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Skills in the recession

The recession has had a significant impact not just on the communities and people that charities, social enterprises and other not for profit organisations serve but also on their own resources. Political changes and forthcoming spending cuts have added to a climate of uncertainty for organisations who are increasingly asked to deliver more for less, putting a greater strain on their internal capacity to deliver.

Here we summarise some of the latest research and Labour Market Intelligence that sets out how the sector is meeting the challenges of develop skills of staff, volunteers and trustees in tough economic times.

The recession

  • The diversity of the sector has meant that the recession has had a varied impact on organisations by geography, size and sub-sector. Unison
  • For many there is a sense that the recession will only properly hit the voluntary sector when the full details of public sector cuts are known. NCVO
  • Charity leaders have more confidence in the financial situation of their own organisation than in either the UK economy or the voluntary sector - nearly half of all charity leaders (49%) believe their own financial situation will worsen over the next 12 months. NCVO
  • Two-thirds (66%) of charity leaders expect the economic situation in the UK to be negative over the coming 12 months. NCVO
  • Nearly four-fifths (78%) of charity leaders expect economic conditions within the voluntary sector to be negative over the next 12 months. NCVO
  • Over two-thirds (68%) of London’s voluntary organisations say their workload has increased as a result of the recession (half of which is due to extra inquiries about worklessness, debt, and volunteering). LVSC

Organisational trends

  • Many organisations are exploring how to extend their work through gaining contracts to subsidise core activities. This requires planning and increased capacity, especially in skills for contracting. NCVO
  • Three-quarters (75%) of London’s voluntary organisations say they are unable to meet increased demand for services due to a lack of capacity. LVSC
  • Almost two-thirds (63%) of third sector support providers expect their staff, training and utilities costs to rise over the next 12 months. Capacitybuilders
  • Between November 2009 and February 2010, the percentage of charity leaders who felt they would have to decrease staff numbers rose from 8% to 21%. NCVO
  • Redundancies place extra pressure on existing staff, often meaning that work previously undertaken by qualified workers is now carried out by unqualified members of staff. Unison
  • Organisations are placing a greater reliance on volunteers, part-time staff and trustees to deliver services. However there are often insufficient resources to effectively place, manage and support volunteers. Capacitybuilders
  • The moves towards personalisation and public service delivery within the sector both require increased investment in skills. The rise in collaborative-working also requires better sharing of skills between organisations. NAVCA

Training and development

  • Organisations have tended to cut back on external training costs irrespective of sector. CIPD
  • The most popular forms of training are in-house development programmes (56%), coaching by line managers (51%), and on-the-job training (30%). CIPD
  • Coaching takes place in eight out of ten (82%) organisations but only 36% of organisations have a system to evaluate their coaching. CIPD
  • Learning and Training departments are becoming increasingly business-focused, reducing their reliance on external suppliers, moving towards in-house provision, and making more redundancies. CIPD
  • In the Voluntary and Community Sector, the main skills gaps are in performance management (84%); people management (79%); coaching and mentoring (72%); managing change (63%); business acumen (56%); communication skills (42%); and innovation (25%). Four of these reported gaps are larger in comparison with the public and private sector (those in bold). CIPD
  • Despite increased demand for their services, only 16% of voluntary organisations have increased their training and development budget over the past 12 months, whilst 39% have reduced their training budget. CIPD
  • Over half (55%) of voluntary organisations expect their training and development budget to decrease over the coming 12 months, whilst only 9% of organisations expect to increase their training budget. CIPD

References

CIPD: Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development Learning and Talent Development Annual Survey Report 2010

Capacitybuilders: Capacitybuilders Survey of local third sector support providers: the impact of the economic downturn (Parts 1 and 2) July and November 2009

LVSC: London Voluntary Service Council The Big Squeeze 2010: The Recession, Londoners and the Voluntary and Community groups who serve them

NAVCA: NAVCA/Guardian Roundtable Can the third sector do more with less? 10 February 2010

NCVO: NCVO Charity Forecast Quarter 1 2010

Unison: Unison/Cardiff University Government Policy, Recession and the Voluntary Sector November 2009

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