Local Compact
Working Better Together
Partnership working with statutory, voluntary and private agencies.
- What is a Local Compact?
- Vision
- What the compact means in practice
- Compact proofing toolkit
- What are the benefits of a compact?
- How would my organisation know the compact is working?
- Consultation reports
What is a Local Compact?
A Compact is an agreement between the local council, other public sector agencies, and local voluntary and community sector organisations. It can also include the local private sector.
Haringey’s Compact is entitled “Working Better Together”, which is an aspirational and practical agreement. The Compact principles are a foundation of the agreement and underpin how organisations that have signed up to the Compact relate and interact between and within sectors. On the practical side there are six key principles, which are fundamental to better partnership working. These include:
- Promoting partnerships
- Improving volunteering
- Valuing the role of BME, Voluntary and Community Groups
- Recognising the role of young people
- Using resources effectively: Funding, Procurement, Premises
- Improving Liaison: Information, Communication and Consultation
The Haringey Compact - “Working Better Together” - has the following key objectives:
- To promote equality and strengthen voluntary activity throughout the borough;
- To recognise and support the vital and unique role that voluntary and community groups play in the lives of Haringey’s residents;
- To give the voluntary and community sector a real voice in decision and policy making, and service delivery;
- To develop a consistent approach to the funding of local voluntary and community organisations;
- To assist local public, voluntary and private sector organisations to develop meaningful partnering arrangements;
- To simplify public sector processes and procedures, encouraging effective ways of joint working;
- To put in place a robust and trustworthy mediation process to resolve disagreements when things go wrong.
Vision
“Working Better Together” is a new starting point for the public, private and voluntary and community sectors to develop Haringey’s services to effectively meet the social, economic, health and environmental needs of its local communities.
Our central goal is to encourage better partnerships that fundamentally value diversity and equality so that Haringey can strive to sustain local services through clearer and fairer decision-making arrangement, which will benefit all sectors and improve the well-being of all of Haringey’s residents.
|back to topWhat the Compact means in practice
“Working Better together” is not just a piece of paper. It is a working document which will be continuously developed over time, ensuring that all the sectors work together towards the improvements in services and quality of life that Haringey’s people need and deserve.
Local voluntary, community and public sector organisations who sign up to Haringey’s Compact will lead the way in implementing the commitments and principles contained in the agreement.
Over time, through training and support, the principles and commitments will be embedded throughout existing strategic structures (e.g. public policy will be Compact assessed) and among voluntary and community organisations (e.g. organisations can nominate Champions who will work with Haringey’s Compact Implementation Group (HCIG) – see section below entitled Working Better Together in Action – The Compact Challenge).
|back to topCompact Proofing Toolkit
The Compact Proofing Toolkit is a practical, condensed version of “Working Better Together”, designed to help organisations turn the Compact principles into reality. It is a handy step-by-step guide designed to remind you of all the key points you should think about before and during the planning of any successful inclusive partnership working. A copy of the Compact Proofing Toolkit is available for download from the attached files section towards the bottom of this page.
The Compact does not seek to duplicate existing work but to build on the good practice that is currently being delivered across Haringey.
|back to topWho should be involved?
All organisations in Haringey who work in conjunction with other groups are also considered as partners and are invited to sign up as well. For the voluntary and community sector, this covers professional, regulated organisations, those that are more grass-roots based and local including faith-led groups and the growing social or community enterprise sector.
Public sector organisations that can sign up are those institutions receiving core funding from Government, with statutory duties to deliver key services locally. As well as the council and local NHS trusts this includes the emergency services and a wide range of educational, employment and housing agencies.
Private sector organisations also increasingly work in partnership with the voluntary, community and public sectors, providing services, funding and other support and it is envisaged that many private sector businesses will also endorse the commitments and principles of the Haringey Compact.
Becoming part of “Working Better Together” means sharing the compact commitments, but most importantly it means becoming part of a new framework for promoting equality, equal rights and mutual respect across the sectors, backed up by a clear disputes procedure.
|back to top“Working Better Together” in action – The Compact Challenge
The basis of the Compact is about creating a holistic, cross cutting approach to collaborative partnership working that will be mutually beneficial to all partners involved. This partnership work will help to reduce duplication, secure better value for money and more effective partnership relationships which will help to create more responsive, efficient, effective and accessible services for Haringey’s residents.
Haringey’s Strategic Partnership also will also consider the Compact annual report and help make recommendations. The HCIG will be formed with members from all the sectors. A multi-agency Haringey Compact Implementation Group (HCIG) has now been formed. Their role is to ensure that the objectives contained in the workplan which accompanies the agreement are put into place and Compact Champions will be nominated from each sector to help drive forward the message of meaningful partnership working.
|back to topWork Plan
3 key things must happen for the work plan to be a success:
- Fully supported by local organisations from all sectors
- Clear/realistic Implementation Plan
- Resourced where necessary (so that Compact Champions, for example, are trained etc)
Compact Champions
The aim of a Compact Champion is to build awareness, ownership, involvement, use and accountability of the Compact and partnership working. Compact Champions are key to successful Compact implementation and driving it forward to improve partnership working between and across the sectors.
|back to topWhat are the benefits of a Compact?
Mutual Benefits of the Compact
- Shared vision
- Integrated ambitions that are reflected in partners plans activities
- Addressing the local, regional challenges to secure the well being of local communities
- Involving local people in developing the vision, agreeing priorities and making decisions
- Right partners in the right relationship
- Making outcomes better then they otherwise would be
- Clear rules and guidance to enable the sectors to have a better understanding of they work.
- Developing quality measures, good practice and consensus locally
- Building real trust between partners
- More effective and genuine consultation processes
How would my organisation know that the Compact is working?
- Projects and partnerships undertaken that could not have been previously undertaken
- Improved communication with partners
- Greater effectiveness with less wasted effort
- Greater effectiveness is achieving your organisational goals
- Greater effectiveness in delivering the goals of Haringey's Community Strategy
Background consultation reports
Haringey’s Compact is a result of an 18 month long consultation process in which over 300 local people, together with people working in the borough, had an opportunity to hear about the purpose of a local Compact and share their views on what they believe should be in the Compact.
Over 14 focus groups and consultation events were held. Consultation reports available for downloading are at the bottom of the page and includes the focus group report produced by Insight Business Development.
|back to top
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