Clinks response to Welsh Parliament Finance Committee – Draft Budget
Utalising State of the Sector research
In November 2022 Clinks provided a response to the Welsh Parliament Finance Committee’s consultation on the Welsh Government’s Draft Budget proposals for 2023-24. In particular we responded to the consultation question “Is support for third sector organisations, which face increased demand for services as a consequence of the cost of living crisis and the pandemic, sufficient?”. In the response we draw on responses to our State of the Sector survey conducted in 2022, as well as our regular and ongoing engagement and support to the criminal justice sector in Wales. For more information on our work in Wales, including information on our All Wales Criminal Justice Forum, contact Development Officer Bryn Hall.
We wanted to highlight a couple of key summary points from our response.
We firmly believe that the most effective way for Welsh Government to support the sector is through the provision of flexible, unrestricted, multi-year grant funding. We acknowledge the role that Welsh Government does play in funding the voluntary sector, and from our State of the Sector research that we will be publishing imminently, we can show that the Welsh Government is the largest funding source for grants and contracts for organisations operating in Wales.
Whilst justice is not devolved, many of the drivers of contact with the criminal justice system, such as poverty relief, substance use and accommodation, are. This means many of the services that the voluntary sector provides to people in contact with the justice system in Wales are areas in which the Welsh Government can provide support. We want to see continued join-up between the Welsh Government, the Ministry of Justice and HM Prison & Probation Service. Where possible more opportunities to co-commission services, as seen in the Women and Young Adult Service contract, should be explored.
Our response also highlighted the challenges being felt by the sector in what are very uncertain financial times. Our imminent 2022 State of the Sector report will show that voluntary organisations’ staff across Wales and England are taking on more service users; with the level, complexity and urgency of their needs continuing to grow. Staff recruitment and retention is particularly challenging, driven in part by an increased demand for services and inflationary pressures. The research shows that many organisations do not receive full costs recovery on at least some of their contracts and three quarters of organisations surveyed reported running costs had risen with more than a third saying those costs had risen significantly.
All this goes to show the vital work that the voluntary sector working in criminal justice does in Wales and we have highlighted in our response to the committee the need for continued support to the voluntary sector, through funding. We hope that the Draft Budget will reflect this need in order for the sector to be able to continue supporting the most vulnerable in society.
The Draft Budget debate in Plenary will take place on 7 February. You can find information on the Draft Budget on the Welsh Government website here.
Read the response in full
We will be publishing our State of the Sector 2022 report imminently. Please keep track of all usual Clinks communications channels for further announcements on this important work - on our website, Light Lunch, Twitter and LinkedIn. Clinks’ role is to represent, support and advocate for the voluntary sector working in the criminal justice system and our members. Our annual State of the Sector research enables us to understand what organisations are experiencing and how developments in the criminal justice landscape and wider external environment are impacting them and their service users.
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