Pete Bass is a freelance researcher and National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO) associate specialising in collecting and analysing data about voluntary sector funding and finance. He is also co-author of the NCVO UK Civil Society Almanac 2012 and 2013 and is currently working to produce the 2014 publication. Pete also works as a research associate for Civil Exchange working on the Big Society Audit, and the Panel on the Independence of the Voluntary Sector. This work included contributing evidence to their report 'Independence Under Threat: The Voluntary Sector in 2013'. VAL was delighted to welcome Pete as a keynote speaker at our 2013 Future Focus Conference. While the 2013 Future Focus conference is now over, VAL runs trainings and workshops year-round. If you'd like to learn more about training for your organisation, visit www.Valoneline.org.uk.

1. How do cuts in Leicester
and Leicestershire
compare to the national
picture?
Pete Bass, Research Associate,
NCVO
http://data.ncvo-vol.org.uk

2. How do cuts in Leicester and
Leicestershire compare to the
national picture?
• Cuts are difficult to measure, and
comparable data is hard to come by, and
incomplete.
• Nonetheless, I’m going to look at four
sources of information:
– Asking local authorities through FOI
requests
– Local surveys by voluntary sector
groups
– Comparing the official figures
– Evidence from annual returns submitted
to the Charity Commission register
• Looking forward – how long will austerity

3. Not all charities receive funding, and the public
sector is not the only source of funds…
• Across whole of UK, NCVO estimate that 37% of
voluntary sector funding came from government
sources.
• 28% of the UK’s charities received funds, and 10% of
charities relied on government for more than half
their funds. (NCVO Almanac 2013)
• In Leicester and Leicestershire don’t have figures in
this detail, but TSRC estimate 38% of charities in the
county received public funds in 2008, and 48% in the
city. (TSRC WP 45)

4. Income from statutory grants and contracts – all
UK voluntary sector 2001-2011
16.0
14.0
11.2
12.0
10.0
8.0
6.0
4.5
Contracts
4.6
Grants
4.0
2.0
0.0
Source: NCVO UK Civil Society Almanac 2013, data.ncvo-vol.org.uk
3.0

5. Asking local authorities through
FOI requests….
Grants
Contracts
(2010/11 to 2011/12) (2010/11 to 2011/12)
Leicester
Not supplied
Fell from £20.9m to
£20.7m
A decrease of 1.1%
??
LOWER THAN AVERAGE
Leicestershire
Reduced from £1.8m
Fell from fell from
to £1.6m, a 12% cut £19.3m to £17.6m by
HIGHER THAN AVERAGE 8.7%
LOWER THAN AVERAGE
Rest of England 197 LAs provided
166 LAs provided
figures for both
figures
years, total budget Contracts fell from
reduced from £153.4m £525.0m to £468.0m
to £141.8m, a fall
A fall of 10.8%
Source: Compact Voice, FOI requests
of 7.5%
http://www.compactvoice.org.uk/foi2012

6. Local surveys of voluntary
groups….
• VAL survey in 2011 – similar proportion of
groups in the City and County reported cuts
to public funding (49% and 51%) with a
further 20% expecting cuts in future.
• London – (LVSC) 60% reported a reduction in
their overall funding in 2012-13.
• North East (VONNE) 59% saw a decrease in
funding in 2013, 79% of respondents reported
some funding from public sector grants, 50%
from contracts.
• Nottingham (NCVS) in 2012 69% of respondents
were facing a reduced income.
Hard to compare, perhaps best we can say is
that organisations in Leicester and
Leicestershire seem to be facing a similar
situation to those elsewhere…

7. What do the official figures
show?
• Short answer: there aren’t any figures collected
at a national level about voluntary sector
funding.
• Local Government Finance Statistics 2013 (DCLG) –
“Grants to voluntary bodies” increased by 35% !
(but this is due to changes in accounting, and
some large stock-transfers to housing
associations). No figure for contracts available.
What about total council spending?
• Comparing councils by DCLG ‘Spending Power’
measure
(excluding Public Health)
• 2013-14 (current year) CITY +0.4%, COUNTY -2.2%,
All England -1.7%
• 2014-15 Looking ahead – CITY facing -6.5%, COUNTY

8. The Voluntary sector in Leicester, Leicestershire and the
rest of England:
Cumulative growth in total income since 2000-01 (%)
Leicester
Rest of England
120
100
80
60
40
20
2011-12
2010-11
2009-10
2008-09
2007-08
2006-07
2005-06
2004-05
2003-04
2002-03
2001-02
0
2000-01
%
Leicestershire
Source: Analysis of Charity Commission register for VAL, Sep 2013
NB: Indexed, Cumulative % change since 2001, adjusted for
inflation using RPIX.

9. Total income of voluntary sector,
(£ millions, 2011 prices)
Leicester
Leicestershire
200
160
140
120
100
80
60
40
154.8
120.4
180.3
124.7
169.6
126.7
172.1
118.2
157.4
117.1
142.6
118.2
139.0
149.0
120.0
113.9
111.4
107.0
93.4
92.3
85.2
88.3
82.0
75.5
180
20
0
Source: Analysis of Charity Commission register for VAL, Sep 2013
NB: adjusted for inflation using RPIX. Uses NCVO “general
charities” definition

10. The number of active charities in
Leicester and Leicestershire
1800
1600
1400
Leicestershire
1200
1000
800
600
400
Leicester
200
0
2000-01
2001-02
2002-03
2003-04
2004-05
2005-06
2006-07
2007-08
2008-09
2009-10
2010-11
2011-12
Source: Analysis of Charity Commission register for VAL, Sep 2013
NB: Uses NCVO “general charities” definition, which excludes private schools,
hospitals and churches and mosques

11. Austerity – how far have we got to
go?
Local Government
Change from 2010/11 (£ millions)
500
40
0
-362
-500
-34
-396
-643
-672
Central Government
58
-603
-614
-1,000
-786
-96
-882
-824
-966
-218
-1,042
-395
-1,361
-1,500
-1,087
-582
-1,668
-2,000
2011/12
2012/13
2013/14
2014/15
Source: NCVO, Counting the Cuts, May 2013
2015/16
2016/17
2017/18

12. Conclusions
• In 2011/12 the total value of VCS
contracts in the City fell more slowly
than in the rest of England.
• In 2011/12 for Leicestershire, the
decrease in the grants budget was higher,
while the decrease in VCS contracts was
lower than average.
• Total income of the sector in both
Leicester and Leicestershire seems to
have grown more rapidly over the last 10
years, but subsequently contracted more
sharply than the rest of the country.
• By the end of the 2013/14 financial year,
around 60% of the total reduction in
Local Authority spending will have