Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise (VCSE)

The Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise (VCSE) sector is a fundamental part of our Integrated Care System. The NHS England Integrated Care Systems: design framework describes VCSE integration as follows:

“The VCSE sector is a vital cornerstone of a progressive health and care system. ICSs should ensure their governance and decision-making arrangements support close working with the sector as a strategic partner in shaping, improving and delivering services and developing and delivering plans to tackle the wider determinants of health.

VCSE partnership should be embedded as an essential part of how the system operates at all levels. This will include involving the sector in governance structures and system workforce, population health management and service redesign work, leadership and organisational development plans.”

There are around 8,000 VCSE organisations across Bristol, North Somerset, and South Gloucestershire. They range from small volunteer-led groups to large national charities that employ many people, social enterprises like community cafés, campaigning organisations supporting marginalised groups, and organisations helping people in crisis.

The VCSE offer to Healthier Together focuses on addressing wider health factors, secondary prevention in communities, reaching excluded groups and providing insight and voices from those communities.

In our collaboration with the VCSE sector across Bristol, North Somerset, and South Gloucestershire, we are building on existing collaborations, such as hospital discharge and social prescribing. We also address challenges, including different approaches to scale, governance, evidence/data and culture.

Our approach includes investment and support for the Bristol, North Somerset, and South Gloucestershire VCSE Alliance, co-designing the new VCSE Brokerage Framework and the Healthier Together VCSE Integration Strategy, which will progress from Spring 2025.

Definition of VCSE

The Bristol, North Somerset, and South Gloucestershire VCSE Alliance has decided that the standard term for the sector is VCSE: Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise.  In addition, the VCSE Alliance uses this definition to describe the VCSE sector:

VCSE means a Voluntary, Community or Social Enterprise organisation that serves the community. VCSE organisations have common features as follows:

• Beneficial and accountable to the community: They have social objectives to benefit the community and are accountable to the community.  Formal: They have a formal and recognisable structure described in a constitution or a formal set of rules. They are registered with the relevant register or regulator.
• Non-profit making: They do not distribute profits to owners or directors but reinvest them in the sustainability of the organisation or use them for the benefit of the community.
• Self-governing: They are truly independent in determining their own course, with at least three trustees or directors or management committee members (who are not related to each other and are not paid shareholders) and a bank account in their own name.
• Independent: They are separate from the state and private sector.
• Supported through volunteering and embracing community action: They involve a meaningful degree of voluntary participation through having, for example, a trustee board/committee and volunteers .
• Non-party political.

VCSE organisations may have several structures or forms, one of which must be in place for an organisation to join the VCSE Brokerage Framework.

• Charitable Incorporated Organisation
• Community Benefit or Industrial Provident Society
• Community business (company limited by shares*)
• Community Interest Company limited by guarantee
• Community Interest Company limited by shares (Schedule 2 with 100% asset lock only)
• Company limited by guarantee
• Registered charity
• Unincorporated association

* It is recognised that a community business with a clear community purpose and benefits may be a company limited by shares.

This definition is based on the following sources: National Community Lottery Fund, Bristol Impact Fund, NCVO, Quartet Community Foundation, Power to Change and Co-operatives UK.