1. Study day, Institute of Historical Research, 16th June 2018
The end of the voluntary sector’s infrastructure? Are intermediary bodies doomed? Does it matter?
Study day, Institute of Historical Research, 16th June 2018

3. Infrastructure organisations Intermediary bodies
Local development agencies
Civil society support
Umbrella organisations

4. Representative bodies
National/regional/local/neighbourhood organisations/networks
Second tier organisations
Specialist/generalist organisations

5. The Hampstead Council for Social Welfare
The Council for Social Welfare was developed in 1907 by Thomas Hancock Nunn to co-ordinate the work of individual charities by establishing a broadly-based body that would combine the resources of ‘all the churches, all the municipal bodies and all the voluntary associations in a given local government area’ to address the social needs of its residents.

6. National Council of Social Service, Memorandum, March 1919
‘The idea [of the National Council of Social Service] was a simple one: the belief that the rich and varied pattern of voluntary societies which is the distinctive feature of English social life is worth preserving; that it could best be preserved if the diverse agencies were to come together into some form of overall federation or council to eliminate confusion and overlapping; and to work together as partner with the newly developing statutory services.’

7. National Council of Social Service, Annual Report 1923
‘The object of the National Council is to bring into association the groups of men and women engaged in Social Service – nationally, by providing in the Council a meeting place for the representatives of Government Departments and voluntary bodies; locally, by promoting the formation of similar Councils, representing the statutory authorities and voluntary agencies at work in the locality.’

8. A.F.C. Bourdillon (ed.), Voluntary Social Services; Their Place in the Modern State, 1945
The task of the Council of Social Service ’is to survey the social needs of the area as a whole, and, where it perceives a gap, to initiate action. Only if no other body can suitably meet the new need should the Council itself take direct action, and where it does so it will be on the understanding that the new activity is to be floated off as an independent organization, or passed over to some other body at the earliest possible moment.’

9. G.M. Aves, The Voluntary Worker in the Social Services, 1969
‘We have been impressed by the value of volunteer bureaux… and we believe that there is a need and a demand for a network of such centres to cover the whole country.
Existing bureaux are financed partly from voluntary sources or Trusts and partly from grants from local authorities. They cannot be maintained without financial support, and we believe that local authorities should bear the major responsibility for their finance in the future.’

10. The Future of Voluntary Organisations: Report of the Wolfenden Committee, 1978’.
Wolfenden’s view of Councils of Voluntary Service was that they performed ‘important functions in providing support for voluntary organisations individually and collectively, and in reconciling the inherent tension between the autonomy of individual organisations and planning for the pursuit of common purposes’. More specifically, the report identified five key functions performed by local intermediary bodies: development; services to other organisations; liaison; representation; and direct services to individuals.

11. Neil Zammer, CVS at the Crossroads, 2011
‘CVS stands at a crossroads balancing the demands of the Council on the one hand and the voluntary sector on the other. A successful CVS will have achieved equilibrium but when this is upset, for example the recent cuts in the grants programme, re-positioning to achieve a new balance involves risk. Go in too hard and the Council will react by cutting the grant, too softly and the voluntary sector will write the organisation off as the Council’s poodle.’

12. Sribani Sen & Associates, The Way Ahead: Civil Society at the Heart of London, 2016
We have very deliberately chosen to use the phrase “civil society support” to describe those organisations that are commonly called “infrastructure” bodies. This is because firstly the term… to anyone outside the sector means physical infrastructure such as roads, bridges and drains. Secondly we wanted to recognise that many frontline organisations and communities receive support from a wide range of institutions and individuals in addition to traditional “infrastructure” bodies.’

13. ‘We believe that who provides support matters less than that it is of high quality and easy to access for those that need it. Widening discussion to talking about civil society support rather than just support organisations would enable the sector to think differently about how to develop and deliver effective support. It would also enable the role of support organisations to be more clearly defined within the wider range of support available…. Support organisations [should] act as a catalyst for civil society, to help organisations and individuals arrive at their own solutions.’

14. Contract award notice, infrastructure support services, RB Kingston upon Thames, 2018
‘An open market tender for the Services was conducted in May 2017 for 2 Lots: Infrastructure Support for the VCS (Lot 1) and Support for Volunteers and Active Citizens (Lot 2). The Council were successful in awarding Lot 2, however no suitable tenders were received in response to the tender for Lot 1…. The responses that were received for Lot 1 (from the incumbent provider [Kingston Voluntary Action] and one other) were deemed to be irrelevant to the contract, and manifestly incapable, without substantial changes, of meeting the Authority’s needs and requirements….

15. The Authority therefore decided to enter into direct negotiations with the incumbent provider… to secure the following:
service development/transformation against existing service provision, as informed by the full needs analysis which was undertaken prior to both procurement exercises
ability for the Authority to explore a flexible approach to award an innovative contract which develops a suitable delivery model that provides suitable outcomes to the local population
opportunity to develop the market during the contract term, potentially leading to a competitive process at a later stage….
ensures the provider fully understands the requirement and is committed to deliver the services to the required standard, which will be monitored through performance management….’