Dear colleague,
State of the Sector 2023 is live! The criminal justice voluntary sector has been mapped out, highlighting the changes over the past year and, unfortunately, some of the recurring themes.
Clinks’ role is to support, promote and represent the voluntary sector working in the criminal justice system. Our annual State of the Sector research, produced in partnership with NCVO, is a free resource evidencing what our members and sector are experiencing and the impact on their service users.
State of the Sector 2023 explores the landscape of the criminal justice voluntary sector as it responds to a year of reduction of funding and resources for many.
We have summarised key findings relevant to you:
Challenging Operating Environment
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32% of the respondents to our survey operated in Wales. The criminal justice sector is mostly made up of small organisations, with Criminal Justice Charities operating in Wales being particularly small.
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Almost all (95%) Criminal Justice Charities operating in Wales have an income under £500,000.
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43% of these charities have an income under £10,000, and the remaining 5% have an income of between £500,000 and £1 million.
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Continuing the trend seen for many years in this research, organisations face increasing numbers of new service users, with a greater level, complexity, and urgency of need.
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73% of organisations in Wales said their running costs had increased, compared to the previous year, with 46% saying they had increased significantly.
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Whilst many organisations responded to this by working more flexibly with their clients, increasing partnership working, and sourcing more funding, a majority also said staff were taking on larger caseloads.
Contract and Grant Funding
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53% of survey respondents operating in Wales delivered services under contract or sub-contract.
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Respondents were positive about their experiences of grant funding, particularly from charitable trusts and foundations, but slightly less so about government grants.
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Organisations were broadly negative about their experience of contract funding, which are almost always commissioned by the government or statutory bodies.
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More than eight-in-ten survey respondents applied for a grant from a charitable trust or foundation, with just over half applying for a government grant.
Cautious Confidence about Financial Sustainability
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Organisations were broadly confident about their financial sustainability over the next two years, with 60% of Welsh organisations saying they were confident, but in focus groups, organisations qualified this optimism.
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In focus groups, voluntary organisations said whilst they were confident their organisation would still be delivering services in two years, there was uncertainty as to the scale and capacity of this service delivery.
Clinks’ work in Wales
Clinks has a dedicated Senior Development Officer who supports our members and the wider sector working in Wales. We do this in the following ways:
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Holding quarterly criminal justice forums.
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Regular mailings to the sector with important criminal justice information and commissioning news.
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Working closely with statutory stakeholders such as HMPPS in Wales, the Criminal Justice Board for Wales, Police & Crime Commissioners and Welsh Government.
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We work in conjunction with the Head of Community Integration at the Wales probation service to put on quarterly collaboration & commissioning forums. For more information on these forums please contact the development officer.
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Face to face and online member meetings. If you would like support or more information on becoming a Clinks member then please do contact the Senior Development officer, Wales, Bryn Hall on the following email address bryn.hall@clinks.org.
Our pledge to you
The sector's resilience is incredible; organisations continue to support people who need it most. As the infrastructure organisation for the criminal justice voluntary sector, we want to continue to support organisations. Over the coming year, we will continue to advocate for the sector. We will share learning and offer opportunities for connection, providing a platform for the sector to come together to highlight issues that matter to organisations and the people they work with.
View the 2023 research on our new State of the Sector webpage here
Download the executive summary here
Share State of the Sector on Twitter and LinkedIn
Best wishes,
Bryn
Bryn Hall
Senior Development Officer, Wales
Clinks
020 4502 6774 | 07904 978086
he/him
#MyNameIs BRIN
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