Our new Labour goverment – do you feel a change?

Do you feel a change since the last general election? This is a genuine question. Of course, there has been some change in style of leadership and different faces in key positions, but has there been a material change?

As I am writing the local elections are going on and some of the results are coming in. The first sign is that this will not be an endorsement of Keir Starmer’s national government, but then again it rarely is.

I have a great opportunity to be party to some behind the scenes conversation with politicians and civil servants and I am often surprised how much ‘faith’ and ‘belief’ those politicians have. This is not a faith as related to the divine, but faith in the party line. Thus, the Labour script in the election was ‘vote for change’. The country certainly voted for a ‘change of government’, but did we get change?

I lean to being an idealist, so end up perpetually disappointed; by governments, Christmas presents, West Ham United and ultimately myself! But I have to admit that I thought this election may lead to tangible change, change in our ‘corporate pocket’ in the funding and resources coming into the Voluntary and Faith Sector.

Faith sector stepping  up … again

As a sector, we have certainly proved ourselves. Through austerity and lock-down, faith groups have stepped up to the plate. However, we could do with more solid funding streams to move us away from knee jerk reactive work, which is ultimately inefficient, to planned sustained partnerships. Work which recognises the commitment of the VCFSE and harnesses the extra something rather than just exploiting it when public sector and private sector fails.

We need to engage with the growing pains of developing such relationships and mature our funding and partnership with Government. We see this on a local level, small bolt on projects can bring short-term additionality to the reach and access that local faith groups have. However, the next step up comes with considerable risk. This development of our faith groups means that staff need to be employed for the project, not as a bolt on to their role at a place of worship. With no guarantee of ongoing funding these ‘capacity building’ steps are hard to commit to.

There is volunteering capacity in faith, but financial circumstances play a part here as elsewhere. If you are on a low wage with little other resource other than your labour and time, you cannot afford to give this away in the same way as someone with sufficient household income who have more time and resource to commit. This also doesn’t take into account the coordination cost of volunteering, and other aspects of the volunteering infrastructure. This means that volunteering doesn’t come for free.

It’s the economy stupid … and the world

This is not 1997, where the New Labour government took power of a solid financial situation. There really is no cash to splash. When speaking to a Tory MP who had already decided to stand down before the election, he said that this is the election nobody wants to win!

It was perhaps naïve to expect that this government could bring swift material change to our sector. But there are choices they can make of course to move towards this, with the toss up between public service delivery by the public sector rather than by a more agile VCFSE being one that should be continually considered.

But it is also important to consider what this government has been given to deal with. A stuttering economy that still struggles to approach 2008 levels, and a series of crises and world events from the last 5 years which still continue to impact us, including the ongoing costs and instability of the pandemic, the war in Ukraine and its effects on energy prices and the instability caused by the current American administration’s approach towards trade. Not to mention Brexit and the changes it brought to how we interact economically with the rest of the world, along with the current conflict in Gaza, which has meant economic pressure is experienced in the context of community tensions.

How the world has changed since 2019! Could you have imagined parliament being recalled on a Saturday of the Easter Holidays to respond to the crisis with British Steel? But in our new insecure world, having a domestic resource of this staple industry received cross party support.

Could there be Change?

There could be change, but it will have to be low cost. A little money can go a long way if we utilise the special something the faith and community organisations have, and as long as it is not just as a short-term after-thought. It cannot be business as usual. The wisdom and input of this sector has to be remunerated – it is fascinating how well-paid public sector or private sector colleagues sit round a table and expect the voluntary sector to be there… in a voluntary capacity!

FaithAction has been pleased to play a key part in reconstituting the APPG on Faith and Society (incidentally at this time, an example of a piece of work provided for free on our part) Understanding the financial restrictions that the country has, we expect the APPG to serve again as a focus for investigating how faith based activity can bring positive change in the UK. This group will serve as a focal point or clearing house for looking at faith-based solutions. It is already committed to work around tackling maternity equalities.