New Policy Spaces: The Impact of Devolution on Third Sector Policy in the UK

Abstract

The development of third sector policy in the UK since 1997 has seen changes which have been of significance both for analysts and practitioners. This period has seen government engagement with and support for the sector extend far beyond the levels found throughout much of the last century. This has led to a growth in the size and scale of the sector and a closer involvement of sector representatives in political debate and policy planning. These changes have taken place at the same time as third sector policy has been devolved to the new administrations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. This article explores the impact of devolution on these policy developments and assesses the extent to which political devolution has led to policy divergence across the four countries in the UK. The conclusion is reached that policy devolution has created important new space for policy development for the third sector across the UK, but that the direction of travel in all four regimes has remained remarkably similar.

Scaling-up or going viral? Comparing self-help housing and community land trust facilitation

“…This reflects a continuing reconfiguration of welfare regimes whereby actors in the private and third sectors are encouraged to become more involved in social welfare delivery, a process especially pronounced in the context of recent fiscal austerity and the state's continued retreat from direct welfare provision (Skelcher, 2000;Fyfe, 2005;Featherstone et al, 2012). Similar trends can be observed not just in England (the main focus of this paper) but in the different jurisdictions of the UK, where various forms of community empowerment, engagement and participation in public life are promoted, albeit with subtle differences in design and implementation and in the labels applied to these activities (for example, 'big society' being an almost exclusively English label) (see Danson andWhittam, 2011 andAlcock, 2012).…”

The Ownership of Assets by Place-Based Community Organisations: Political Rationales, Geographies of Social Impact and Future Research Agendas

“…Finally, it is apparent that despite the observations of Alcock (2012b) that third sector policies in the UK have tended to converge even in the context of devolution; these 'new policy spaces' may in fact create different political trajectories in terms of where and how the contribution of communities is conceived. It seems likely that the experiences, benefits and impacts of community asset owners will not vary simply between neighbourhoods, but also within and between the different jurisdictions of the UK, something which is rarely appreciated in existing research on community assets.…”

“…Given the apparent divergence in policy trajectories in different countries, as well as geographical differences that may emerge within each jurisdiction of the UK as power is devolved and localist reforms are effected, there is a clear need to understand the different spatial contexts in which community asset ownership operates, particularly given the potential for different rationales, histories and trajectories in the acquisition and ownership of assets. Of particular interest and importance is the relationship between community asset owners and civil society with national and local governments, as well as the configuration of their respective institutional and policy spaces in the context of devolution (Alcock, 2012b).…”

An Introduction to the Special Issue – The Big Society, Localism and Housing Policy: Recasting State–Citizen Relations in an Age of Austerity

“…There have however been important policy variances across the four jurisdictions of England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales reflecting the nature of devolved policy-making (Muir 2013;Maclennan and O'Sullivan 2012;Alcock 2012;Paris and Muir 2002). The scale to which powers have been devolved has also varied regionally and nationally, reflecting the extent to which localism is itself a contested concept (Evans et al 2013).…”