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Crisis, mixed picture or phoney war? Third sector discourse and the 2008/9 recession: briefing paper
- Authors:
- TAYLOR Rebecca, PARRY Jane, ALCOCK Pete
- Publisher:
- Third Sector Research Centre
- Publication year:
- 2012
- Pagination:
- 4p.
- Place of publication:
- Birmingham
The recession of 2008/09 threatened a crisis for the third sector, with both a squeeze on the financial resources of organisations and an increase in the number and needs of beneficiaries seeking help. This research briefing explores the evolving third sector policy environment, discourses and relationships during this period. Data was collected in 3 ways: media scoping, literature review, and key informant interviews. Three main discourses were identified which characterise policy debates surrounding the sector and the recession during this period: ‘the crisis’; ‘the mixed picture’; and the ‘phoney war’. These are explored in turn highlighting the dynamic nature of the rhetoric shaped by evolving relationships and agendas and the lack of evidence of recessionary impacts on the sector. The document concludes that the impact of the recession on the sector has turned out to be on-going, extending well beyond the initial crisis, but it is being played out in a very different political context that is shaping the priorities and agendas of the sector and government. Lessons that the sector can learn from the 2009 recession are discussed.
Devolution or divergence?: third sector policy across the UK since 2000
- Author:
- ALCOCK Pete
- Publisher:
- Third Sector Research Centre
- Publication year:
- 2009
- Pagination:
- 19p., bibliog.
- Place of publication:
- Birmingham
Since the end of the last century the United Kingdom has been a less united country. This working paper asks to what extent has devolution led to a divergence in third sector policy regimes across the UK? In 1999 a separate Scottish Executive and Welsh Assembly Government were established, followed later by a new Northern Ireland Executive and Assembly, based on a power sharing agreement known as the Good Friday Agreement. A number of key policy making powers were devolved from Westminster to these new administrations, including policy third sector activity. In effect, there are now four separate policy regimes focused on third sector organisations (TSO) in the UK. However, compared to the greater levels of regional devolution existing in many other developed industrial nations, the UK remains a largely centralised state in both political and policy terms. This paper explores some of the key implications of devolution and examines the extent to which it has led to a divergence in policy development and delivery.
Devolution or divergence?: third sector policy across the UK since 2000: briefing paper
- Author:
- ALCOCK Pete
- Publisher:
- Third Sector Research Centre
- Publication year:
- 2009
- Pagination:
- 4p.
- Place of publication:
- Birmingham
Since the end of the last century the United Kingdom has been a less united country. This briefing paper asks to what extent has devolution led to a divergence in third sector policy regimes across the UK? In 1999 a separate Scottish Executive and Welsh Assembly Government were established, followed later by a new Northern Ireland Executive and Assembly, based on a power sharing agreement known as the Good Friday Agreement. A number of key policy making powers were devolved from Westminster to these new administrations, including policy third sector activity. In effect, there are now four separate policy regimes focused on third sector organisations (TSO) in the UK. However, compared to the greater levels of regional devolution existing in many other developed industrial nations, the UK remains a largely centralised state in both political and policy terms. This paper explores some of the key implications of devolution and examines the extent to which it has led to a divergence in policy development and delivery.
New policy spaces: the impact of devolution on third sector policy in the UK
- Author:
- ALCOCK Pete
- Journal article citation:
- Social Policy and Administration, 46(2), April 2012, pp.219-238.
- Publisher:
- Wiley
Third sector development and support (meaning government engagement with voluntary and community organisations, charities and social enterprises) is an area where policy has been devolved as part of the devolution of governance and policy developments to administrations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. This article draws on research from the Third Sector Research Centre to explore the impact of devolution on the sector. It discusses the nature of the third sector and the national agencies operating within the sector, institutional structures for third sector engagement and support across the UK, and national policies in each of the countries, including the coalition government's Big Society agenda. It considers the extent to which political devolution has led to policy divergence across the 4 countries. It concludes that devolution has created important new space for policy development for the third sector across the UK, but that this has not led to significant divergence in policy or practice.
Building the Big Society: a new policy environment for the third sector in England
- Author:
- ALCOCK Pete
- Journal article citation:
- Voluntary Sector Review, 1(3), November 2010, pp.379-389.
- Publisher:
- Policy Press
- Place of publication:
- Bristol
Shortly after taking office in May 2010, the new coalition government moved to outline its policy plans for third sector. These aim to put ‘the Big Society at the heart of public sector reform’ and secure this as a lasting legacy for the country. The Big Society was, among other things, intended as an endorsement of the positive and proactive role that voluntary action and social enterprise could play in promoting improved social inclusion and ‘fixing Britain’s broken society’. In this article, the immediate legacy for this new policy environment in the policies of the previous government and the politics of the election campaign is summarised. The key commitments of the Big Society agenda, including the Big Society Bank, are outlined and the broader ideological context of this critically explored. Some of the implications for third sector policy and practice are identified. The paper ends by questioning whether the Big Society agenda may threaten third sector unity.
Big society or civil society?: a new policy environment for the third sector
- Author:
- ALCOCK Pete
- Publisher:
- Third Sector Research Centre
- Publication year:
- 2010
- Pagination:
- 7p., bibliog.
- Place of publication:
- Birmingham
The election of a new Coalition government in the UK has led to a change of direction in third sector policy within England, referred to by the new government as ‘building the Big Society’. This report outlines the key commitments of the Big Society agenda and the ideology behind them. It describes the government plans to recast the relationship between the state and civil society and the specific policy initiatives. It looks at the websites and blogs that have been springing up to explore and expose the concept and suggest how it might be translated into action. The report then considers some of the implications for third sector policy and practice, and the contradictions which seem to lie behind the Big Society philosophy. Pointing to research evidence, it argues that community engagement and regeneration can be achieved, but that it is both a long term and potentially expensive investment, and this may prove to be a critical contradiction within the Big Society philosophy. Evidence refutes, for example, the idea that reduced public welfare provision leaves more space for voluntary action. The article goes on to question whether the big society agenda may threaten third sector unity.