Monday, 30 July 2007

The rainy weather seems to be clearing; summer may even have finally arrived. I am encouraged to note that the voluntary sector is now being given coverage for its response to the recent floods in north and west England. The national news has highlighted the role of volunteers in supporting the emergency services and in supporting displaced people; local voluntary furniture stores are providing furniture to the stricken areas; and on 11 August there will be a fundraising event at King George's Playing Field in Holywell.

I spent today preparing to work on our accounts. This meant clearing up lots of outstanding items, passing things over wherever possible, gathering together files and paperwork, and installing the accounts software on my PC. I also needed to make sure that people are comfortable with their work for the next few days – Maria in particular has just returned from leave and I needed to keep her up to date with things.

A welcome interruption

Our wonderful mayor, Dorothy Thornhill e-mailed asking for guidance on local groups: she has a benefactor considering making some local donations. Naturally, we were delighted to offer advice!

A not so welcome interruption

Our concentration was broken by the arrival of a man who was very distressed for no obvious reason and who wanted to share his troubles with staff here. On occasion, people arrive here seeking support for a wide range of problems and difficulties. Sometimes we are able to “signpost” people to an appropriate local agency. But other times people are perfectly clear that it is our job to help them find accommodation / stop drinking / expose corruption at Westminster / pay their gas bill / stop aliens taking control of television scheduling.

I imagine that these interruptions are a regular feature of life at any Volunteer Centre or CVS. In an open office like ours, each interruption is an effective way of disrupting the work of 6-10 people. Everyone here naturally does their best to respond in a positive and caring manner. But the fact is we are not set up to work with individuals and our staff and volunteers are not trained to support vulnerable individuals – particularly those displaying challanging behaviour.

We try to discourage local agencies from recommending us to people, but many professionals seem to think it is perfectly appropriate to direct people here with their troubles.

Compact

I also wrote out to fellow Herts CVS chief officers to ask their views on Compact (the “agreement” between statutory and voluntary sectors about how they conduct business together). I did this because over the past few weeks I have realised why there is so much misunderstanding around the Compact. It is because “The Compact” is actually three different things depending on who is asked.

To some, Compact is a statement of minimum acceptable standards (how could it be otherwise if it is negotiated around the table with half a dozen statutory agencies all moving at the pace of the slowest?) and breaches of the Compact should be treated extremely seriously.

To others, Compact is an aspirational statement of best practice, so breaches should be commonplace and not taken too seriously: after all, Rome wasn’t built in a day.

Finally, some people regard Compact as a quasi-legal agreement prescribing the exact processes and standards that should apply in all circumstances: people have signed up to the Compact, and they should stick to it.

Having been Chair of the Herts Compact for more than six months, I feel rather foolish that is has taken me so long to arrive at this point. I am even more surprised that this question isn’t answered on either the Compact Commissioner’s website or the NCVO’s Compact Advocacy website. Surely this question has arisen before? Or am I just being very dense?