The Third Sector in the NECA Region

We are already bidding or delivering contracts: 10.1% - higher than England and Wales (7.5%). Again, likely skews because of fewer, bigger organisations, but also reflects a sector reasonably well developed in terms of contract-readiness…

Whilst subject to sensitivity testing/confidence intervals, because of the smaller volume of returns, it would appear across all income streams above £50k pa, The NECA area is in line with or above E and W average for bidding and delivering, including those with a turnover below £500k: 

Certainly, I don’t think ideas from NECA that our sector is miles behind on readiness to contract rings true, I think the reticence is everywhere. This may be important for some of those conversations with Charlotte Carpenter et al. 
Devolution: In the NECA area perceptions of Devolution are mixed, like the rest of the country; 

Better on some indicators than elsewhere, worse on others (reflecting newness and teething issues?) A lot of requests to improve engagement – its going to be critical that this is reflected quite quickly in meaningful positive action; the region is still well down against E&W average in terms of positive impact from devolution

Support from business is well up on national averages but slightly down against NE figures for most categories – up for Pro Bono support – testament to work being done such as Sector Support: 

In the last two years the number of Full Time and Part Time employees has increased in around a third of organisations, whilst fewer than a fifth report their staff numbers falling, suggesting the sector is remaining steady or growing in terms of workforce; however organisations are far more likely to report they find recruitment and retention harder than that they find it easier than two years ago. 
Like the rest of the North East, in the NECA patch recruitment and retention seems to pose a greater problem for VCSE organisations than nationally. However, the sector has also seen a greater increase in full and part-time staffing than nationally, which may reflect some of the challenge.

Difficulties in recruiting regular volunteers are in line with the national average, as is the struggle to return to pre-Covid levels. 
Not much of a story here beyond the national…it’s still a story and one the CA needs to be aware of, especially given all the chat about Civil Society – need to recognise this is not Big Society – there are capacity challenges, economics, health, demographic shifts at play which are impacting on the size and capability of the volunteer workforce and it isn’t a bottomless reserve… 

Organisations in the NECA region state they are finding it harder to recruit and retain trustees than two years ago but these figures are relatively aligned to the bigger picture nationally; it does however highlight the ongoing need for and value in work like trustee match, provided by CFNE, to support connecting causes with trustees, and developing skills and confidence for people looking at trustee roles for the first time. 

In the last two years, more organisations state their income has risen significantly than has fallen significantly. Most organisations hold reserves and relatively few are using reserves to support core costs, which is overall a positive indicator of the financial health of the sector; there will always be winners and losers in this space and so ensuring TSOs have the support and resource to keep going, especially where they are providing critical services in communities, is in the self-interest of public sector partners focused on improving the lives of local people. 

As with other places, we see a significant degree of optimism from sector leaders in the NECA region; they broadly expect in the coming years they will remain stable or grow in terms of their resources and impact; they also unanimously believe demand for their services will remain stable or increase. 

Whilst we are even more positive about partnership working that the wider findings for England and Wales, we are less positive about the future of statutory funding within the income mix than the national benchmark; whether this is a belief about a reduction in statutory funding as a whole (especially given changes to the ICB structures) or that the funding and commissioning trajectory means more of the available funding will be funnelled into the Extra Large (over £25m) charities or non-charitable contract management companies is not clear in this research, but it is an important question for regional policy makers to consider. 

In terms of who the sector is working with, we have a big, wide-ranging spread of impact reaching beneficiaries from all backgrounds: 

Moreover, organisations in our region are more likely to report that they have a “very strong impact” across a range of social themes compared to national figures, highlighting the way in which the sector is orientated and focused very much on tackling the biggest needs and issues in communities: