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DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST MADE FOR THIS ITEM:
 
None
 

RESOLVED:
 
That Cabinet:
 
1.   
Approved Haringey Community Collaborative’s priorities for
the Voluntary and Community Sector (VCS) for 2025–2026
(Appendix 1).

2.   
Approved the Council’s approach to supporting the
sector’s delivery of these priorities through the
implementation of the VCS Action Plan, while beginning work during
2026/27 to explore co?creation of a Community Strategy for Haringey
(Appendix 2).

Reasons for decision
 
HCC’s priorities
(Appendix 1) had been developed through a series of engagement
sessions with the VCS, building on their experience of supporting
the sector over approximately the previous 18 months. Two VCS
Priorities Workshops were run (in person and online), engaging 42
VCS participants and 23 statutory partners, and the borough?wide
survey run by HCC had 52 organisational responses. This engagement
achieved more depth and breadth than the Council would have been
capable of delivering with its current resources and utilised the
trusting relationship formed between HCC and the wider sector since
it took on the role of capacity?building partner.
In identifying its
priorities for the VCS, HCC had considered alignment with the six
Calls to Action in Haringey 2035: Our Vision, the
borough?wide vision for the next ten years, and had been explicit
in highlighting the connections between the two.
 
The VCS Action Plan at
Appendix 2 set out the work deemed necessary to support the VCS in
delivering against the priorities identified by HCC.
The VCS Action Plan
responded directly to the six priorities using a theory?of?change
approach and noted existing work and frameworks to ensure that
current knowledge, resources and relationships were utilised and
duplication avoided. The actions aimed to dovetail efforts to
improve relationships and governance arrangements with the
VCS—such as the Social Value Leases Policy—with the
needs outlined in the priorities, such as better access to
community spaces to improve health and wellbeing.
The report also
highlighted the emerging national framework governing relationships
between the VCS and public authorities and the need for Haringey to
develop a more holistic picture of the different relationships and
interactions the Council held with elements of the local VCS. It
outlined a strategic intention over the coming years, building on
community engagement and opportunities likely to arise from, for
example, the London Borough of Culture year in 2027/28, to explore
the development of a broader Community Strategy for Haringey in
partnership with the VCS.
 

Alternative options considered:
 
Progressing with a VCS
Strategy designed and developed solely by the Council had been
considered but was not recommended due to the shift in relationship
being sought between the Council and the VCS under the principles
of the Haringey Deal. A Council?designed strategy would have been
shaped primarily by the Council’s perspective, whereas the
approach suggested—using HCC’s VCS priorities to frame
Council actions—allowed the work to be led by the needs of
the VCS as described by the sector itself. A strategy?development
process would also have required significant officer resource to
run adequate engagement across the Council and the VCS, which was
not feasible due to current capacity constraints.