Big Society

To judge from a rash of recent announcements, the Big Society/localism juggernaut has shuddered into life. Not only that, but it is already trundling down the highway, with some crashing of gears, at a stately pace. The Department for Communities and Local Government has just launched its first 17 pilots for neighbourhood planning, and an extension to the Communitybuilders Fund for social enterprises has been announced.

According to the Government, in these times of austerity people will need to be prepared to help each other more. Family, friends, acquaintances and community organisations are an important way of finding and providing that help and mutual support. The Big Society and the 'Big Lunch' all aim to bring people together. But will 'social networks' help people cope with or move out of poverty? Is the power of social networks being overstated?

Last week’s flurry of media stories on Big Society focused on government cuts and the media consensus seemed to be that the Big Society project, like an unstable mine, was about to collapse into a huge hole created by the withdrawal of funding. This blog draws attention to the possible impact on the community or neighbourhood sector that supports many thousands of volunteers. JRF has long championed this sector, and is currently studying Bradford’s neighbourhood work, as part of our Bradford programme.

Generating energy gives you power in more ways than one. Communities that have gained control of their electricity supply have been able to bring in income and reinvest it according to their own priorities.

They begin to move from dependence to interdependence. Revenue from community-owned energy projects gets invested for the common good.

The government's vision for adult social care in England has just been published, a week after the launch of the partnership strategy Think Personal, Act Local.

Arriving at London’s Royal Horticultural Halls for the second of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation’s series of seminars on community assets, the name card at the top table suggested we might be in for a visit from the Prime Minister.

Now the waiting and speculation are over. We know the big numbers, and can see the results of negotiations and bitter battles. For JRF there is only one question to ask: what does this do to people and places in poverty? Working through the detail and understanding the implications will occupy us in the weeks and months ahead, but, reviewing this major spending review, the picture does not look good.

In recent years older people have been particularly affected by rising energy and food prices, as well as reduced income from savings. As retirement means they have less opportunity to increase their income through paid work, their financial well-being can depend on levels of state provision of pension and welfare benefits and services.

A prominent notion in the Big Society firmament of ideas is that of government moving aside and letting ordinary people get on with it. On the face of it, a clear and attractive enough idea. Or is it? Is real life really that simple? Will snipping the odd bit of red tape here and removing the occasional obstructive apparatchik there really make that much difference? Why not try out the idea on a notion close to JRF’s warmly throbbing heart: fairness for poorer neighbourhoods?

We already know that, for deprived communities, recession bites deeper and lasts longer. And we also know that about 5% of poor communities – come boom or bust – never manage to fight free of recession. At the time of writing, cuts are being reported from deprived neighbourhoods, not just of mainstream services but also of schemes delivered via voluntary organisations – keep fit, healthy eating – that might be expected to help such communities weather a recession.