Dear

What a year it’s been for Compact Voice and your Network. 2009 saw huge growth in our membership (currently at over 1900), and visits to our website increasing by over 300%. Our engagement with local groups and Compacts stepped up, and resourcing Compact implementation emerged as a crucial concern for many - and will be a big campaign for us in 2010.

Compact Voice publicly pushed the Sector’s concerns following the OTS Compact breach in November; which nevertheless didn’t detract from the launch of a refreshed Compact this month. The new Compact will be followed by implementation guidelines in 2010, and signals the start of a new period of greater cooperation between Government and the Sector.

Staff movements this year saw the departure of Stefan Simanowitz and Jess Crocker, who was replaced by Tom Elkins as Compact Voice Manager, the appointment of Dugald McNaughtan to the new role of Communications Officer, and the sad departure of our team assistant Susannah Rigg for warmer climes. Our Board continues to represent the diversity of the Sector, and we welcomed many new network members not only from national voluntary organisations and local groups, but also from local public bodies keen to engage with their partners.

2010 promises to be a really exciting year, and the strength and vibrancy of our network is an ideal platform to take the whole Compact movement forward. We look forward to even bigger and better things.

Merry Christmas,

The team at Compact Voice

Online networks combine

Following the combination of our networks for national voluntary organisations, local groups and public bodies (friends of Compact Voice) in September, our new network offers a great place to share resources, issues and solutions with colleagues from across the country.
Join or visit

Compact Stories

We’re collecting and exhibiting success stories from Compact partnerships around the country, and invite you to submit yours in 2010.

Compact Week and Awards
The first week of November saw the annual Compact Week and Awards, with Solihull Compact Plus taking out top prize.
Read more

Refresh Compact launches

On 16 December, the refreshed Compact launched at the end of a 18-month process with an EDM enjoying cross-party support from Tom Levitt MP. New life is being injected into the Compact movement – and now it’s time to “read it, use it, benefit from it”.

Twittering news and views

We also started twittering in November 2009, and intend to use the micro-blogging service to keep our friends and members up to date, up to the minute.
Follow us on Twitter

Champions

Supporting champions will be a big focus for us next year, and we’ll support recruiting and taking forward a champions network, providing a regular e-newsletter, forum and a national event in April.
Join the champions group on our forum

Website and e-comms

After widely surveying and consulting our membership, we’re radically overhauling the Compact Voice website, starting with the resources section. We’ve noted your requests for more short guides and briefings too, and will roll them out in areas such as personalisation and resourcing (see below) in the new year.
Visit our site

Tools for Compact partners

In October we launched the local compacts electronic toolkit – six interactive tools for use with Compact implementation and to improve working relationships.
Download it now

Support for NI7

National Indicator (NI)7, for a thriving sector, is a key area where Compact can help local authorities and their partners deliver. Check out our resources and NI7 country map.

Regional Leaders

In November our regional leaders group was finalised. The group will take forward Local Compact implementation in your region throughout 2010 to help you get most from your compact, for example through chairing regional events and informing Compact Voice about your experiences in the field.

OTS Compact Breach

Angela Smith MP’s decision to withdraw funding from the Campaigns Research Programme led to Compact Voice pushing for parliamentary questions, a subsequent meeting with our Chair and a pledge for more Compact scrutiny across government. We look forward to her renewed support in 2010.

Resourcing Compact Implementation

Resourcing Compact work is a key issue for our membership, and we’ll be lobbying for greater resourcing at a national and local level throughout 2010.
Share your thoughts

Personalisation Agenda

Personalisation is emerging as a key factor to affect service delivery, funding and policy development for partners, and Compact Voice is researching how to best ensure Compact drives this process as efficiently as possible. Let us know how you’re preparing for personalisation.

Conferences

In what looks to be an annual fixture, the second Local Compacts Conference was held in Birmingham to the widespread enthusiasm of delegates from across the country. Next up is our Annual Compact Meeting in February 2010, then our Champions conference in April.
Download presentations from the 2009 conference

Regional events
With the establishment of the Regional Leaders group, who will also be advising on the development of our website and other communications, Compact Voice will be holding a number of smaller half day events around the country in 2010.
Stay tuned to our website for more