The Covenant: 

The Civil Society Covenant is a newly established set of principles introduced by the Government, designed to establish a ‘new model partnership between civil society and government.’ Its publication follows extensive consultation across the VCSE sector, and our full response can be found, here.  

Its principles will apply to government and public bodies across the UK, including: UK government departments and arms-length bodies; English local authorities; and wider public sector bodies working with civil society including NHS organisations and partnerships.  

The goal is to foster genuine partnership working, at a national and local level, through collaborative policymaking, funding and service design and delivery. The central principles of the Covenant include mutual respect and trust, co-investment and innovation, place-based partnerships involving local authorities and public bodies, and increased transparency and consistency in funding processes. 

To ensure that these principles are implemented, the Covenant includes plans to establish a Joint Civil Society Covenant Council to oversee implementation, a Local Partnerships Programme to foster collaboration at the community level, as well as a VCSE-HM Treasury forum for ongoing dialogue on financial and economic issues affecting the sector. As the infrastructure organisation for the voluntary sector working in criminal justice, we are eager that the Ministry of Justice is represented, at a senior level, on the Covenant Council. This would ensure that the existing Ministry of Justice/HMPPS-voluntary sector engagement mechanisms can be platformed as the Covenant continues to be developed.   

A specific set of values and behaviours will underpin the Covenant, including respect for the challenges faced by all parties, flexibility and adaptability, mutual learning, building trust through strong relationships and shared purpose, openness in communication, and a commitment to diversity, equality, and inclusion. 

Recognition of civil society’s role: 

The Covenant explicitly recognises the vital role of Britain’s civil society - including charities, social enterprises, and volunteers - as a crucial part of the fabric of society, responding to widespread calls for increased collaboration and partnership from across the VCSE sector. The services provided by civil society are championed throughout the Covenant as a ‘proud part of our national identity.’  

The key message behind the Covenant is that the government alone cannot shape a better future. Instead, it explicitly recognizes that the government must partner with, and rely on, civil society. The Covenant promises to safeguard the sector’s independence, enable it to advocate and hold government accountable, and promote partnership across all departments and at every level, nationwide. It commits to collaborative design, funding, and delivery of policy and services; partnership with mayors, local authorities, and other public bodies on place-based projects; and inclusive, participatory approaches to decision-making.

The government will also work to build trust through open communication and information sharing, while expecting civil society organisations toto maintain transparency and accountability in their operations. Annual government reports will track progress and the impact of this partnership. 

Building a new, reciprocal arrangement – through the Covenant – is essential to leveraging the extensive expertise that voluntary sector organisations have to offer. Further, a strong and independent civil society, working in partnership with the Government, is pivotal to amplifying the support that is on offer to some of our most underserved communities and people.  

Acknowledging ongoing challenges and making a success of the Covenant: 

In our response to the initial inquiry, we set out the challenges faced by many voluntary organisations in their engagement with statutory bodies. These include, but are not limited to: 

• Voluntary sector organisations often being treated solely as service providers and therefore being excluded from the outset of policy or service development processes 

• Statutory-non-statutory engagement relying on the views of individual officials with an interest in strengthening relationships, and not on adequate processes and mechanisms that formalise partnerships between government and the voluntary sector 

• Financial barriers such as ‘unfunded signposting’ by statutory stakeholders to voluntary organisations.  

• The power imbalance in relationships between voluntary organisations and public bodies. This is in part through the funding that public bodies provide to the sector, meaning those reliant on public money may feel unable to participate in other relationships with public bodies that could lead to criticism of their public funders. 

We also detailed how the challenges could be mitigated to ensure a partnership between Government and civil society that recognises the unique role that the VCSE sector plays in addressing many of society’s most significant problems. Our recommendations included: 

• Valuing the depth and breadth of the voluntary sector’s expertise and experience, recognising that it is more than just a service provider 

• Engaging with the voluntary sector early on in projects and processes, working together as trusted partners, so the sector has an opportunity to feed into and co-produce these projects and processes, and their outcomes with public bodies 

• Engaging with voluntary organisations in ways that help to facilitate those organisations’ engagement with public bodies, such as by giving organisations a reasonable amount of time over which they can be involved 

Conclusion: 

Overall, the goals of the Covenant are wide-ranging and welcome, offering the potential to move the government’s relationship with the voluntary sector beyond the previously “transactional” approach described by organisations such as the National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO). The Covenant demonstrates a clear intent to foster a more cooperative and mutually beneficial partnership.

Achieving its ambition to reshape relationships and build lasting collaborations between civil society and government across the UK will require a long-term commitment and buy-in from across government departments. The success of the Covenant will rely on whether its principles translate into meaningful changes in practice (particularly regarding power-sharing, resource allocation, and accountability) rather than remaining aspirational statements. We look forward to working alongside our members and the Government to help realise the Covenant’s goals.