Future support for the voluntary and community sector

Feedback updated 7 Oct 2026

We asked

This survey focused on future support for the voluntary and community sector (VCS) exploring stakeholders' views on some key areas:

  • Reducing the size of the Voluntary Support Sector Fund (VSSF), which provides unrestricted core funding to the sector to help with running costs of their organisations.
  • Making VCS property arrangements more consistent, including by reducing the amount of property costs we are subsidising for the sector, for example tenants taking on responsibilities for property costs, including rent and repairs.

The survey received 55 responses.

You said

Voluntary Sector Support Fund (VSSF)

The majority of respondents (85 per cent) stated that the Council should be still providing core funding and the outcomes that should be prioritised the most are community focused: Residents are able to access support that helps mitigate the impact of deprivation and disadvantage (87 per cent) and Residents benefit from a stable and effective voluntary and community sector (82 per cent).

When asked about priorities in the application process, the response was community focused, as over half of respondents (60 per cent) indicated: Those working to reduce the effects of deprivation.

Finally, 80 per cent of respondents would rather the reduction due to go live in April 2027 was staggered over three years.

VCS Property Review

  • When asked what would make the Council’s property arrangements with VCS fairer and more consistent, 76 per cent of respondents chose implement a transparent and fair process for allocating property and benefits such as rent discounts followed by 'set out agreed service standards and expectations for both tenants and the Council' with 53 per cent.
  • Almost half (49 per cent) of respondents either agreed (36 per cent) or strongly agreed (13 per cent) that the proposed property terms look reasonable and almost half of respondents (49 per cent) felt that voluntary and community sector organisations using Council property should pay their share of bills, utilities and rates.
  • In regards to additional support and guidance the organisations could benefit from, 58 per cent combined opted for: additional property management training (31 per cent) and on-site training (27 per cent).

We did

Voluntary Sector Support Fund (VSSF):

  • We are keeping the VSSF a core costs grants programme supporting the backbone of organisations' operations so they can do their best delivering for our residents.
  • Around 85 per cent of the programme budget will go to organisations that deliver services directly to residents.
  • For each of the three years of funding £150,000 will be ringfenced for smaller organisations (Small Grants Fund). That's £25,000 per year for three years for six small organisations.
  • Funding reductions will be staggered year-on-year, except for Small Grants Fund holders who will receive £25,000 per year for three years.
  • We will fund organisations that do the most to reduce the effects of deprivation in the borough, and do the most for those residents with the greatest needs.
  • We will be asking all applicants to demonstrate how they will mitigate the impact of deprivation and disadvantage in the borough, and this will be reinforced in grant funding agreements and through monitoring visits.

Voluntary Community Sector (VCS):

The feedback from this survey, in addition to further engagement with stakeholders, will be used to influence the development of the Voluntary and Community Sector Leasing Policy which is still being developed.

Results updated 6 Oct 2026

Files:

Closed 8 Dec 2025

Opened 27 Oct 2025

Contact

voluntarysector@rbkc.gov.uk

Overview

The Council is facing the biggest financial challenge it has ever faced over the next few years.

Currently, between now and 2030 we are expecting to lose £82m of funding from Government which represents 40 per cent of our controllable spend. This is due to the Government’s Fairer Funding Review, where they are looking to move funding out of London to the areas of greatest deprivation across the country. When you include broader pressures in terms of inflation and increasing costs in Children’s, Adults and Temporary Accommodation, we need to make nearly £130m of savings by 2030.

The final outcome of this review is not expected until Christmas and while things may change as a result of our collective lobbying with other London councils, we need to start looking at what will have to change to balance the budget going forward.

We are looking at all our spend and our priority is to protect our statutory services, be as efficient as we can be, and ensure the most vulnerable get the support they need. But this still means almost all of our services will need to change in some way or other in the coming years.

The support we provide to the Voluntary and Community Sector (VCS) will have to be reviewed as part of this. One of the great strengths of this borough is its thriving VCS sector so we know changes here will be difficult and we would prefer not to have look here but the financial outlook leaves us with no option.

Currently we commission lots of services, projects and activities from the sector, as well as providing core funding to some organisations through the Voluntary Sector Support Fund. We also provide a range of financial support to the sector from a property perspective, with some organisations receiving discounted rent, support with bills, and/or access to repairs services.

We want to do whatever we can to try and ensure residents’ needs are still able to be supported, and so we are considering to look first for savings by reducing the Voluntary Sector Support Fund and adopting a fairer more consistent approach to the responsibilities VCS organisations have when using Council buildings.

Why your views matter

We know the impact of these changes will be significant so we are starting conversations now before proposed changes to the Voluntary Sector Support Fund come in from April 2027 and the outcome of the Voluntary and Community Sector Property Review, which will be phased over several years. We hope this will help ensure the Sector has time to feed into the process and prepare for the changes. 

Please note: this consultation is aimed to gather feedback from Voluntary and Community Sector organisations, while residents will be engaged separately.

Areas

  • All Areas

Interests

  • Communities
  • Community Engagement
  • Consultations
  • Finance and Budgets