Power of Small project report

The Power of Small project’s recommendations for local authorities, government departments, NHS and other public sector partners.

Smalls play a vital role across local, national and international contexts, yet they are frequently excluded from policy making processes that shape the funding, commissioning and regulatory environments in which they operate.

Many decisions continue to be made without adequate consultation and partnership with the small voluntary sector, despite the essential services and grassroots insight these organisations provide. The Power of Small project reinforces the importance of ensuring that Smalls have a permanent and meaningful role in these processes.

Building on existing work, such as the Local Government Association and NAVCA’s joint Good Practice Guide, strong partnerships between local infrastructure organisations, local authorities and smaller voluntary, community and social enterprises are crucial to bridging this gap.

These partnerships support a collaborative approach to community-led service design and strengthen the collective voice of the small charity sector.

As highlighted in Sheffield Hallam University’s Connecting Locally report, local infrastructure plays a key role in facilitating these connections and ensuring that small organisations have the capacity and confidence to engage.

To move this forward, national infrastructure bodies and policy makers should avoid duplicating efforts and instead build on existing local mechanisms and expertise.

National organisations can support by championing inclusive practice and ensuring that Smalls are not treated as an afterthought in strategic discussions.

Future progress will depend on strengthening these channels and committing to systemic, inclusive co-design of policy and funding structures.

Public sector commissioning processes are often overly complex and inaccessible to Smalls, favouring larger organisations with greater administrative capacity and economics of scale.

As the operating environment worsens with rising demand, inflationary pressures and a funding squeeze, these systemic barriers are becoming even more damaging. Smalls are increasingly missing out on vital funding or being pushed into subcontracting arrangements that offer little financial security or influence.

In a context where the sector is already under strain, continuing with business-as-usual risks further marginalising the very organisations that communities rely on most.

Statutory bodies must urgently simplify procurement processes and lower access barriers to ensure Smalls can participate meaningfully and sustainably in public service delivery.

Local infrastructure organisations (such as councils for voluntary service, volunteer centres and rural community councils) play a critical role in supporting Smalls with governance, training, funding advice and networking.

However, many of these bodies lack sustainable funding and have faced significant budget cuts. Without strong infrastructure, Smalls struggle to survive. Statutory bodies should invest in infrastructure organisations to ensure Smalls receive the support they need.

It is also important to reflect that infrastructure bodies themselves are often ‘small’ with incomes of less than £1m per annum and may experience similar constraints and impacts to those organisations they are supporting.

Smalls in rural and economically deprived areas face additional challenges, including limited access to funding, weaker infrastructure support and poor digital connectivity.

Many public funding programmes and digital initiatives are disproportionately focused on large charities or urban centres, leaving Smalls in peripheral regions under-resourced.

Statutory bodies should take action to close these gaps and ensure regional equity.

The Power of Small project revealed that Smalls are too often treated as peripheral actors in cross-sector collaborations – despite their vital contributions in areas like mental health, community care, crisis response and early intervention.

Testing and stakeholder feedback repeatedly pointed to the need for more equitable relationships between statutory bodies and Smalls, with genuine opportunities to co-design services, rather than simply delivering them under contract.

For collaboration to be meaningful, Smalls must be seen not just as service providers, but as strategic partners with deep community or cause-specific insight. This will require deliberate changes to how partnerships are initiated, structured and sustained, particularly at the local level.