Economy Watch: The recession and the VCS

Online help: Dedicated advice pages for businesses and residents have been created to help people and organisations through the recession.

The global downturn is affecting all parts of our economy and our society and the Voluntary & Community Sector is no exception. We recognise that VCS groups are facing difficult challenges as funding becomes limited and financial pressures increase.

In Worcestershire, an Economy Watch Task Force has been created and is operating at a high level, bringing together all of the main agencies and organisations that can help. Chaired by Worcestershire County Council Chief Executive Trish Haines, the task force has identified a number of actions that can help local businesses, organisations and individuals to survive the slowdown and remain in a strong position for growth when conditions improve.

Many VCS representatives attended a seminar at County Hall in December 2008, prior to the creation of the task force, where a list of priorities was drawn up. Three of the areas for action included the VCS:

• Ensuring VCS representation on the task force
• Providing one point of contact for the VCS
• Researching within the VCS to identify key issues

The VCS is represented on the task force by Richard Quallington, the Chief Executive of Community First.

The single point of contact for VCS groups is the County Council's VCS Unit, led by Suzy James. Suzy can be contacted on 01905 728650 or at sjames2@worcestershire.gov.uk

Work to research the key issues affecting the VCS is ongoing, with help from our Research & Intelligence team. If you're experiencing specific problems that we might not know about, please email Suzy with your experiences.