A Compact for Cheshire West and Chester

Local organisations in the public and voluntary, community and faith sectors have been working together to draft an agreement, or Compact, as it is best known, to set how they can collaborate and develop better working relationships to bring about mutual benefits for their organisations and for the communities of Cheshire West and Chester that they support and serve.

A Compact for Cheshire West and Chester includes guidance on specific topics, referred to as codes of good practice, which range from funding and volunteering to consultation and community engagement. These codes detail the ways in which both sectors will work together meaningfully to bring about improved decision making and services which better meet the needs of local communities and residents.

Essentially, the aim of this local Compact is to provide a firm basis from which both sectors can achieve more for all communities, including the most vulnerable and disadvantaged residents, who frequently use the services that these public, voluntary, community and faith based organisations provide.
 
Public sector bodies and agencies, partnership boards and charities, social enterprises, trustees, volunteers, groups and organisations from the voluntary, community and faith sector - large or small, national or local - active in the Cheshire West and Chester area were asked to give their views on the draft Compact. Consultation closed on Friday 13 February 2009.

It is envisaged that the draft Compact for Cheshire West and Chester will be more than a written agreement and that it will be shaped through this consultation to become a locally developed and negotiated process for partnership working.  Based upon similar work carried out in the three outgoing districts of Chester, Vale Royal and Ellesmere Port and Neston, the Compact is a tried and tested way of working where organisations agree to change how they behave and work together for the better.

Cheshire West and Chester Compact Commitment Form

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Notes
1) Compacts: Central Government requires all public bodies to develop and deliver a local Compact with the Voluntary, Community and Faith sector (VCFS); also referred to as the Third Sector. All local authority areas in England are required to have a local Compact in place. Public bodies are expected to meet standards of good practice as set out in Compact guidelines. http://www.thecompact.org.uk/

2) Third Sector Assembly for Cheshire West: The Third Sector Assembly is planned to be the main VCFS representative body for the new local authority area of Cheshire West and Chester and would be supported by the three Councils for Voluntary Service (CVS) either individually as they are now or in some form of collective arrangement e.g. a new West Cheshire and Chester CVS. The Assembly will have representatives from each of the three existing CVS networks as well as a number of VCFS service deliverers, which covered this whole area.

Third Sector Assembly Cheshire West - Draft Governing Document