The seasons are changing, and so is the public sector
By Kate Little CEO CVS Cheshire East
The trees are golden, pumpkin spice-flavoured drinks and candles are everywhere, and you’re eyeing up the thermostat whilst considering an extra blanket instead. As the Starks say, Winter is Coming: change is in the air. Winter is the most difficult time for colleagues in Health and the Local Authority, as well as for many VCFSE organisations supporting people during the colder, darker months, and this year will be especially difficult. It’s not just the seasons that are changing: there are significant changes afoot in the public sector that will have a real impact on VCFSE organisations. We need to understand these changes, the many challenges that come with them, and the opportunities provided, to ensure we are well placed as a sector to respond to and engage with the new world order. Come along and hear more at our VCFSE Alliance Conference in Middlewich on Tuesday 18th November.
First up is the NHS. In March 2025, the Prime Minister announced that NHS England would be abolished and its functions transferred to the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) over a two-year period. The government cited NHS England as an example of over-regulation and duplication of bureaucracy, describing the move as bringing the NHS "back into democratic control". At the same time, Integrated Care Boards were asked to reduce their running costs by 50% by Q3 2025/26 (October-December 2025), and provider trusts were told to cut their corporate services budgets back to pre-pandemic levels. These cuts come on top of a 30% reduction ICBs had already previously undergone. We are now hearing that ICBs are pausing their redundancy schemes due to a lack of clarity over which government department will be paying for them. The level of uncertainty this has created, particularly for ICB staff who don’t know if or when their job will be removed, is causing significant issues in health and care systems across the nation, and we are also feeling this in Cheshire East.
Cheshire & Merseyside ICB is one of the biggest Boards in the country and also has one of the most significant deficits. ICB and NHS Trust staff are frantically trying to balance continuing service delivery with increasing demand and diminishing resources, which we in the VCFSE sector can certainly relate to. C&M ICB has recently written to all non-NHS commissioned providers of services, including VCFSE organisations, cancelling the auto-renewal of service contracts from April 2026. This has created huge uncertainty and worry in the VCFSE sector, and I know many organisations are reliant on ICB funding for their survival. The atmosphere across the health and care system is tense, worried and chaotic, and winter is only just beginning.
Amidst all this, NHS England launched its 10 Year Plan in July. The 10YP aims to transform the NHS through three fundamental shifts: from analogue to digital, from hospital to community, and from sickness to prevention. There are clear opportunities for the VCFSE sector here - we are experts in preventive interventions that reduce pressure on NHS services, whether that is providing counselling or care navigation services, running wellbeing workshops at a community hub, or supporting older people through befriending schemes or dementia support groups. There is also a significant opportunity in the focus on Neighbourhood Working - shifting care from hospital to community will require primary and secondary care to work in partnership with the VCFSE sector to keep people well in their communities. There are also challenges inherent in the 10YP: although the plan explicitly promises to make the NHS a better partner to VCFSE organisations, it also focuses on VCFSE delivery and co-delivery rather than positioning our sector as a strategic partner. The abolition of Healthwatch also raises questions about the presence of a strong, independent patient and community voice within the health and care system.
The local authority is also in a period of change - facing significant financial challenges, Cheshire East Council is in the second year of its Transformation Plan, which has resulted so far in significant changes to both personnel and focus. Reductions in available local authority funding have already affected VCFSE organisations, and we expect this to continue, although there are opportunities through the Enabling Communities strand of the Transformation Plan, which Dan Coyne, Head of Service, Integrated Commissioning - Communities and Integration at the Council, will be speaking about at our upcoming conference. This work is focused on embedding community-approaches, providing early support for all adults and children to lead an ordinary life, and creating healthy neighbourhoods. CVSCE was also involved in the recent Council small grants round, which channelled over £600,000 in funding directly to VCFSE organisations in Cheshire East.
Finally, there is devolution. A Cheshire & Warrington Combined Authority will be set up in early 2026, with a Mayoral Election scheduled for May 2027. The new combined authority will hold significant power and funding devolved from Whitehall, with over £650 million being drawn down over thirty years. Once established, the Combined Authority will have greater control over key areas such as transport, housing, skills, and economic growth, all of which are of interest to the VCFSE sector. CVSCE has been working in close partnership with other local VCFSE infrastructure organisations across Cheshire and Warrington to engage with decision-makers at an early stage, to ensure that the VCFSE sector is embedded as a key partner in the governance of the new Combined Authority. We have secured representation on key working groups and are lobbying for a seat on the Combined Authority Board. We have also co-produced a VCFSE Manifesto for Devolution, outlining the many ways our sector can support the ambitions of the Combined Authority. Devolution offers a number of opportunities due to the powers and funding it draws down, and it will be vital for our sector to have a strong voice within the Combined Authority now and going forward.
In summary - there’s a lot going on! We as a sector need to be cognisant of the wider environment we operate within and be prepared as organisations to respond to the challenges and opportunities that will present themselves. That is why we want to have these conversations face to face at our VCFSE Alliance Conference on 18th November. You’ll hear from system partners in the Council and NHS, as well as VCFSE organisations on topics such as social value, controlling what we can control, and removing barriers to collaboration. Join us in Middlewich: tickets are free, and you can register your attendance here.
