Programme for Government: Voluntary sector deserves to be treated fairly

It all feels a bit grim. 

A few weeks ago, the Chancellor revealed a “black hole” in public finances across the UK and announced the end to the universal winter fuel allowance. This week the Cabinet Secretary for Finance announced significant cuts to programmes this year to enable the Scottish Government to fund public sector pay deals. 

Yesterday, John Swinney took to the lectern in the Scottish Parliament to present his first Programme for Government, having watched them being delivered from different seats across the Scottish Parliament in the previous 24 years. 

I’m sure that was a novel experience for him, but I’m left with a sense of déjà vu. 

There is no doubt that parts of our public sector need reform. It’s been more than 13 years since the Christie Commission said that reform must empower individuals, integrate service provision, prioritise expenditure on prevention and increase shared services. But have we seen significant shifts, or have the deckchairs just been rearranged and repainted while pointing towards little ‘pilots’ as evidence of progress? 

The voluntary sector is often closest to the most vulnerable people in our society and best placed to support them, including helping them to navigate the baffling complexity of some public services. 

Hundreds of organisations are rooted in communities, supporting families to help address the First Minister’s top priority of tackling child poverty.  Indeed, the sector will be key to achieving all four of the First Minister’s priorities. 

However, with resources increasingly being pulled into the public sector, much of the voluntary sector is resigned to getting scraps from the table.  

With years of static funding, an inability to keep pace with public sector pay and constant inability to plan because of a lack of Fair Funding, it does feel like we’ve reached a crisis point.  

There is no doubt Government sometimes needs to make difficult choices, but they’re avoiding the hard ones. If we are to turn the rhetoric on addressing poverty and public service reform into reality, we can’t expect current systems and structures to deliver the radical change we need, and we can’t imagine that the public sector can do it all alone. 

Public sector staff deserve to be paid fairly, but the voluntary sector deserves to be treated fairly. We deserve more than warm words. 

We need to channel the limited resources we have to the experts. People are the experts in their own lives – and most know what they need. Those at the front-line know how best to support them, but we need to challenge the practice that the public sector is prioritised without truly thinking about how ‘public services’ are best delivered, and by whom. 

We’re not a nice-to-have sector. We’re an essential sector.