Today Compact Voice has published findings from its recent survey of local Compact groups.

The survey was sent to every local Compact area in England, with over three quarters providing information about how their local partnership agreement was working.


Key headlines from the survey include:

Support for the principles of the Compact continues to remain very high, with 82% of respondents agreeing that “the Compact is important and that effort needs to be made to implement it in full”.

47% of statutory sector respondents felt that they were actively engaged with their local Compact. However, only 18% of voluntary sector respondents agreed

37% of local voluntary sector respondents felt that respect for the independence of the sector had worsened over the past year

When asked what needed to be done to improve their local Compact, the majority of responses stated greater promotion and awareness.

Tom Elkins, Compact Voice manager said: “This is the second year we have conducted this comprehensive survey, and it’s reassuring that it shows continued high levels of support for the Compact across England.

"However, we are noticing a trend which suggests that there is a widening gap in how successfully different sectors think their local Compact is being used. There are a number of reasons why this might be the case, and these findings should remind local areas that the Compact needs to be visibly embedded in everyday working to ensure its principles can flourish.”

Compact Voice is committed to developing a full understanding of how local policy and funding decisions affect the voluntary and community sector, and the annual survey makes a significant contribution to strengthening this knowledge.

Later this week, Compact Voice will be submitting Freedom of Information requests to local authorities seeking information about how successfully Compact principles have been implemented locally.

A report of the findings can be downloaded here

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