The chair of the expert body appointed to oversee Civil Society Covenant implementation is urging charities to start acting on the government document’s pledge to improve charity involvement in policy making.

Civil Society Council chair Kate Lee says charities should not “be waiting for permission” from the expert body, “or anyone else, to use the legitimacy the Covenant brings to start driving change”.

“Not being appointed onto the Council does not mean that you have no role to play,” she told charities in a post on LinkedIN,

“We all need to use it to drive change, whilst this unique window and genuine Government commitment exists."

NCVO chief executive Lee’s appointment as chair of the council was announced last year. This month the government revealed the names of the 12 charity leaders and experts who will also sit on the council, which meets four times a year.

It was created to feed into implementation of the Covenant, which was launched by Prime Minister Keir Starmer last year and aims to reset government’s relationship with charities and better involve them in policy decisions.

‘Mixed success so far’

However, Lee notes that while currently “some parts of Government are receptive” to the Covenant’s aims, others are “not…yet”.

Lee has already been using the Covenant “to request meetings with new Government colleagues and to get into policy design earlier” although with “mixed success so far”.

She added that charity leaders have told her that “government seems more receptive” adding “we can build on that”.

Lee also urged charities to feed into the Council “how strengthening it will help” adding “we will work to action what we can to support you”.

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