Last week saw the prime minister relaunch the Big Society vision at a seminar I attended. It is clear how passionate and committed he is to achieving real change in communities, but it seems questionable how possible this is, given the scale of cuts being made to local services across the country.
In many ways, the Big Society is already with us. It exists in organisations such as the WRVS, which has trained up volunteers to support the enablement of older people leaving hospital, or Springboard for Children, which saves the Government between £50,000 and £64,000 for every individual who successfully navigates its intensive literacy programme. As I pointed out to David Cameron, this kind of activity is being threatened by the decisions of local authorities to cut grants and remove contracts from third sector organisations delivering high-quality services for local people. Salami-slicing budgets, bringing services in-house or clawing back surpluses will have a huge impact on the kind of civic activity supported by charities and social enterprises which will be essential if Big Society is to blossom.
