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.
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.