The South Gloucestershire Compact

The Compact is an agreement between the public sector and voluntary and community sector organisations (VCS) in South Gloucestershire. It sets out a way of working together to strengthen the relationship between the sectors, for the benefit of residents and communities.

About the South Gloucestershire Compact

In November 1998, the Government formally recognised the essential contribution of the Voluntary and Community Sector to the work of public sector organisations in local areas; this resulted in the launch of the National Compact. This document set out a number of commitments relating to how the Government and the voluntary and community sector should work together, with the aim of strengthening relationships and improving partnership working between the two sectors.

South Gloucestershire produced its own local Compact Getting it Right Together” in November 2004 “. The latest update was published in July 2014, when it was adopted by the South Gloucestershire Partnership.

What does the local Compact mean to the South Gloucestershire Partnership

The Partnership collectively and individually embeds the principles of the Compact in their daily dealing with the voluntary and community sector. In this way, the Compact goes beyond being just a list of principles or a set of guidelines for the Partnership to follow and has practical applications such as building social value into the Council’s procurement processes. If an event occurs that is in breach of the Compact principles, the mediation and dispute resolution process will be used to resolve the situation. This process is managed by the Compact Implementation Group which reports directly to the Partnership.

National recognition

In November 2012 Minister for the Civil Society, Nick Hurd, MP, presented the South Gloucestershire Compact Implementation Group (CIG) with the National Compact Award for Partnerships for its demonstrable commitment to the principles of the Compact and high levels of partnership working.

We want to support communities to work together to make a real difference. The Compact Award winners show what can be achieved when people work well together in partnership.

Nick Hurd

The judges said the examples described in the nomination demonstrated clearly what the CIG is achieving at strategic, policy and operational levels in South Gloucestershire. The strength of the partnership is demonstrated by engaging the VCS to help develop polices rather than just understanding or following them – which cannot be underestimated.

For further news stories and information contact www.compactvoice.org.uk/news

 

South Gloucestershire Compact Getting it Right Together 2014