Category: News & Information

Commenting on the budget, a spokesperson for the TSI Scotland Network, said the new Scottish budget was a great step forward in beginning the reinvestment process in our communities and valued local services. The commitment to developing plans to mitigate the two-child benefit limit underlines an approach from government that is based on fairness, justice and a commitment to eradicating child poverty.

“The budget narrative clearly supported our asks to invest in Public Service Reform combined with extra funds for social care and family support services as well substantial increases for our under-pressure NHS, housing and council services.”

“However, what is unclear is the method of investment in reform and change.  The old top-down models of investing in high tariff services will not meet the challenge of rising demand and an aging population.“

“For that we need to see the Scottish Government mandate the NHS and councils to collaborate with local communities and third sector organisations in commissioning and planning a fairly funded network of local services on a multi-year basis. Only then will be see a concerted shift in spend towards early intervention and prevention at a community level.” 

The spokesperson also noted that there remained concern over the lack of uplift in the Third Sector Infrastructure budget – which amounts to a real terms cut – as well as a lack of specific investment in Community Wealth Building.  As the budget is debated through Holyrood we would also like to see further detail on local climate action and consistent investment in employability programmes.

The TSI Scotland Network will continue to call on Government to ensure communities and a sustainably funded third sector are at the heart of public service reform. 

The Network has four main asks:-

Ask 1: Invest in collaborative third sector delivery models to support public sector reform

Ask 2: Fairer funding to enable the systems change the Scottish Government seeks

Ask 3: Direct funding to communities that is shaped by local people and groups

Ask 4: Support the TSI Scotland Network to lead on change and fund it to do so.

—ENDS—

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Contact: To speak to a spokesperson who will be a Chief Officer from one of the 32 local TSIs please contact Takki Sulaiman in the first instance on takkisulaiman@argylltsi.org.uk or 07377 070387. 

Contd…//

Notes to Editors:

1. The TSI Scotland Network is a body of expert charities that support, develop and advocate for the third sector and social enterprise and that also make it easier for people to volunteer with a focus on inclusion. There are 32 Third Sector Interfaces – or TSIs – across Scotland; one in each local authority area. 
2. A more complete list of analysis and asks from the Scottish Government’s Budget published by the TSI Scotland Network on 26^th November 2024 is available from our website here.
3. Each TSI is funded in part by the Scottish Government to help the third and social enterprise sector in the following ways:
   • Build capacity
   • Be a source of knowledge, training and support
   • Connect partners
   • Represent the sector
4. The third, community and social enterprise sector is the third largest employer by sector and across Scotland employs 133,000 people who are committed to improving our communities.

The TSI Scotland Network are calling on Government to ensure communities and a sustainably funded third sector are at the heart of public service reform. 

In advance of the budget on 4^th December, the Network has four asks:-

Ask 1: Invest in collaborative third sector delivery models to support public sector reform

Ask 2: Fairer funding to enable the systems change the Scottish Government seeks

Ask 3: Direct funding to communities that is shaped by local people and groups

Ask 4: Support the TSI Scotland Network to lead on change and fund it to do so.

The TSI Scotland Network, a body that represents the 32 expert local Third Sector Interfaces across the country who work to support charities, local organisations and social enterprises,  said the Scottish budget was an incredible opportunity to invest in a public service reform that would create long-term sustainability – a reform that was designed for and by people in communities.

On the ground, the third sector was a “crucial change delivery partner” who worked locally with people, places and public services.

A spokesperson said, “Our sector is the third largest and across Scotland employs 133,000 people who are committed to improving our communities.  It is a cornerstone in helping keep our society compassionate, equal and just.”

Long-term fair funding would help ensure the sector could offer fair work and security to its employees, be proactively involved in needed local change, and deliver sustainable impact into the future.

“Whether it be running foodbanks, managing advice services or providing invaluable health and social care services, the sector is struggling with the impact of successive budget cuts and a failure to fund them properly,” the spokesperson said.

“Now is the time to invest in multi-year funding agreements as well as a funding increase that reflects cumulative inflationary pressures and the forthcoming increases to National Insurance Contributions.”

A bank of knowledge, experience and trusted relationships within communities could see the third sector better inform the redesign and reform of public services and in turn deliver “renewed, high quality, locally available public services designed with communities”.

“The TSI Network Scotland on behalf of our members believes in the Scottish Government’s ambitions but we need the funding and policy environment to help make these ambitions a reality,” the spokesperson added.

In TSI Scotland Network’s submission to the Finance Secretary, the Cabinet Secretary Health and Social Care and the Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs it was acknowledged that the recent increase in the Scottish Government’s budget will not undo fourteen years of cuts and disinvestment but it can be accompanied by a renewed focus on devolving budgets to local communities so they can directly shape the services they want and need. 

—ENDS—

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Pegs Bailey reflects on the value of learning and shares ‘two good things’ relevant to employability policy and co-production in Scotland. 

Sharing a moment of celebration, 

There is a saying that ‘bad luck comes in threes’. If two bad things happen in a row, I find myself on tenterhooks wondering what the third bad thing will be, and often enough it does. 

But maybe good things can come in threes also?  If so, I am in a good place this week as two projects dear to my heart; two ‘good things’, happened.  

Firstly, as pictured, I graduated from my MSc in Mindfulness with Distinction at the University of Aberdeen (oooh!). This is the culmination of four years of hard graft on top of the day job and family life (thanks husband, kids and tolerant friends). 

 It has been epic and amazing to reconnect parts of my brain that had taken a nap since my degree in1998. I have learned so much about myself as well as this thing called ‘mindfulness’ and how it might help us in our day jobs: particularly in growing our capacity for co-production in public services and public policy design. 

My work explored the experiences and impact of implementing Mindfulness training and practices for senior civil servants in Welsh Government between 2014-20. I look forward to sharing a fuller (non-academic) version of my findings shortly – but some key highlights are: 

• Learning about how our brains work, and improving our physical and emotional awareness through mindfulness can help grow critical co-production skills like emotional regulation, balancing messiness with action and working with conflict. 

• Mindful awareness also helps people realise that their view on ‘how things are’ is inevitably limited, and so genuinely engaging with and listening to diverse relevant perspectives is essential to doing our jobs well. 

• Despite co-production being a mainstay of many policy priorities, these skills and qualities are rarely included in mainstream training for civil and public servants in the UK and this is a miss. 

• Despite the success of the mindfulness training (which reached 3.5% of the Welsh Government workforce), the term ‘mindfulness’ was still seen as misunderstood or off-putting by many. And sitting in silence is not for everyone.  

• So if we ARE looking to grow these skills and capacities in Scotland then we might want to think carefully about how we frame this learning and what will resonate most with the intended audiences. 

The second good thing, and on the same day, the Human Learning Systems (HLS) Collaborative launched a new series of exemplars of HLS in action in this webinar.   

For those that have not heard of it, HLS is an alternative approach to public management which, in their words, embraces the complexity of the real world and enables us to work effectively in that complexity and focusses on human thriving. For me it makes an awful lot of sense and connects with the learning I have gained through my MSc and personal mindfulness practice. 

HLS is increasingly discussed in the policy world of health but less well known in employability. Which is why I was delighted when the HLS team accepted a case study of the work done by the Opportunities Fife Partnership (OFP) in implementing No One Left Behind.  

The team leading the Fife work used HLS theory to underpin the co-production and service (re) design of the local employability commissioning strategy and approach. And HLS thinking is now shaping how the OFP structure their governance and oversight as well.  

You can read the NOLB Fife case study, along with numerous other examples of HLS in practice at the HLS website.  And you can watch a video explaining how this is informing the OFP’s strategic governance and approach to commissioning oversight here:  

I feel honoured and privileged to have participated in both these learning journeys, and to be able to share them with you. 

It is nice to celebrate the good stuff, now what might that third good thing be…? 

Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rachel Reeves MP, delivered Labour’s first Budget since taking office this summer. While there’s some cause for optimism, and a welcome shift from austerity language, it also brings further financial pressures for the third sector.

The third sector is Scotland’s third largest employer with over 133,000 employees [1], and these employers are now facing a rise in National Insurance bills alongside an increase in the national minimum wage. This will practically make it harder for the sector to attract and retain employees without a corresponding increase in financial support or mitigating measures. We welcome the transitional arrangements for the UK Shared Prosperity Fund, but the reduction in its budget will have a huge impact on the ability of organisations to deliver for communities.

The TSI Scotland Network believes that the work undertaken by community groups, local voluntary organisations, social enterprises and people volunteering has never been more important for supporting national renewal, for creating hope and the kind of fair, compassionate country we all want to see. But it has to be resourced properly. We want to see fairer funding across the sector, including a strategic investment approach and accessible, proportionate, transparent funding and commissioning processes. And importantly, adequate and secure funding which reflects the full costs of the agreed work.

We are looking forward to the potential that the extra £3.4bn to Scotland’s block grant can do to support local communities.

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The TSI Scotland Network is a body of expert charities that support, develop and advocate for the third sector and social enterprise and that also make it easier for people to volunteer with a focus on inclusion. There are 32 Third Sector Interfaces – or TSIs – across Scotland; one in each local authority area.

[1] Scottish Parliament Information Centre  https://spice-spotlight.scot/2024/10/30/what-we-know-about-the-third-sectors-contribution-to-scotlands-economy/#:~:text=SCVO%20statistics%20also%20estimate%20that,and%20storage%20industries%20(105%2C000).

Pegs Bailey, Third Sector Employability Partnership Manager blogs for the TSI Network, reflecting on the challenges of embracing a continuous improvement mindset and what helps us stay open and curious.

Before I begin this blog I want to be clear, I am ALL ABOUT continuous improvement:

‘Everyone makes mistakes, it is through these we learn’, I say to my kids in my good parenting moments.

 ‘I/we/you messed up. Again. Let’s laugh together and through this grow’, I say to my pals, preferably glass of wine in hand.

And of course, in my work, I talk about continuous improvement at work frequently, it is kind of foundational to what I do.

So, in this context I was delighted that the national Third Sector Employability Forum (TSEF) Executive shared two important pieces of research the other week: one presents their own findings to a third sector survey on employability funding in Scotland; the other, by de Montfort University combines elements of survey data with interviews and academic analysis.

Both reinforce many of the messages that have been shared before: No One Left Behind is landing very differently in different parts of Scotland. There is a lot of good stuff happening. There is also still a way to go.

I am not going to discuss the research findings here (that is for another day). You can read both papers for yourselves at the links below. Both are worthy of your time.

This blog is about something more personal.

Because to my surprise, I found it hard to see written down in black and white, critiques of parts of the system, like Third Sector Interfaces (TSIs) in the de Montfort research, even though I had heard them before.

My ‘continuous improvement mindset’ morphed to a desire to control the message and then I watched myself and colleagues lean into a ‘demolish or defend’ approach almost instantly. I wanted to control the comms and point out everything that was already underway to address the critiques in the research (defend). Others questioned the methodology and therefore validity of the research (demolish).

Neither attitude allowed for engagement with the learning on offer.

And if this was how I reacted. How must it feel if you were from Scottish Government, one of the LEPs, or the TSIs who might feel critiqued?  Oh. Dear.

Eventually I realised I was not living my values. I put my Big Girl Pants on, shared the research with TSI colleagues and facilitated a conversation, in a safe space, to discuss the criticisms. To my delight people took the feedback on board fairly: they discussed what resonated, the things that were already underway and those we could do more of in response. They neither defended nor demolished. I was relieved.

All this has led me to think about what factors help us stay open and curious in the face of criticism. How do we avoid the seemingly instinctive lurch to ‘demolish or defend’?

Taking on feedback is tender work. Which gets harder when we are feeling under pressure and stressed.

• So firstly, it might help to acknowledge that reality is not perfect, we are not perfect and the system within which we are working is not perfect. Can we take away the pressure to be perfect? Phew, yes please.

• Secondly, relationships and safe spaces where it feels okay to acknowledge the imperfect and look to the learning matter. Small groups, confidentiality and giving time for reflection prior to discussion all seemed to help in this context.

• Finally, it is useful to think about sensitivity and the tender nature of this work,when sharing criticism. The TSEF Executive report contains similar critiques, but the tone felt more constructive.

As a colleague pointed out earlier this year, good teachers don’t go into the classroom and spend all their time telling kids what they are doing wrong. 99% of their focus is in explaining how to get it right. If we want to learn, this is where our attention needs to be.

So am I still all about continuous improvement? Of course. It is foundational to my job. But I move forward with a newfound appreciation of what it takes from me as an individual and for those I work with to embrace this in our working lives.

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De Montfort University Research

We can’t wait; we need change now.

Through volunteer support and community action, the sector provides a life critical social infrastructure. But it is not resourced sufficiently. 

Recent Scottish Government announcements have raised concerns over the future of our social infrastructure. We welcome the inclusion of Community Wealth Building in the Programme for Government, and we are eager to see proper investment so that communities can retain more of the wealth and assets generated in their area. The public sector has never delivered change singlehandedly – the third sector, including Social Enterprises, has always been an integral part of policy delivery.

But the sector is suffering. When asking organisations what their biggest challenge is, nearly half cited financial difficulties (18% – rising costs and inflation; 15% – difficulty fundraising; 14% – financial or cash flow restraints) [SCVO Tracker – Spring 2024 wave]. We can see the direct economic impact of this on areas like employment. From last winter to this spring, hiring new staff members noticeably slowed (17% fewer organisations) and worryingly, the number of organisations who made a paid staff member redundant doubled (5% to 10%) [SCVO Tracker – Spring 2024 wave].   

And fewer people are volunteering: there were 61 million fewer hours of help provided in 2022 than in 2018 [Volunteer Scotland, 2024/SHS, 2022]. 

We need to see trust placed in the sector and do more to enable inclusive volunteering. The third sector can help alleviate the pressure of services, as long as we are adequately resourced. Engaging with communities, developing thorough local intelligence, distributing funds to where it will make an impact, delivering on community wealth building – all of these areas are where a thriving third sector can help achieve our mutually beneficial goals.

We need our governments to invest in (a) prevention to avoid greater costs to the public purse from acute services in the future; (b) appropriate sectors to create the conditions to grasp opportunities and drive economic development that works for all; and (c) fair and equal partnership with the third sector to co-create solutions. We need wise investment now, not later. 

We welcome a meeting to discuss how we can move forward together.

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The TSI Scotland Network is a body of expert charities that support, develop and advocate for the third sector and social enterprise and that also make it easier for people to volunteer with a focus on inclusion. There are 32 Third Sector Interfaces – or TSIs – across Scotland; one in each local authority area. 

Earlier this year, the TSI Network brought TSIs and their teams together from across Scotland to learn, share their work and connect after a tough few years for the third sector.  We heard from a range of brilliant speakers and our own Chief Officers led many of the events which focussed on partnerships, resilience in challenging times, poverty, Community Wealth Building and identifying the impact of the work that the third sector (and TSIs).

Our conference report is attached with some scenes captured over both days.

Report_TSI-Scotland-Network-Conference-2024

The Prime Minister has today highlighted what is likely to be a painful budget in October, yet the people and communities we work with – that the third sector works with, daily – have had to deal with the devastating impact of austerity for well over a decade.  It is very likely that these are the people who will be hit hard, again. 

Recent decisions made by the UK Government will also have significant implications down the line for the community and voluntary organisations which the Prime Minister said in January this year were ‘..the glue that bridges the gaps and binds government, business, and communities together.’  The Prime Minister also said that the voluntary sector and civil society should not have to clear up the mess that Governments create.  Yet, his speech today suggests that more and more pressure will likely fall on the sector at a time when it’s already on its knees.

We are deeply worried about what the upcoming Budget will mean for older people, disabled people, families facing real poverty – for already ingrained inequalities.  So we call on the Prime Minister and the Cabinet to come and meet us in Scotland to hear what the decisions likely to be made will mean – the additional costs likely to arise, the further harm likely to be caused.  Come and meet the voluntary sector in Scotland and let us help you find a better path to recovery and the fairer, kinder country we all want to see.”

Further background

For more information on our concerns for the UK Budget and the recent Scottish Government spending freeze, what it means for frontline voluntary and community groups,  read our submission on funding to the Scottish Parliament Social Justice Committee.

Find out more about TSIs and the voluntary sector in Scotland here.

Contact Lynn Williams for further information.

The TSI Network has submitted a briefing to the Social Justice and Social Security Committee at the Scottish Parliament, in response to its pre-Budget Scrutiny process.  

The Committee is considering third sector funding principles, and the Network’s response outlines the unprecedented challenges facing voluntary and community organisations; provides examples of good funding practice, and examples which demonstrate practice that places additional pressure and risks onto frontline groups and communities.

We’ve once again emphasised the importance of Fair Funding, and the increasing inequality between third sector and public sector employees often doing similar jobs.  We also ask the Committee to consider the impact of the recent Scottish Government announcement that all but essential expenditure would be halted.   We are deeply concerned about what this will mean for the third sector, and what it signals for the Scottish Budget.

We also highlight the lack of clarity about the future of UK Government funds going into communities across Scotland – UK Shared Prosperity and Levelling up Funds.

For more information contact: lynn.williams@tsi.scot

www.tsi.scot

Social-Justice-and-Social-Security-Committee-Third-Sector-Funding-TSI-Scotland-Network-response-August-2024