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February 2011 newsletter
Moving forward on National Skills Networks - sharing what we know and achieving more with less
As the public spending cuts get underway, according to the Labour Force Survey for autumn 2010, we have seen the first downturn of 2% in the size of the sector’s paid workforce, which may be an early sign of things to come. Skills - Third Sector has spent the last twelve months developing new ways of working to support the sector through the circumstances that are now unfolding.
Acutely aware of the downward pressure on the sector’s resources, we undertook a preliminary exercise last year to identify skills exchanges and low cost learning. We are setting up National Skills Networks in Governance and Leadership, Volunteer Management, Skills for Business and Impact Measurement which will include the promotion of informal ways to support skills in these priority areas - please let us know if you have learning resources to share.
Julie Wilkes
Chief Executive
Skills - Third Sector
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Items in this month’s newsletter include:
- Research and resources
- Apprenticeship Week & Launch of the Employers’ Forum
- National Skills Networks
- Policy Highlights
Research and resources
Voluntary sector employment starts to dip after a long upward trend
The latest Labour Force Survey figures, for the third quarter of 2010, show that the voluntary sector now employs 793,000 people, a decrease of 2% since the last quarter. This is in contrast to the private sector which has shown an increase of 2% and the public sector which has stayed reasonably static.
The levelling-off of what has been a long term upwards trend in voluntary sector employment will be of no surprise to those who have lost, or are worrying about losing their jobs. But it will be of just as much concern to those who depend upon the services delivered by voluntary and community organisations, as these estimates might be one of the first signs that levels of activity are reducing in the face of budget cuts.
These findings are part of an ongoing study into workforce trends commissioned from our research partners; there have been other short term dips in the numbers of paid staff over the past ten years, so it is too soon to say if this is start of a trend.
However, this could be one of the first signs that voluntary sector activity is reducing in the face of budget cuts and will cause concern to the people who depend on the services these organisations deliver.
New Report on Social Return on Investment (SROI) from the Third Sector Research Centre
The ambitions and challenges of SROI was written by Dr Malin Arvidson, Professor Fergus Lyon, Professor Stephen McKay and Dr Domenico Moro and published in December 2010. It examines both the benefits and the challenges of using SROI, including the very high costs of using the SROI tool and the limits.
This paper examines the origins and use of SROI before identifying some emerging challenges. The authors draw out implications for both those using impact tools to demonstrate the value of their work, and those interpreting the results of SROI exercises, which do not easily lend themselves to comparison across organisations and projects. The full report can be found at the tsrc.ac.uk website.
Other resources
For researchers, our Skills reading list contains the detailed reading list from our 2009 review of research on the third sector workforce and skills development, with publication details and a brief synopsis of each entry.
You will find a library of research, strategies and policies that are helping to shape and develop the workforce of the third sector here: Library | Research and policy.
Apprenticeship Week & Launch of the Employers’ Forum
Skills - Third Sector, the skills body for the voluntary sector, and Fair Train, the association which helps employers engage with apprenticeships, jointly launched the Employers’ Forum for apprenticeships at their event on Thursday 10th February.
The event, which representatives from more than 60 employers attended, provided the latest updates on policy, new frameworks and launched an Employers’ Forum to help organisations get the best out of apprenticeships in their organisations.
As part of National Apprenticeships Week, the event featured speakers from the National Apprenticeship Service, Skills - Third Sector and Fair Train.
The Employers’ Forum will support the development, understanding and promotion of apprenticeships in the Third Sector including charities, social enterprises and the voluntary and community sector.
If you are interested in finding out more about the Employers’ Forum please visit the Fair Train website.
Apprenticeship programmes are growing in prominence and offer the voluntary sector an excellent opportunity to address skills gaps and to contribute significantly to providing young people and adults with the training they need to enjoy confident and sustainable futures.
Apprenticeships can help businesses across all sectors by offering a route to harness fresh new talent. UK businesses consider skills shortages and recruitment difficulties a bigger threat to performance than soaring oil prices and declining consumer spending, and more than a quarter of these rate this form of vocational training higher than any other qualification. For more information visit the National Apprenticeship Service website.
The topic of apprenticeships is of its time with leading Government figures supporting them:
- Cable urges more businesses to say ‘you’re hired’ to an apprentice - 7th February 2011
- John Hayes delivers new quality guarantee for Apprenticeships - 20th January 2011
In addition, Skills - Third Sector’s own new apprenticeships frameworks have been well received across the sector:
“The Institute of Fundraising is delighted that the critical importance of fundraising in the third sector has been recognized through the introduction of the Advanced level Apprenticeship in Fundraising. The new Apprenticeship will provide a thorough and practical grounding in the essential skills and knowledge that a fundraiser will need when entering the profession, and complements perfectly the Institute’s new professional qualifications framework.”
Paul Marvell, Director of Learning, Institute of Fundraising
“Volunteering England welcomes the Volunteer Management Apprenticeship as an excellent route into the profession of volunteer management. It will promote diversity and allow more people to access the profession, as well as raising its profile.”
Dr. Justin Davis Smith, Chief Executive, Volunteering England
Keep up to date by visiting the website.
National Skills Networks
Skills Third Sector continues to work with key partner organisations to set up National Skills Networks in four priority areas as defined by the Third Sector through extensive research and consultation. The priority areas are:
- managing volunteers
- governance and leadership
- skills for business
- measuring effectiveness and impact
The Skills networks use a collaborative approach design online and offline solutions for improving access to quality learning for charities, social enterprises and voluntary organisations. Tools and materials will be accessed through a web platform and supported by offline networks, events, materials and training. The networks aim to:
- Improve mapping of quality support and learning resources in their skills area
- Promote better sharing of the knowledge we already have
- Stimulate and promote timely and informative research
- Introduce an independent quality framework for all of the above
An event will take place 9th March in Sheffield to engage key local organisations and networks in a feasibility project for the Skills for Business network.
If you’d like to work with us as we develop the networks contact us.
Policy Highlights
The Government’s ambitious legislative programme gained steam with the publication of important Bills on Health and Education as well as the passing of the Localsim Bill. The Health and Social Care bill lays out the details of proposed reforms to the NHS and healthcare commissioning along the lines of greater choice, competition and diversity. This includes provisions to abolish Primary Care Trusts and establish GP consortia in their place. This was soon followed by the Education Bill which outlines measures on underperforming schools, discipline, school inspections, and the abolition of several public bodies, including the Young People’s Learning Agency.
Significant reforms to business support services are also underway in wake of the proposed closure of regional Business Link services later this year. This includes an overhaul of the Business Link website and a new network of 40,000 experienced business mentors to offer practical advice. The reforms are outlined in the BIS plan “Bigger, Better Business”.
Giving and philanthropy also gained much coverage with the publication of a Green Paper on charitable giving. Policy proposals include a £50m Community First Fund to match-fund investment in savings schemes in deprived areas; a £10million Volunteer Match Fund to double private donations to voluntary projects; and a Volunteering Infrastructure programme worth £42.5 million over four years to provide brokerage and support to volunteers. Meanwhile, Volunteering England warned that 30 volunteer centres are threatened with closure due to cuts to local authority funding.
The Cabinet Office and Compact Voice jointly-published a new version of the Compact. The updated document - which governs the relationship between Government and the voluntary sector - is more concise than previous versions and includes a series of accountability and transparency measures, such as a parliamentary ombudsman to investigate breaches and a requirement for government departments to state how they are implementing the Compact within their business plans.