Paved with Good Intentions: The Way Ahead for Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise Sector Organisations

Abstract

Clinks is a membership or umbrella organisation that exists to support voluntary sector organisations (VSOs) that work with offenders and their families in England and Wales. Drawing on our extensive knowledge of VSOs working in criminal justice, this chapter explores the sector’s past, current and future role in criminal justice, and the barriers and opportunities that organisations face in the current political and economic climate. It provides a background and historical context to the role of the criminal justice VSOs in England and Wales, noting that, despite the stated intention of successive governments, and numerous policy and structural changes, the full potential of the sector has never been realised owing to patchy and unstable support. It then gives an account of how Clinks was formed in response to these challenges, how infrastructure organisations have helped to shape the sector’s independent voice and what the current threats are to this crucial aspect of the sector’s role.