Partnership & Engagement Manager, Glasgow Council for the Voluntary Sector (GCVS)
Permacrisis
An extended period of instability and insecurity
On 1st November 2023, I was invited to give an address to the One Glasgow Let’s Get Reconnected Event at the Emirates Arena, setting the event in the context of the importance of the Public and Third Sector working in partnership to deliver the best outcomes for individuals who encounter the justice system and the communities that are impacted by crime.
One of the key intended outcomes of the event itself, which aligned closely with my address, was for participating services to make vital links to improve multiple outcomes for people through better joined-up working. In my address I reflected on how the previous day I had learned a new word at another conference – “PERMACRISIS” – Collins Dictionary’s word of the year for 2022. For me this summed up quite succinctly how truly awful 2022 had been for so many people – triggered by the shocks of Brexit, the pandemic, the energy crisis, wider cost-of-living impacts and, according to most economists, a rather bleak financial outlook which will significantly impact funding for our public services – at a time when demand on the public service system will only increase as will reliance on the Third Sector to reach out and support people and communities that most need it.
If there was anything to learn from the pandemic, it was a sense of ‘being all in it together’ – although it did lay bare and, in fact, exacerbate, inequalities. As many commentators have said, we might all have been facing the same storm, but we were all in the different boats – with too many with no boat at all.
The legacy of the pandemic ought to be how we hold onto the incredible examples of individuals and families, public sector and communities, Third Sector Organisation (TSOs) and businesses coming together to respond to people most in need, with an unrivalled spirit of collaboration, resilience, creativity, and compassion. Relationships and working practices across sectoral boundaries changed, and those changes were positive.
The crisis era isn’t quite over, and yet we are somewhat falling back into our silos. We can’t afford to do that.
It struck me that events like this Let’s Get Reconnected event are a testament to the extent of partnership working across Glasgow in a community justice context and an appetite to enhance and extend that collaboration within the Third Sector itself and with our Public Sector partners.
One Glasgow’s ‘whole-place’ approach provides a helpful framework to support the involvement of the Third Sector in community justice planning, in reporting progress, sharing good practice, and in service innovation.
The Place Principle was developed recognising that a new approach was needed if we are to change the course of the persistent inequalities that exist.
So, it’s important that any place-based approach starts with a recognition that addressing these unacceptable inequalities – as well as improving people’s life experiences and outcomes – must be at the core of place-based change.
The implementation of place-based approaches, require collaboration and partnership, building existing relationships, recognising different stakeholders and their respective roles in supporting people and communities locally.
In a Community Justice context, meaningful engagement of the Third Sector at a strategic level – in the planning and commissioning process, and in service innovation – will accelerate and enhance collaboration between statutory and Third Sector stakeholders. Given the vital role that the Third Sector (community-based organisations and social enterprises) contribute to both social justice and community justice outcomes, they need to be regarded as valued strategic partners and not merely suppliers of services.
Third Sector organisations working in community justice have a long history of providing services that complement and supplement statutory services. Throughout its rich history, the Third Sector has used its knowledge, agility, and expertise as a driver for positive change for individuals and communities. From steps to influence policy priorities, to pioneering distinct services for women in the justice system, people with disabilities, support services for families and always championing service user led approaches. The Navigator programme supporting people to stabilise their lives has proved particularly effective, as have peer mentoring approaches to reducing reoffending.
But the Third Sector itself is not a homogeneous sector. The Third Sector working in justice covers a wide spectrum in both size and scope– from small, volunteer-run community groups to large national organisations – so capacity issues and fair funding remains a challenge.
Furthermore, one of its key strengths is its diversity – supporting people and working at the coalface in communities to tackle child poverty, championing social justice, whole family support, financial inclusion, tackling homelessness and breaking down barriers to employment. Even if their principal mission doesn’t include people whose lives have been touched by the justice system, or those at risk of offending, they will often have a contribution to make.
The Third Sector is particularly well known for providing specialist services that reflect the diversity and needs of individuals. There are many specialist organisations for groups such as veterans, mothers, and babies in prison, and networks that link common services, e.g., around diversionary activity, youth work, services to support desistance through engagement in the arts or sports and a range of interventions to support mental health and recovery from addictions. And the Third Sector remains a key provider of support for victims of crime and children and families affected by imprisonment.
Reducing reoffending remains a key aim nationally and locally, but we need to go further in our collective actions to highlight the importance of preventing offending behaviour in the first place. The National Community Justice Strategy talks about shifting the balance between custody and justice in the community and that means investing in alternatives to custody and the Third Sector has a significant contribution to make.
We need to support one another to navigate what is a complex system and a diverse ecosystem of services and supports – ensuring the total place approach of reducing duplication and making best use of pooled resources can realise greater progress in community justice outcomes for individuals and communities. But, importantly, we need to involve people and communities in driving that change.
The need to build linkages across other policy and practice areas will be vital for improving how we support individuals, and communities – children and family support, housing, addictions and recovery, mental health, physical health, and employability.
We need to share and learn from data and evidence and raise the visibility of good practice – a lot of which is on show across this Annual Reporter – and we need to replicate or scale up what works. We have a lot of data, but it is perhaps not shared or used effectively. We need also more qualitative data to give depth and meaning to quantitative findings.
At the national level, the Criminal Justice Voluntary Sector Forum (CJVSF) has done a lot of work to advance engagement across sectors and the importance of monitoring how we can best unlock the potential to do more.
If we are to tackle the complex social issues in the city, it is clear that we have a moral obligation to work together, since no one organisation or sector can deliver the change we all want to see. To reduce silos, we will need to communicate, collaborate, and coalesce around our shared aims.
We need to think more about building trust across sectors and focus less on risk. Systems of risk and reward tend to focus energies on minimising immediate harms rather than reducing longer-term risk of lost life chances. We need to advocate for a better balance between activity and investment to mitigate harms, with resources and energies that prevent harms happening in the first place.