Wokingham Borough Council is to launch a five-week consultation that will inform the production of the “Voluntary Sector Strategy”, which will be supported by Involve, one of its key partners.

The consultation will look at:

We are lucky in the Wokingham Borough to have a truly vibrant and effective voluntary and community sector (VCS) who have supported our residents with distinction for many years. However we all must recognise that this is a time of great change in the delivery of health and care, both locally and nationally. We have listened to key stakeholders, including sector leaders, and it has become clear that there is an appetite for setting a strategic direction for our work with the sector for the medium term.

After careful consideration we have already taken the decision to extend all existing contracts to March 2021. This gives us the time to have a genuinely co-produced and co-delivered strategy which will give opportunities for transformation within the sector. It also gives us time to work with you on how we commission in the sector for the next 5 years.

We wish to be very clear in stating that we are not seeking to cut funding to the sector.  We wish to move towards a model where we contract individual services over a longer period of time. This will give you more certainty over your funding going forwards

We are seeking to deliver a strategy:

• that has vulnerable residents at its heart
• to bring the voluntary and community sector together and maximise its potential
• that will connect people, places and services in the community to enable people to live healthy, active and independent lives for as long as possible
• that will manage demand within existing resources
• that will enable greater value through more effective use of resources and whole community assets
• to enable the building and sharing of knowledge, expertise and resource across the sector
• to enable access to harder to reach groups and communities with a focus on socially isolated users and carers
• that aligns to, and is able to benefit from, other council strategies.

Take part

There are several ways to take part in the consultation. The Council has produced a survey which it is keen for anybody with an interest in the sector to fill out.

The survey can be accessed here:

https://www.wokingham.gov.uk/news-and-consultation/consultation-and-having-your-say/current-consultations/?entryid206=502077

There will also be a series of meetings for stakeholders over the course of the next five weeks at the council offices in Shute End. Regular feedback and updates will be provided through the involve Newsletter  (to sign up for the newsletter please click http://involve.community/newsletters/  ) and council social media pages.