestones. Must show evidence of existing impact and
focus on supporting families in need of support.
Social enterprise in partnership with Portsmouth to manage leisure
facilities
A new partnership between Portsmouth City Council and BH Live will see BH
Live manage a number of facilities across the city in addition to the Pyramids
Centre which has been operated by BH Live, a social enterprise, since 2013.
The enhanced partnership goes further, too, with the ambition to positively
impact on the social, health and cultural agenda across the region. BH Live
will also be running the interaction service that provides support and activities
to people with mental health problems.
Health and social care
More and more older people living with complex unmet care needs
There are now nearly 1.2 million people aged 65+ who don’t receive the care
and support they need with essential daily living activities, says Age UK –
such as eating, getting up, bathing and going to the toilet. This represents 1 in
8 older people in the entire population - a 17.9% increase on last year and a
48% increase since 2010.
More people are also providing unpaid care, especially older people
themselves. People are also caring at greater levels of intensity than in the
past and meeting increasingly complex needs. There are now over two million
carers aged 65 and over, yet nearly two thirds of these carers have a health
condition or disability themselves.
“The government has tried to prop up older people’s social care in three ways:
through financial transfers from the NHS, a social care precept in local areas,
and by calling on families and friends to do more. Unfortunately our analysis
shows there are problems with all three approaches, which in any event are
not enough to make up for the chronic shortfall in public funds,” said Caroline
Abrahams, Charity Director at Age UK.
The charity’s report, The Health and Care of Older People in England 2017,
leads it to conclude that we are living on borrowed time to save social care
from collapse.
Huge concern over government child social care plans
The latest voice to raise concerns over the government’s Children and Social
Work Bill is that of Prof Eileen Munro. She has previously led a review which
called for innovation in the way councils handle child social care, so her
opposition is such that it should not just be kicked into the long grass.
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The bill, if passed, would allow councils to opt out of key legal duties to
vulnerable children under the banner of trying out new ways of working. It has
come up against considerable efforts, including in the Lords, to water down
what many fear will be harmful consequences, putting children at risk. Now
Prof Munro has said the plan represents a "serious danger" and that the optouts create "more dangers than benefits".
The legal duties affected by the bill relate to most social care services children
receive from local authorities, including statutory rights on child protection,
family support, children's homes and fostering, support to care leavers and
services for disabled children. Read BBC news story.
Voluntary sector’s role recognised in Greater Manchester devolution
agreement
Charity Times reports that the VCS’s role in designing and delivering services
has been formally recognised by the Greater Manchester Health and Social
Care Partnership. A 5-yr memorandum of understanding sets out how the
statutory and voluntary sectors will work as partners, and the agreement is
backed by more than £1.1m in investment from the partnership’s
transformation fund.
Signatories have agreed to develop and maintain a Greater Manchester
VCSE Assembly and provide good, consistent and up-to-date information to
the VCSE sector. The MoU calls for conversations between both sectors
including through focus groups, discussions, and surveys, and ensures VCSE
leaders are represented at strategic boards and working parties. It also
supports and extends the remit of the VCSE Equalities Group.
The outcomes envisaged for the partnership:
 a step change in the understanding and involvement of people and
communities in the transformation of health and social care
 better services and greater support for the public
 the development of Local Care Organisations with highly bespoke local
place-based characteristics
 increased mutual learning and continuous professional development
 increased leverage of the talent, capacity and social value of VCSE
organisations above and beyond whatever is commissioned from it
 effective development of VCSE activity
Plans for health and social care integration ‘yet to improve outcomes’
The government has failed to show how integrating health and social care
services is leading to better outcomes for service users, according to a report
from the National Audit Office, which focuses in particular on the Better Care
Fund. The report also found there was no “compelling evidence” that
integration is saving money or reducing admissions to hospital, after the BCF
missed its targets in 2015/16.
The BCF was first announced by the government in the 2013 spending round
with the purpose of ensuring a transformation in the delivery of integrated
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health and social care. In 2014 local Health & Wellbeing Boards had to submit
their plans for how their share of the BCF would deliver integration would
deliver real benefits, including a reduction in delayed discharges.
But now the NAO says the BCF has not achieved the expected value for
money, in terms of savings, outcomes for patients or hospital activity, and
warned that the government’s plan for full integration by 2020 was now at
significant risk.
The Depts of Health and Communities & Local Government have identified
barriers to integration, such as misaligned financial incentives, workforce
challenges and reticence over information sharing, but are not systematically
addressing them. Research commissioned by the government in 2016
concluded that local areas are not on track to achieve the target of integrated
health and social care by 2020.
Adult social care workforce study
This NAO study will look at how central government and other national bodies
work with local authorities and providers to ensure there are enough paid care
workers, with the right skills and qualities, to meet adults’ statutory
entitlements to publicly funded care.
The care market is operating in challenging circumstances. Local authorities
overall reduced their spending on adult social care by 7% between 2010/11
and 2014/15, and the population is ageing. Some providers have reported
difficulties recruiting and retaining care workers. The National Living Wage
was introduced in April 2015 and presents an affordability challenge for many
care providers. Meanwhile, ongoing initiatives such as the integration of
health and social care and personalisation of care require frontline workers to
adapt their approach.
If you would like to provide evidence for NAO’s study, you can email the study
team on [email protected], putting the study title in the subject line.
Where’s the sense? - NHS to be hit by crippling business rates rise
It has emerged that NHS hospitals and GP surgeries in England and Wales
face a £635m hike in their business rates over the next five years, reports the
Telegraph. A new analysis found that health authorities, many of which are
already struggling to cope with huge financial pressures, will see their
business rates rise by an average of a third by 2021. Some of the country's
biggest hospitals will see their business rates double amid warnings that they
will have to find further savings to fill black holes in their budgets. There are
threats of legal action.
Welfare & wellbeing
4 million more people living on inadequate incomes
Although the latest figures record employment at a record high of 74.6%, the
Joseph Rowntree Foundation warns that employment alone will not always
help people reach a decent standard of living. Its analysis shows four million
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more people over the last six years have fallen below a decent leaving
standard, meaning they are struggling to make ends meet. Inflation, forecast
to rise again, is likely to add to their woes. The JRF said: “Government focus
on modest incomes is welcome, but there is a fine margin between just
managing today and poverty tomorrow.”
Early deaths among care leavers
The BBC reports that FOI requests have shown that young people who have
grown up in care are far more likely to die in early adulthood than other young
people. Care leavers make up 1% of the population at these ages, but make
up around 7% of the deaths. While an exact comparison is difficult, the official
figures, showing people who left care between 2012 and 2016, indicate they
are roughly seven times more likely to die when they are aged from 18 to 21
than other young people of a similar age. An inability to access physical and
mental healthcare has been cited by care leavers as key contributory factors.
Read BBC news story.
Online Money Manager to help Universal Credit claimants
Money Advice Service’s Online Money Manager offers help and advice on a
range of money topics, including opening a bank account, keeping on top of
bills and dealing with debt. It includes:
 step by step questions that signpost users to financial guidance and
support relevant to their personal circumstances
 hints and tips for managing money and paying bills from a monthly
payment.
 signposting to further support, such as advance payments and free debt
advice
Visit the Online Money Manager here.
Housing
Housing for older people inquiry launched
The Communities & Local Government (CLG) Committee has launched an
inquiry into whether the housing on offer in England for older people is
sufficiently available and suitable for their needs. The inquiry follows research
which indicates pensioners are stuck in oversized properties worth £820bn,
and is launched against a backdrop of significant housing shortages, rising
numbers of older people, pressures on adult social care and with just 2% of
the country’s housing stock designed with pensioners in mind.
The Committee is seeking evidence, to be submitted by Friday 24 March, on a
number of points including:
 the adequacy of provision of homes for older people and the challenges
people face in accessing housing which meets their needs
 whether more housing designed specifically for older people could help
address England’s wider housing needs
 the extent to which improving specialist housing provision in England could
improve people’s health and wellbeing, and deliver savings in public
expenditure
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the availability of finance to help older people 'right size' in retirement, and
the impact of the cap on Housing Benefit from April 2017 on the
development of specialist housing
Housing White Paper
We all know that the government's Housing White Paper has now been
released, to quite a muted reception it has to be said. Many remain to be
convinced that it will deliver enough to fix what it calls a broken market. An
annex to the Paper consults on a range of specific planning proposals, with a
deadline for responses of 2 May.
Local communities
Most councils lack confidence in the sustainability of local government
finances
The 2017 State of Local Government Finance survey, conducted by the LGiU
(Local Government Information Unit) and MJ (Municipal Journal) found that
84% of councils think the current needs assessment formula is not fit for
purpose. Nearly all (94%) say they will be forced to increase council tax for
residents as well as increase charging for services.
To cope with their immediate and long term pressures around social care,
housing and homelessness, 65% say they will be forced to dip into reserves
to balance the books while nearly nine in ten councils said it was a high
priority or essential to explore other sources of income including
commercialising council services. This year’s survey also saw a spike in
proportion of councils who intend to borrow to fund infrastructure, up to 79%
from 57% in 2016/17. Despite these efforts, over 40% of councils say their
2017/18 budget will lead to cuts in frontline services that are evident to the
public.
Local authorities are not feeling particularly hopeful, either, about the move to
use business rates to fund local government. Nearly 50% said they would lose
from the transition. Hardly anyone thinks council tax rises are a viable way to
address the social care funding gap. Jonathan Carr-West, Chief Executive of
LGiU, said: “Everyone is expecting someone to fail. They are just hoping it
won’t be them.”
Parks at tipping point with potential for severe consequences
The Communities & Local Government (CLG) Committee report on public
parks warns that parks are at a tipping point and face a period of decline with
potentially severe consequences unless their vital contribution to areas such
as public health, community integration and climate change mitigation is
recognised.
The Public Parks report highlights challenges including parks management
budgets cut by up to 97%, the need for parks to compete with other services
for funding, and planning policy not giving them enough weight, particularly as
a result of pressures to increase housing supply.
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The Committee call on councils to publish strategic plans, which recognise the
value of parks beyond leisure and recreation and set out how they will be
managed to maximise their contribution to wider local authority agendas, such
as promoting healthy lifestyles, tackling social exclusion and managing flood
risk.
The government should issue guidance to councils to work with Health and
Wellbeing Boards and other relevant bodies to publish these joint plans and
consider making producing such a strategy a legal requirement if the
guidance proves ineffective, the report adds.
The Committee warns that the UK may not meet the UN Sustainable
Development Goal 11.7 in respect of safe and inclusive access to parks and
green spaces by 2030, and says the government should look at how to
improve provision, such as by accessing funds available under the obesity
strategy.
The Committee also acknowledges that tensions can arise from competing
demands among park users and says councils should encourage groups such
as ‘parkrun’ to contribute volunteer time for maintenance or fundraising
activities.
Other
Prisons and Probation Service to replace NOMS
A new executive agency of the Ministry of Justice, called Her Majesty’s Prison
and Probation Service, will replace the National Offender Management
Service from 1 April 2017.
The Prison and Probation Service will have full responsibility for all operations
across prison and probation. The Ministry of Justice will take charge of
commissioning services, future policy development and be accountable for
setting standards and scrutinising prison and probation performance.
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