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VCS Manifesto - March 2026

Ways of working 

  • Commit to supporting the implementation of the VCS Compact – including its stated commitment to the independence of the voluntary and community sector, best practice in community involvement and engagement in service design and better communication. 
  • Value the input of the VCS by ensuring that consultation is timely and that representation is paid for with a Reward & Recognition policy.  
  • Better communication and transparency (you said we did). 

 

Funding 

  • Maintain the level of the grants to voluntary and community groups, including ensuring that the money previously committed to the small grants programme which has not yet been spent (c.£526,000), as well as the underspend in the emergency grants and Mayor’s Community Grants Programme is ringfenced for small groups and distributed before the end of the current grants programme in March 2027. 
  • Maintain the successful advice consortia and work with health partners to continue building links with advice services in GP practices and hospitals.  
  • Ensure that grants and contracts have cost of living increases added.  
  • Ensure that groups and projects led by and for women are well represented in grants1. 
  • Support the VCS in working with the corporate sector in Tower Hamlets to increase financial support for voluntary and community groups.  
  • Ensure transparency about the use of Community Infrastructure Levy and Section 106 funds and ensure that the VCS benefits.  
  • Maintain the funding for the Food Hub. 
  • Ensure that the Reward & recognition policy which has been developed is fully implemented. 

 

Premises 

  • Support fair rents for voluntary and community groups in Tower Hamlets and commit to revise the VCS Premises Policy in genuine partnership with community representatives. 
  • Commit to offering longer-term leases for community portfolio premises. See our Premises page for more details. 
  • Consider the social value of the VCS in setting affordable rent levels. 
  • Work with the VCS to identify properties which can be transferred into VCS use. 

 

Community cohesion 

  • Work with the VCS to maintain the community cohesion in the borough, ensuring a focus on intersectionality, equity and an anti-racist approach.  
  • Work with the equalities networks to ensure that all protected characteristics are represented fully in policy development.  
  • Consider becoming a Borough of Sanctuary. 
  • Work together with community leaders to combat the rise of the far right and its impact on communities specifically.  
  • Support staff and volunteers in voluntary and community groups to feel safe. 

 

What is the VCS Manifesto? 

Voluntary and Community groups in Tower Hamlets are asking for commitments from candidates at the forthcoming local elections. 

Sign up to pledge your support for the manifesto here. These commitments are in four areas, that the Voluntary and Community sector (VCS) has identified as important, and there will be a hustings on:

Tuesday 21 April, 5.30 – 7.00pm at St Margaret’s House (Mulberry Hall) to hear the candidates. 

Who’s signed up? 

    • Voluntary and community groups: Tower Hamlets CVS.
    • Election candidates.

 

 

The Voluntary and Community Sector (VCS) in Tower Hamlets 

The VCS in Tower Hamlets is a mature and vibrant sector made up of charities, Community Interest Companies, faith organisations, social enterprises and community groups. There are more than 1,300 of them, collectively bringing in more than £423 million every year. They are a significant employer in the borough, with over 5,500 employees, 53,000 volunteers and almost 3,000 charity trustees. As an economic block they are important, but even more vital is the social value they bring to the life of the borough. The VCS works across a wide variety of themes including the arts, creative wellbeing, sports, physical health, mental health, young people, the elderly, the eradication of poverty, the environment and community cohesion. The role of the VCS brings communities together and is a voice of peace in which the multi-faith, unifying work of the VCS collectively makes the borough a better and more tolerant place to live.  

The work of the VCS aligns with the shared ambitions of the Tower Hamlets 2036 vision: 

  • People work side by side to improve Tower Hamlets for everyone. 
  • All our babies, children and young people get the best start. 
  • Every adult has the chance to build a good life. 
  • As people grow older, they live well and enjoy life. 
  • Tower Hamlets is a place we’re proud to call home. 

We can only do this together. The VCS already does this work, bringing lived experience, a breadth of expertise and the trust of the community in areas that the council cannot reach, at a fraction of the cost of statutory partners. However it is usually not fully included or aligned with their work. The work of the VCS makes a significant difference to residents and improves outcomes, often in partnership with the local authority but also which complement publicly-funded services, particularly preventative work. This work helps to make Tower Hamlets a stronger, healthier and more vibrant borough.  

 

 

Tower Hamlets CVS supports voluntary and community groups to run their organisations effectively, secure funding to deliver services and to connect and collaborate with each other. We are also an embedded strategic partner in the borough, bridging the space between the voluntary and community sector and statutory and other partners, enabling us to give a voice to the VCS and advocate on their behalf.  Over 400 VCS groups are members.