The unsung army.

 Up and down the land there are thousands of individuals who are directors, trustees, governors, treasurers or secretaries of voluntary organisations.  All are unpaid, yet have major legal responsibilities for the organisations they administer, in some cases even standing to lose their personal assets should things go awry.  Many serve 'below the radar', receiving  little or no recognition for the work they do. Without them the voluntary sector would collapse.  They are an unsung army,  planning, organising, maintaining and monitoring services not provided by the statutory sector.  (In some instances, such as school governors, they are part of statute-based organisations. Some voluntary organisations are commissioned to undertake work on behalf of the statutory sector.)  Think of them who are responsible for sports clubs, foodbanks, lunch clubs, homelessness  charities, mental health charities, community groups, arts organisations, church councils to mention just a few.  

My focus is on the voluntary sector's engagement in issues of poverty, discrimination, marginalisation and exclusion, particularly in areas of multiple deprivation.

 At the outset I wish to point out the dangers of cultural appropriation whether in terms of ethnicity or class.    The UK is a multi-ethnic society and also one of rampant class distinction. Generalisations are easily made, but they do not reflect the mosaic, inter-connectedness and differences within society.  It is impossible to pin down a precise definition of working class, lower middle class, upper middle class and so forth.  We attach meaningless labels to individuals and groups.  

So, what is an area of multiple deprivation in England?  The country is divided into what are known as Lower-layer Super Output Areas (LSOA) and typically cover an area of between 400-1,200 households equating to between 1,000 and 3,000 residents.  The Indices of Deprivation applied to each area cover seven factors:

Income, Employment, Skills & Training, Health & Disability, Barriers to Housing and Services, Living Environment.  

LSOA's enable statutory and voluntary organisations to identify areas of need. They are not fool-proof, as very small pockets of deprivation in urban and especially rural areas may not be identified.

For faith groups and secular voluntary bodies wishing to engage in support for individuals in areas of multiple deprivation SLOA's provide an excellent basis for understanding the problems of an area and what services should be targeted towards them.  Foodbanks, lunch clubs, soup kitchens, clothes banks, advice, and so forth can be directed to areas of need.  However such provision is a mere palliative.  The real need is for faith and secular organisations to foster community engagement, for the people of an area to be encouraged to demand systemic change to policies affecting the deprivation scores in their area.  Whilst many of the necessary changes require decisions by central government nevertheless local government and health trusts have it within their power to redistribute funding to improve conditions in specific local areas.  Such changes do not have to be expensive.  Small gains can have significant impact.