Influencing health and
wellbeing boards...
Funding engagement
1
About this briefing:
In late 2013, Regional Voices conducted a survey of voluntary and community sector (VCS)
health and wellbeing board representatives, Healthwatch organisations and the wider VCS about
their experiences of engaging with health and wellbeing boards 1. In response to the comments,
we are developing resources to help the VCS to influence their local health and wellbeing
boards, sharing learning from around the country.
VCS organisations have raised the issue of funding their involvement in the local health and
wellbeing board. There is a great value to health and wellbeing boards to working with the
voluntary sector, but it is not always funded. This briefing aims to share practices from around
the country and build the case for sustainable funding for VCS engagement.
Jo Whaley, Regional Voices and David Simmons, FaithAction, February 2014
We are involved only because of our tenacity. This is difficult given we are a very small local
charity with very limited funds. We raise issues that affect the people we support and represent
locally and can often influence policy and practice but it has taken an enormous amount of
energy.
Regional Voices survey respondent, September 2013
Background
It is perhaps unsurprising that, at a time when public funding is scarce, there is not much money
in local authorities to fund VCS participation in health and wellbeing board activities. That being
said, there are examples where representatives from the voluntary sector do receive funding to
support their work with the health and wellbeing board. However, even for these examples there
are issues of stability of funding. It is important to be able to understand and communicate what
is gained by funding voluntary sector engagement such funding in the first place.
Why fund VCS engagement?
Essentially- the ask is to build the capacity of the VCS, and the people it supports, to
engage with the health and wellbeing board. This can give boards a gateway to engaging with
the communities the sector serves2 and the expertise of provider organisations3.
Funding to engage the voluntary sector (Newcastle)
Newcastle Council for Voluntary Service (CVS) has a contract with the local authority to support
liaison with the voluntary sector, including with the health and wellbeing board. The CVS Chief
Executive is a representative on the board and the CVS supports two other VCS representatives
on the board, which are elected from the health and wellbeing network that the CVS runs. The
CVS also receives a contribution from the CCG towards its ebulletin, which keeps the VCS
abreast of issues in wellbeing and health. The CVS part funds this work from other fundraising.
"To us, having voluntary and community sector representatives at the Board seemed a natural
thing to do. We have always had a strong involvement of Newcastle's voluntary and community
sector in the city's partnership working arrangements for wellbeing and health - right back to the
days of Health Action Zones and probably beyond! We've always valued the contribution of the
sector - as service providers and as people working closely with the community - they bring a
helpful perspective to the mix. We wanted to build on that history in the new Wellbeing for Life
Board, rather than go back on what has been a strong and productive working arrangement."
Colin Williams, Director of Transformation, Adult and Culture Services Directorate, Newcastle
City Council.
More information about Newcastle CVS's work with the Health and Wellbeing Board
2
Attendance at &
preparation for
HWB meetings
Support other VCS
representatives
engage with the
HWB & VCS
networks
Support/engage
with Healthwatch on
priority areas of
work
What the VCS can add, if resourced
Even plain attendance at health and wellbeing board meetings can
be resource intensive, with the preparation involved ("papers like
War and Peace"!). However, more than that, well funded health and
wellbeing board engagement with the voluntary sector can reap
dividends (see diagram on left) - and no one representative can be
expected to have all the answers!
Funding voluntary sector engagement can inform community (public
and patient) involvement throughout the strategic commissioning
cycle as well as bring in provider expertise- which other board
members might not have access to.
Funding a wider voluntary sector health and wellbeing network can
give:

Engagement with
VCS networks
around meeting
topics (through
newsletters/social
media/events)



Work with/lead task
& finish groups for
HWB
Coordinate input
into/research JSNA
topics/ write
chapters
Support HWB work
with marginalised
communities
Diagram to show
what funding VCS
engagement can
support
support to VCS and Healthwatch representatives- sharing
knowledge and experience
accountability of representatives- making sure they represent
a wider range of views than their own organisation
raise awareness of opportunities to engage with the health
and wellbeing board- so that community groups are able to
share their needs, assets and priorities, especially those
experiencing worse health outcomes/marginalised groups
greater ownership of health and wellbeing priorities across the
area- across organisations big and small.
“Small community-based charities provide excellent examples of
how national health issues can be tackled at a local level. It is often
these organisations' detailed understanding of local need, the trust
they gain from their communities and their ability and willingness to
work holistically across multiple services that allows them to be so
effective.” (The King’s Fund, April 2012)
A funded network can help to bring the right organisations together to
support the representative and feed relevant, recent and topical
information into the board.
However, the VCS can't just expect to be funded- we need to
demonstrate what commissioners (and the public) get from the
funding. A survey responded noted:
In the current economic situation and [in the midst of] further funding
difficulties, we need to be able to present a mature, robust and
innovative contribution and be able to demonstrate more collaborative
and qualitative approaches which resonate with the priorities and
challenges. I feel there is a genuine respect of the voluntary sector
and ability to raise issues, but capacity, resources and commitment
from the wider sector needs to be in place.
The diagram on the next page demonstrates different ways the VCS is being funded to work with
health and wellbeing boards around the country.
3
Ways the VCS is being funded, in some areas, to feed into health and wellbeing board activities:
Health and wellbeing board
VCS
representative
Healthwatch
representative
Sub-groups to the
board or ‘task and finish
groups’
Accountable
VCS health and
care networks
Healthwatch
organisation- can
engage with VCS
(variation in levels of
funding and
therefore capacity)
Organisations funded to
work closely with subgroups to the board
e.g. Manchester
e.g. Norfolk &
Newcastle
Provider forums (rarely
funded but opportunity
to make key
relationships)
One off engagement
events e.g. on JHWS
priorities (rarely
funded, but are free
for the VCS to attend)
Joint strategic needs
assessments
VCS organisations
funded to be actively
engaged with JSNA
(& engage others)
e.g. Wakefield &
Cheshire East
Key
green - sometimes funded,
purple - opportunities to engage that aren't
necessarily funded
4
Funding infrastructure
Funding an infrastructure organisation/network to either be a representative on a health and
wellbeing board and/or to support other representatives on health and wellbeing boards can
bring strategic expertise of the voluntary sector to the board, rather than bringing an interest
in one particular topic- a view of the bigger picture. The NICE guidelines on community
engagement clearly state that one of the main prerequisites for successful community
engagement is infrastructure- to support practice on the ground. Some of the most
successful partnerships between health and wellbeing boards and the voluntary sector are
through funded infrastructure networks, hosted by the local council for voluntary service e.g.
Norfolk and Newcastle.
.
Funding to engage the voluntary sector (Norfolk)
Norfolk health and wellbeing board funds the “Voluntary Sector Engagement Project”, which
“focuses on supporting and involving the voluntary sector in the health and wellbeing agenda and
the changing landscape of health and social care funding and commissioning”. The VSEP aims
to bring the “front line experience of the voluntary sector into policies, priorities and plans
for services.” It also aims to raise awareness of the work of the voluntary sector in marginalised
communities and to help the voluntary sector become engaged with key partners such as the
Mental Health Trust, Norfolk Public health and the CCGs. The project’s representative member
also feeds into the agenda of the health and wellbeing board. A representative from Norfolk
County Council told us:
"The voluntary sector reaches into all parts of Norfolk, we get grassroots information from them
and can harness their energy and networks for health improvement. It has a unique perspective,
very often more citizen focused than the local authority. A thriving voluntary sector makes for
stronger communities, where people support each other. Norfolk has a good track record of
partnership working with the VCS. It is a challenge for public sector bodies to work with the
breadth and diversity of the sector- and it has taken a few years to find a way to do that that
doesn't bombard all organisations- rather to go through recognised and known networks. We
fund Voluntary Norfolk to perform a brokering role, to enable the engagement of smaller
organisations as well as the bigger ones. It is their role to keep smaller organisations in touch,
interpret things- what it means for them. The approach is broadly well received."
Sustainability of funding
Even areas where there is currently some funding for VCS involvement, this is often very short
term, which makes it hard to invest well in engagement and build trusting relationships with
communities. As one survey respondent stated:
We have a staff member that is jointly funded by the clinical commissioning groups and public
health to ensure that the VCS is able to feed into the joint strategic needs assessment. This has
been funded for two years but we aren't sure if this will be continued.
The NICE guidelines on community engagement recommend long term investment in the
voluntary sector: They highlight the importance of understanding 'the gradual, incremental and
long-term nature of community engagement activities. Ensure mechanisms are in place to
evaluate and learn from these processes on a continuing, systematic basis'." and "Recognise
that a short-term focus on activities and area-based initiatives can undermine efforts to secure
long-term and effective community participation."
5
Worth paying for...
Creative solutions to engaging with commissioners (Cheshire East)
CVS Cheshire East organises events to bring commissioners and the VCS together, for example
an "Ask the Commissioners Event" (Sept 2013) which brought together both large and smaller
sized VCFS organisations, commissioners from the Clinical Commissioning groups (CCGs ) and
local authority commissioners for Adult Social Care, Mental Health and Families and Children.
Open health events- engaging with groups and service users (Selby)
We have received small pots of funding to run open health events throughout Selby District to
encourage voluntary and community groups to participate with us and their service users to
collect evidence and case studies. This collection of evidence can feed directly into strategic
documents. About North Yorkshire’s VCS funding -the Innovation Fund.
Building research capacity for JSNA (Wakefield)
The Wakefield public health team has been working closely with Nova Wakefield District (the
support agency for the VCS) to trial engagement methods with communities around multiple
health behaviours, parental perception of their children's health and an evaluation of a Change 4
Life project. Research surveys have been co-designed, the VCS partner conducted the research
and the public health team analysed the results. This work has further built on community
relationships and provided targeted evidence to the council.
To conclude, we quote from The King's Fund which were talking about the voluntary and
community sector in health: Implications of the proposed NHS reforms (2011)- "In a best case
scenario, the voluntary and community sector would be empowered as a real partner to GP
consortia [CCGs] and health and wellbeing boards, but in the worst case scenario the sector will
be left struggling to forge new relationships and unable to survive in the competitive market."
Lets keep making the case for the former!
Further Information
1. Survey of engagement with health and wellbeing boards, Regional Voices (December 2013)
2. Working with the voluntary and community sector- a guide for health and wellbeing boards,
Regional Voices (2013)
3. Stronger together- how health and wellbeing boards can work effectively with providers. NHS
Confederation (2013)
___________________________________________________________________________
Regional Voices and FaithAction are Strategic Partners to the Department of Health, NHS
England and Public Health England.
Regional Voices connects voluntary and community organisations with
government, through nine regional networks, to inform and influence
policy at local, regional and national levels. To find out more about
Regional Voices' work in health, wellbeing and care go to
http://www.regionalvoices.org/developments
FaithAction is a national network of faith-based and community
organisations. FaithAction works to provide support, advice and
6
training for organisations as well as working with local and central governments to highlight the
work of organisations in their communities. To find out more about FaithAction's work in
wellbeing and pubic health go to http://www.faithaction.net
Follow us on twitter @regionalvoice
@FaithActionnet
If you require this information in an alternative format or further information email or
call: contact@regionalvoices.org 0113 394 2300
7