It is recognised that SCAA is faced with a changing and potentially hostile environment in which VSOs are finding it increasingly hard to survive. The following external trends analysis seeks to identify some of the trends which will have an impact upon the success of the project.

External Trends

• Massive cuts in public funds available to the voluntary, arts and community sectors;
• Increase in competition for trust and grant-aid;
• Rising unemployment from the public sector outstripping rising employment in the private sector;
• Increase in competition for job vacancies;
• Increase in political pressure for all sectors to increase efficiency, amalgamate services, cut costs and find new ways to deliver services;
• Political pressure on the public sector to out-source service delivery to the private and voluntary and community sectors;
• Public sector moving from grants based funding to contracts and commissioning funding model;
• The localism agenda and proposed reforms by central government to divest decision making to a more localised model, with increased local influence in decision making;
• Big society message encouraging people to take on voluntary roles.

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