Case Studies Syndicate content

Compact At Work

Read about how local and regional Compacts are being taken forward around England. There may be useful ideas here in the initiatives from these areas, or you may want to tell us about your own area's progress.

Don't forget to look at our green flag areas too.

Local Compacts at Work

Local compact at work cover

Published by Compact Voice in 2011, this document provides case studies about how local Compacts have successfully delivered across a range of issues, including service design, managing funding, and others.

Wolverhampton - One contract for the voluntary sector

wolverhampton compact award winners

Wolverhampton has used their local Compact to improve efficiency by developing one standard contract between voluntary and community organisations and the City Council. 

Gateshead - A winning partnership

Gateshead winning compact award

Partners in Gateshead have developed a series of innovative projects and policies, including Community Asset Transfer Policy, the Gateshead Volunteers Big Idea, and a Commissioning Improvement Policy. The local Compact enables the Council to commission a number of its services to the Voluntary and Community Sector, ensuring a strong partnership and a strong sector.

Oldham: Embedding the Compact in a new Cooperative structure

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Oldham Council has recently made the shift to being a Cooperative Borough, and they’ve ensured that the local voluntary and community sector is at the heart of their new structure. The momentum that is being created to develop Oldham as a Cooperative Borough has helped to meaningfully embed the local Compact into their day to day practices.

Lancashire United Against Hate - Advancing Equality

Lancashire united against hate

Employees from Preston & Western Lancashire Racial Equality Council, Lancashire Constabulary, Lancashire County Council and Unison came together voluntarily to form a partnership called ‘Lancashire United Against Hate’.

By tackling the lack of resources available to assist with hate crime prevention in their area together, partners exemplified principles defined in the national Compact as “An Equal and Fair Society”. The subsequent DVD they produced has ended up having a wider-reaching impact.

East Sussex: Measuring success

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By setting objectives and reviewing performance annually, the East Sussex Compact Steering Group has brought about a culture of continuous development within the East Sussex Compact.

Surrey: Honesty is the best policy

Surrey meeting

The discourse between the Surrey Compact and Surrey County Council shows that all news, even bad news, is worth sharing.

North Lincolnshire: Compact-proofed funding cuts

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North Lincolnshire Council has shown commitment to its voluntary and community sector partners by working with them to ensure that where cuts to their funding have been made, they have been done so in a fair, sustainable and Compact compliant manner. 

Hertfordshire: Surviving a Compact stress-test

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The relationship between the voluntary and community sector in Hertfordshire has come under considerable strain since Hertfordshire County Council reviewed its funding of the voluntary and community sector following the 2010 Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR 2010). 

Compact Advocacy case study: Reaching an understanding despite funding cuts

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This Compact Advocacy case study explores how the voluntary organisation Joined-Up Holidays managed to reach an understanding with their funder, despite unexpected funding cuts.