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Changing Responsibilities and Roles of the Voluntary and Community Sector in the Welfare Mix: A Review

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 June 2011

Eddy Hogg  and
Susan Baines
Eddy Hogg
Affiliation:
Department of Social Sciences, Northumbria University E-mail: edward.hogg@northumbria.ac.uk
Susan Baines
Affiliation:
Department of Social Work and Social Change, Manchester Metropolitan University E-mail: s.baines@mmu.ac.uk
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Extract

Many Western states have sought in recent years to harness the energies of voluntary agencies and charitable bodies in the provision of welfare (Brandsen and Pestoff, 2006; Milligan and Conradson, 2006; Haugh and Kitson, 2007). More than ever is expected of the Voluntary and Community Sector (VCS) in supporting people and communities, entering into partnerships with governments, and delivering public services (Lewis, 2005; Macmillan, 2010). The mainstreaming of the VCS has been associated with a push towards market reform and reducing state obligations for welfare provision (Amin, 2009). In some European states – for example, Germany and the Netherlands – a three-way mix of state, market and voluntary sector dates back to the nineteenth century (Brandsen and Pestoff, 2006). In the UK too, on which this review article focuses, the delivery of public services by voluntary organisations and charities is far from new, but over the past decade local government and health services, especially in England, have been required to step up their engagement with VCS organisations (VCSOs) (Alcock, 2009; Di Domencio et al., 2009; Macmillan, 2010). Commitment to this sector by the government under New Labour was signalled by the creation for England of the Office of the Third Sector within the Cabinet Office in 2006 and the associated appointment of the first dedicated Minister of the Third Sector, initially Ed Miliband MP. Working with charities, social enterprises and community and faith-based organisations appeals to politicians across the mainstream British political spectrum (Di Domencio et al., 2009; Alcock, 2010); the ‘Big Society’ agenda of the Coalition government elected in 2010 promises a continuation in this direction of travel, albeit in a new regime of reduced budgets, service cuts and demands of more for less.

Type
Themed Section on Remixing the Economy of Welfare? Changing Roles and Relationships between the State and the Voluntary and Community Sector
Information
Social Policy and Society , Volume 10 , Issue 3 , July 2011 , pp. 341 - 352
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2011

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