On Wednesday 10th December, Birmingham City Council released a number of documents – including a white paper and several factsheets – under the heading of “Responding to the challenge, looking to the future: Budget Consultation 2015+”.
As many of you will know, the BBC immediately picked up the story, majoring on the implications for the Library of Birmingham, but also highlighting several voluntary organisations whose funding is now at risk: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-birmingham-30409906
The white paper can be found here: http://birminghamnewsroom.com/2014/12/budget-consultation-2015/
More detailed factsheets on each of the proposal areas are to be found here: http://birmingham.gov.uk/brumbudget15factsheets
I’m strongly encouraging all community and voluntary organisations in the city to take a careful look at these documents, and to make their views known in the consultation process.
There are a number of ways feed in your views:
1) You can respond to the City Council directly, via the details provided in the links above
2) You can feed your views in via your Third Sector Assembly Champions. Details of the Third Sector Assembly and each network’s champion can be found here: http://www.bvsc.org/assembly-networks
3) You can feed your views in to me, for inclusion in the response that BVSC will be preparing on behalf of the Third Sector Assembly. Please feel free to contact me directly at brianc@bvsc.org
Whichever method you choose, it is of course worth giving consideration to any implications for your organisation and for the third sector at large, but it is even more important to consider and be clear about how these proposals may impact on your organisation’s service users now and in the future. If you are able to back up your assertions with evidence and examples, so much the better.
It is important that Birmingham’s voluntary sector doesn’t miss its chance to have a say. The Council is openly seeking our views and this provides us all with an opportunity to positively contribute to the Council’s search for real ideas for dealing with the ongoing financial challenge and the unavoidable and far-reaching implications for Birmingham’s residents.
Yours sincerely
Brian Carr
Chief Executive, BVSC