Case Studies

Gloucestershire Association for Voluntary and Community Action (GAVCA), Gloucestershire Association of Parish and Town Councils (GAPTC) and Compact Voice worked together to promote the Compact to Parish and Town Councillors in Gloucestershire.

A series of evening workshops for local Councillors encouraged them to work closely with Voluntary and Community Sector (VCS) organisations for the benefit of local people.

The Sunderland External Funding Working Group is a sub-group of the local Compact Implementation Group.

The External Funding Working Group seeks to ensure that the City of Sunderland and its communities benefit from external funding opportunities by working collectively and collaboratively.

Research has shown that the risk of experiencing a domestic fire is higher in socially deprived areas and in households of black and minority ethnic residents. Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service has joined with ADAB, a local voluntary organisation in Bury, to make the community safer.

The two organisations created a new Community Fire Prevention network to raise awareness in the most vulnerable communities in Bury and Rochdale.

Herefordshire renewed its local Compact in 2012 and called it "Working Well Together". In recognition of the changing landscape in service delivery, the Herefordshire Compact makes it explicit that the Compact is about three sectors – including the private sector – working well together.

Bristol achieved widespread engagement in the review and update of its local Compact in 2012. As well as helping to raise awareness of the Compact, the renewal has resulted in a local Compact that is relevant to all partners in the City.

The West Midlands Compact Panel has enabled the sharing of good practice about the Compact and Compact principles and helped to strengthen partnership working across the West Midlands. It is attended by both public sector and VCS representatives who have an open and honest dialogue about how best to deal with current issues and challenges.  

Gloucestershire Association for Voluntary and Community Action (GAVCA) worked proactively with the Gloucestershire Police Authority and Gloucestershire Constabulary to help the Voluntary and Community Sector to engage with and influence the new Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC).

The Sunderland Compact e-learning programme was developed over a period of several years. It was initially developed with the aim of helping staff at Sunderland City Council to better understand the role of the voluntary and community sector in the city, and to provide them with a good understanding of the Compact agreement. Since then, it has also been rolled out to VCS and other statutory sector partners.

Carlisle City Council wanted to sign up to the County-wide Cumbria Compact, to strengthen the good relationship they already had with the voluntary and community sector. Before they did so, the Council considered their compliance with the commitments outlined in the Cumbria Compact and identified areas for improvement by undertaking a self-assessment exercise.

This collection of case studies explores how particular areas have successfully engaged with new and emerging health structures – such as Health and Wellbeing Boards.

The case studies provide an insight into what has worked well in different areas across England, with the hope that areas struggling to have any engagement at all can learn from their experiences.

Compact Voice gathered the case studies during the process of developing our briefing ‘Informing and influencing the new local health landscape: A guide for local Compacts’.