Rik Martin, CEO of CAN, reflects on the many complex and inter-connected pressures faced by VCSE organisations in the current political and economic climate. He believes that we are at a crossroads, where organisations rooted in communities need to work together and become proactive in bringing about change that supports the sector and those who benefit from its many activities.

Rising Pressures Demand Real Partnership in Norfolk

­CAN was recently commissioned by Norfolk and Waveney Integrated Care Board (ICB) to explore the experiences and capacity of the Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise (VCSE) sector in West and North Norfolk.  This showed that VCSE organisations operating in these areas are facing unprecedented challenges and uncertainty, demonstrated by the closure of West Norfolk Carers in March 2025 after more than 30 years of delivering services and support.

The pressures on the VCSE sector are varied, complex, and interconnected, often featuring; significant and sustained increases in demand, client complexity, expenditure, rurality, and uncertainty.  These are reducing the sector’s capacity and capability whilst inhibiting resilience and engagement with an ever-evolving statutory landscape.  Much of this was mirrored in the Empowering Communities report on the State of the Sector in Norfolk.

Where is the VCSE sector now?

These consultations showcase a stressed, under resourced sector, working over capacity, frustrated by regulation and reporting requirements, and struggling to engage at a meaningful level.  This has come as a surprise to many outside the sector, yet sadly is business as usual.

Despite these findings and a genuine concern amongst statutory partners, I have – in the last few weeks – been asked to deliver a major piece of work for free, been told “we all have to tighten our belts and work together”, (like we are all equal partners!) and have had my funding cut by the ICB just as we consider the solutions that the Sector survey identified.

Business as usual?

The issue is not the people we work with every day, who sympathise and want to support us, who often understand the VCSE Sector, its value, and capabilities, who are also being impacted by funding and service cuts.  The problem is higher up the chain where funding decisions are often made by those not working on the ground, without understanding the scale and complexity of the problem, and only interested in short term, politically advantageous, money saving solutions.

However, the new 10 Year Plan for Health highlights the need to work with communities and is an opportunity for change we cannot ignore.  In this, the VCSE sector will be both central and essential, as recognised by the Government’s new Civil Society Covenant and initiatives such as the development of Marmot Towns in West Norfolk and Planning for Neighbourhoods Funding being made available in at least 3 areas of Norfolk.  At the same time we are all trying to identify the impact that Local Government Reform and Devolution will have on all of this.

So we are at a crossroads.

Now is the time to take the initiative and negotiate the place of the VCSE sector in all of these changes.  We MUST be prioritised and not sidelined, we MUST be at the table and not waiting at the edges to collect the crumbs, we MUST demonstrate our relevance if decision makers are going to value the sector in the future, and we MUST capitalise on the new political will to work in communities and make it clear that the sector needs help if we are going to achieve this.  The C in VCSE stands for community after all.

Business as usual?  Let’s hope not.

Please sign the open letter Open Letter to Stakeholders and Statutory Partners in Norfolk – A Shared Commitment to Partnership with the VCSE Sector and look out for the next Empowering Communities Leadership Network meeting where you can have your say.