East Sussex Compact – public, voluntary and community groups working together

The East Sussex Compact is an agreement between the public sector and voluntary and community sector about how they work with each other.

A wide range of people from both sectors helped develop it, including representatives from councils, health services, charities, and voluntary and community groups.

The East Sussex Compact has been in place since 2003 and it is reviewed annually. Find out more about the reviews since 2006 below.

Renewed East Sussex Compact

During 2011 the East Sussex Compact was revised and streamlined, following changes made nationally in 2010. It contains:

  • Overview
    Covering the aims of the Compact, scrutiny, resolution of disagreements and how to sign up.
  • Codes of Practice introduction
    Briefly outlining the aims of each Code of Practice.
  • Six Codes of Practice and Checklists
    • Funding and procurement
    • Consultation and community engagement
    • Volunteering
    • Community groups
    • Partnerships
    • Equality and diversity.

See the current Compact on the East Sussex Strategic Partnership website.

The strategy and action plan below explain more about how the Compact was developed.

Have you signed up?

All voluntary, community and statutory sector organisations in East Sussex are encouraged to sign up to the Compact. A list of signatories is on the East Sussex Strategic Partnership website.

If you belong to an East Sussex organisation that hasn't signed up yet and you would like to do so, please contact us about the Compact.

Reviewing the Compact

Annual reviews

Scrutiny review

We reviewed how we work with voluntary and community groups and the review board reported in March 2008. Read their findings and recommendations:

How we contribute to the Compact

One example of our role is the Commissioning Grants Prospectus. This is how the County Council and local NHS provide funding to voluntary and community organisations to improve the health, social care and well-being of local people.

The Prospectus was developed in line with the overall aims of the Compact. We consulted users of services, carers and the voluntary sector about providing services and how organisations could be involved. Service users and carers also help evaluate bids, and local organisations contributed to the independent evaluation of the Prospectus.

NAVCA (National Association for Voluntary and Community Action) have written a case study showing how the Commissioning Grants Prospectus is a good example of social value.

For more information, see: