Strategic Plan April 2012 - October 2013

Summary

KENSINGTON & CHELSEA

SOCIAL COUNCILSOCIAL COUNCILSOCIAL COUNCIL Supporting local charities and community action

JUSTICE & EQUALITY

COMMUNITIES

GOVERNANCE

CHANGE VOICE

LEADERSHIP

ACTION

As an organisation the Social Council is entering a period of significant change. We

recently completed a process of planning the direction for our future. This document

provides an overview of how we will get there. We present here a concise summary of

our strategic plan for the next 18 months, outlining the various strands of our work and

the key areas we will be focussing on.

Our plans include developing further our strong relationship with other agencies that

support the Voluntary and Community Sector (VCS), both in this borough and in

neighbouring boroughs. We believe this work will be key in leading the way to the future

for our organisation. We have begun this work by setting up the Transforming

Infrastructure Consortium and, thanks to funding from the Cabinet Office, are in a

position to make increasing our joint work a key priority for the next 18 months.

We will also be focussing efforts on developing a number of other key areas of our work.

We will be developing our trading company to provide local voluntary organisations with

greater opportunities to bid for contacts in partnerships. We will be developing our

campaigning support work with a particular emphasis on tackling poverty in the borough,

ensuring we play a key role in supporting organisations to unite around social justice

issues and enable the voice of the local community to be heard by decision makers. We

have plans for a Community Leadership School to harness the potential of leaders in the

local voluntary and community sector and we will continue to expand our Get on Board

project to support good governance in organisations.

We will continue to be a leader, supporter and advocate for the sector and the local

community. We will help the sector adapt to a fast changing environment, to develop

new approaches and make the most of new opportunities and new partnerships. As we

prepare for a future where we may have fewer resources it is our goal to ensure that we

remain resilient and able to continue to meet the support needs of our local voluntary

and community sector going forward. This summary strategic plan sets down how, over

the next 18 months, we aim to progress.

Mary Gardiner

Chief Executive Officer

Introducing the Social Council Strategic Plan April 2012 - September 2013

Kensington & Chelsea Social Council London Lighthouse, 111-117 Lancaster Road, London, W11 1QT

020 7243 9800 info@kcsc.org.uk www.kcsc.org.uk

Charity no. 1087457 Limited Company no. 4416375

Our aim:

Stimulate local action, supporting organisations and residents to come together to

lobby and campaign on matters which promote equality and fairness

We will do this by:

▪ Being a strategic voice and supporting member organisations to be active

campaigners within the planning process

▪ Working with organisations to highlight child poverty in the borough and the

impact of benefit changes and to lobby on agreed actions

▪ Working with supporters to continue to develop a strong local voice for

community needs Ca

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Our aim:

Develop closer joint working with other infrastructure agencies in the borough and in

neighbouring boroughs to ensure a more seamless service for VCS organisations

We will do this by:

▪ Developing a joint web portal and cloud computing system

▪ Exploring and starting to implement ways to work more closely together such as

sharing some functions

▪ Continuing to develop our joint approach to providing governance support

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Support frontline VCS organisations to ensure they are better prepared to take

advantage of existing and future opportunities

We will do this by:

▪ Supporting good governance through our Get on Board project – including

in-house support, seminars and trustee recruitment drives

▪ Helping organisations to become ready for tendering and to form partnerships to

bid for contracts, developing proof of the ability to deliver

▪ Strengthening the confidence, knowledge and skill base in the local VCS, by

developing a local Community Leadership School

▪ Working with community centres to develop closer joint working

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Our aim:

Facilitate and develop opportunities for the sector to contribute to local plans to

improve health and wellbeing and reduce health inequalities

We will do this by:

▪ Keeping the sector informed of changes in the health environment, such as the

establishment of GP commissioning consortia

▪ Maintaining strong collaborative links with local health partners and networks,

including those in neighbouring boroughs

▪ Developing the sector’s capacity to access commissioning opportunities in the

health and wellbeing field and to influence commissioning processes

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Our aim:

Work with the sector to address challenges and opportunities arising from national,

regional and local policy

We will do this by:

▪ Keeping organisations informed of relevant policy developments through the

web and e bulletins

▪ Stimulating the sector to debate policy issues and identify actions at regular

forums and seminars

▪ Conducting desk research to highlight important facts and figures on continuing

areas of concern such as inequalities in health and poverty

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Our aim:

Strengthen representation to ensure that the needs of the diverse local community

are fed into decision making processes and that the VCS develops a stronger voice

We will do this by:

▪ Supporting elected representatives on strategic boards and advisory groups

▪ Encouraging new representatives to come forward and providing them with the

support they need

▪ Facilitating feedback mechanisms between representatives and the VCS

▪ Holding an annual cross sector summit

▪ Providing strong leadership and acting as a voice for the sector

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