Impact Highlights
2024 - 2026
This report outlines the partnership working between the VCSE Alliance and the NHS, through South East London Integrated Care Board, what this enabled in practice, and the priorities we will be focusing on next.
Over the past two years, the South East London Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise (VCSE) Strategic Alliance has been working in partnership with the NHS, through the South East London Integrated Care Board (SEL ICB) to reshape how the NHS partners with the VCSE sector, building a strategic partnership that strengthens prevention, health creation and equity across south east London by championing relational, strategic and agile ways of working together.
At the heart of this work is a shift in relationships and power: supporting the NHS in south east London to move from transactional, ad hoc engagement towards trusted, ongoing and more equitable partnership with the VCSE sector – especially alongside By and For and grassroots organisations – recognising the sector’s key role in tackling inequalities and enabling communities to stay well, happy and connected.
This relational infrastructure between the VCSE sector and the NHS enables more intentional, collaborative and equitable cross-sector ways of working across south east London. As this is upstream, multi-faceted work, impact is cumulative and rippled; the impact of our partnership working is seen most clearly in what it enables – stronger cross‑system collaboration and connectivity, clearer structures for shared decision‑making, and embedded community‑led approaches with a strong and diverse VCSE ecosystem at the heart of it all.
One of the key drivers of this work has been the unwavering commitment of SEL ICB leadership to sustainable and equitable partnering with the VCSE sector. The Alliance would like to particularly thank Andrew Bland (CEO, SEL ICB) and Richard Douglas (Chair, SEL ICB), who have been instrumental in championing this approach and creating the conditions for it to take root and evolve. This has enabled us to do first-of-its-kind, truly ground-breaking work together.
At the heart of this work is a shift in relationships and power: supporting the NHS in south east London to move from transactional, ad hoc engagement towards trusted, ongoing and more equitable partnership with the VCSE sector – especially alongside By and For and grassroots organisations – recognising the sector’s key role in tackling inequalities and enabling communities to stay well, happy and connected.
This relational infrastructure between the VCSE sector and the NHS enables more intentional, collaborative and equitable cross-sector ways of working across south east London. As this is upstream, multi-faceted work, impact is cumulative and rippled; the impact of our partnership working is seen most clearly in what it enables – stronger cross‑system collaboration and connectivity, clearer structures for shared decision‑making, and embedded community‑led approaches with a strong and diverse VCSE ecosystem at the heart of it all.
One of the key drivers of this work has been the unwavering commitment of SEL ICB leadership to sustainable and equitable partnering with the VCSE sector. The Alliance would like to particularly thank Andrew Bland (CEO, SEL ICB) and Richard Douglas (Chair, SEL ICB), who have been instrumental in championing this approach and creating the conditions for it to take root and evolve. This has enabled us to do first-of-its-kind, truly ground-breaking work together.
Our impact at a glance
NHS investment over the last two years in VCSE partnership has enabled:
400+
Grassroots organisations accessing capacity-building and sustainability support
£3.7M
Total funding to enable VCSE delivery and strategic partnership across our health and care system
£315K
Invested in widening opportunities and increasing participation in health and care workforce and volunteering
£2.4M
Distributed in small grants and capacity-building to By and For and grassroots orgs
600+
VCSE leaders and statutory partners connected via the Alliance’s community
46
VCSE organisations now in long-term partnership with the healthcare system
$
199
Title
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit.
Alliance reach and connectivity
Connecting and influencing change
The Alliance connects thinking and doing across neighbourhood, place, system, regional and national levels - embedding ongoing relationships rather than one-off inputs. Each level both shapes and is shaped by the others, with consistent VCSE Alliance leadership throughout. This ensures development and provision remains grounded in communities and shaped by VCSE insight and leadership.
Diagram showing how VCSE leadership connects from neighbourhood to national level, with roles and responsibilities at each stage and a continuous flow of learning between levels.
What has changed
Equitable working with VCSE partners across SEL - more strategic, more inclusive, more sustained
Transactional interactions
Limited inclusion
Fragmented routes
Ad hoc engagement
Siloed initiatives
From transactional engagement to strategic partnership
We have moved away from one‑off extractive interactions to creating a regular dialogue between VCSE and healthcare leaders, building cross-sector trusted relationships and ongoing partnership working
Clearer structures for shared leadership
We have created clearer routes for VCSE representation and influence across SEL by embedding stronger VCSE leadership within SEL ICB, Place, NHS Trust and Integrator governance and strategic spaces, enabling genuine co-creation of priorities and shared decision-making
By and For organisations more meaningfully included
We have invested in dedicated skills and capacity-building support for By and For grassroots VCSEs, increasing their visibility, influence and system leadership opportunities. While also supporting our healthcare system to better partner with a wider range of By and For, and grassroots VCSE organisations.
Better resourced VCSE sector with stronger infrastructure
We have strengthened the VCSE ecosystem across SEL by enabling better sharing of NHS infrastructure with the sector, supporting Alliance and VCSE networks development, securing investment and increasing the sector’s skills and capacity to engage strategically with statutory partners
More connected learning and collaboration across south east London
We have enabled stronger learning, relationships and approaches to be shared more systematically across boroughs, strengthening collective impact
South East London VCSE Charter
Our shared blueprint for building strategic-relational infrastructure
All of our work is grounded in the SEL VCSE Charter - a framework co-developed by the VCSE sector and the NHS, that sets out our approach for working together. It provides the foundation for trusted, equitable partnerships that strengthen collaboration, champion diversity and enable community‑led prevention and health creation to grow across south east London.
Collaborations and projects
By and For Capacity Building
Strengthening the VCSE ecosystem at the heart of neighbourhood health and health creation.
By and For Capacity Building
Strengthening the VCSE ecosystem at the heart of neighbourhood health and health creation
This work plays a vital role in strengthening the hyper-local VCSE ecosystem that underpins neighbourhood health across south east London. Support for grassroots organisations combines dedicated local capacity - such as grassroots development officers providing hands-on support and brokerage - with aligned small grants that help groups sustain core activity or test new ideas. Over the past two years, investment in By and For and grassroots organisations has built the capacity, connectivity and diversity needed for community-ledprevention and health creation to grow within local communities.
Relationships changing: From transactional extractive interactions to more trust-based, relational investment and local connectivity
Who is more included: By and For and grassroots VCSEs and the communitiesthey are embedded within
Where: Place and neighbourhood
What enabled this: Accessible funding routes, targeted capacity and skills building, partnership support and sharing of learnings
Relationships changing: From transactional extractive interactions to more trust-based, relational investment and local connectivity
Who is more included: By and For and grassroots VCSEs and the communitiesthey are embedded within
Where: Place and neighbourhood
What enabled this: Accessible funding routes, targeted capacity and skills building, partnership support and sharing of learnings
SEL VCSE Charter commitments:
600+
By and For and grassroots organisations identified and connected into local networks
400+
By and For micro
VCSEs supported
VCSEs supported
100k
people from under-served groups benefiting from enhanced community-led support
£1m+
additional funding awarded to By and For and grassroots organisations
Exercise for Everyone is a community-based group inBromley that provides inclusive, accessible physical activity sessions designed to support health,wellbeing and social connection for local residents.
Challenge: Leadership changes and limited capacity made it difficult to run the organisation and access suitable funding. Provision was at risk ofstoping as a result.
What the Alliance enabled: Support to rebuild governance, recruitment of two new Directors, and introduce clearer structure and ways of working
What changed: The organisation now has stronger leadership, meets funding criteria, is working towards a clear growth plan and provision is better sustained
Challenge: Leadership changes and limited capacity made it difficult to run the organisation and access suitable funding. Provision was at risk ofstoping as a result.
What the Alliance enabled: Support to rebuild governance, recruitment of two new Directors, and introduce clearer structure and ways of working
What changed: The organisation now has stronger leadership, meets funding criteria, is working towards a clear growth plan and provision is better sustained
What this work enabled
Numbers
Case Study
This work plays a vital role in strengthening the hyper-local VCSE ecosystem that underpins neighbourhood health across SEL. We now provide specialist one-to-one, hands-on support for micro VCSEs across SEL through dedicated grassroots development officers, alongside a small grants programme that helps groups sustain core activity or test new ideas. Over the past two years, NHS investment via SEL ICB and Alliance leadership has enabled us to build the capacity, connectivity and diversity needed for community-led prevention, and allow health creation to grow within local communities.
Relationships changing: From transactional, extractive interactions to more trust-based, relational investment and local connectivity
Who is more included: By and For and grassroots VCSEs and the communities they are embedded within
Where: Place and Neighbourhood
What enabled this: Accessible and proportionate funding routes, targeted capacity and skills building, partnership support and sharing of learnings
Relationships changing: From transactional, extractive interactions to more trust-based, relational investment and local connectivity
Who is more included: By and For and grassroots VCSEs and the communities they are embedded within
Where: Place and Neighbourhood
What enabled this: Accessible and proportionate funding routes, targeted capacity and skills building, partnership support and sharing of learnings
SEL VCSE Charter commitments:
600+
By and For and grassroots organisations identified and connected into local networks
400+
By and For micro
VCSEs supported
VCSEs supported
100K
people from under-served groups benefiting from enhanced community-led support
£1M+
additional funding awarded to By and For and grassroots organisations
Exercise for Everyone is a community-based group in Bromley that provides inclusive, accessible physical activity sessions designed to support health, wellbeing and social connection for local people who are most marginalised and experience the worst health outcomes.
Challenge: Leadership changes and limited capacity made it difficult to run the organisation and access suitable funding. Provision was at risk of stopping as a result.
What the work enabled: Support to rebuild governance, recruitment of two new Directors, and introduction clearer structure and ways of working.
What changed: The organisation now has stronger leadership, meets funding criteria, is working towards a clear growth plan and provision is better sustained.
Challenge: Leadership changes and limited capacity made it difficult to run the organisation and access suitable funding. Provision was at risk of stopping as a result.
What the work enabled: Support to rebuild governance, recruitment of two new Directors, and introduction clearer structure and ways of working.
What changed: The organisation now has stronger leadership, meets funding criteria, is working towards a clear growth plan and provision is better sustained.
Trust and Health Creation Partnership
Making visible how trust and relationships enable health creation.
Trust and Health Creation Partnership
Making visible how trust and relationships enable health creation.
What this work enabled
Case Study
This partnership is helping SEL ICB define the relational foundations that underpin effective community-led health creation. Bringing together By and For VCSE organisations and NHS prevention leads, the partnership is developing shared ways to understand, evidence and value trust-building with communities, which will then be embedded at the heart of the NHS’s commissioning and evaluation approaches in south east London.
Relationships changing: From consultation to deeper, trust-based partnership
Who is more included: By and For VCSEs and communities facing the greatest inequalities
Where: System, Place and Neighbourhood
What enabled this: Co-creation, shared learning, longer-term funding and new approaches that centre community experience - shifting from top-down frameworks to evidencing trust and health creation from the ground up
Relationships changing: From consultation to deeper, trust-based partnership
Who is more included: By and For VCSEs and communities facing the greatest inequalities
Where: System, Place and Neighbourhood
What enabled this: Co-creation, shared learning, longer-term funding and new approaches that centre community experience - shifting from top-down frameworks to evidencing trust and health creation from the ground up
SEL VCSE Charter commitments:
Co-created impact tool
A first-of-its-kind approach to making the impact of trust building with communities visible in health and care
Challenge: The impact of trust‑building and holding with communities, which is at the heart of grassroots VCSEs work, is often hard to evidence, as relational work does not fit easily into traditional outcomes and evaluation frameworks, despite being central to community‑led prevention. Additionally, grassroots VCSEs often do not have the capacity and tools to effectively capture and demonstrate their impact.
What the work enabled: Long-term collaborative work to co-develop key ‘trust indicators’ and develop shared ways to understand and capture this impact in practice.
What changed: A London-wide digital tool is being developed to support VCSE organisations - particularly grassroots groups - to capture and articulate their impact more clearly, making the role of trust more visible. The London tool is expected to be live from spring 2027.
.png)
VCSE Strategic Leads
Embedding VCSE leadership within NHS Trusts to shape system change from within.
VCSE Strategic Leads
Embedding VCSE leadership within NHS Trusts to shape system change from within.
What this work enabled
Case Study
This work is pioneering a first-of-its-kind model of partnership between NHS Trusts and the VCSE sector. We have worked with our local NHS Trusts to embed VCSE leadership into the heart of their strategic structures, changing not just who is involved in decision-making, but how decisions are made. By bringing community insight and VCSE expertise directly into NHS Trusts, we are enabling earlier, more inclusive shared decision-making, and strengthening Trusts’ ability to respond to lived experience, tackle inequalities and work in genuine partnership with local VCSE sector.
Relationships changing: From sporadic engagement to embedded partnership at leadership level
Who is more included: More diverse VCSE leaders in strategic decision-making
Where: System (Trust level)
What enabled this: Funded dedicated roles, relationship-building and strengthened connections into VCSE networks
Relationships changing: From sporadic engagement to embedded partnership at leadership level
Who is more included: More diverse VCSE leaders in strategic decision-making
Where: System (Trust level)
What enabled this: Funded dedicated roles, relationship-building and strengthened connections into VCSE networks
SEL VCSE Charter commitments:
King's College Hospital and local communities
Creating genuine conversations between NHS trust and its local communities
Challenge: King’s was looking to gain deep insight into how different communities experience its services and what would make its care more culturally responsive and accessible. However, King’s did not have the reach and relationships of trust with local communities to enable such conversations to take place.
What the work enabled: Acted as a ‘trusted bridge’ into local VCSE and faith-based networks, and co-designed engagement sessions that were culturally appropriate, relationship-led and focused on listening.
What changed: King’s heard from more diverse voices, gained richer insight and built new partnerships with local people and communities to shape and deliver its emerging strategy.
What the work enabled: Acted as a ‘trusted bridge’ into local VCSE and faith-based networks, and co-designed engagement sessions that were culturally appropriate, relationship-led and focused on listening.
What changed: King’s heard from more diverse voices, gained richer insight and built new partnerships with local people and communities to shape and deliver its emerging strategy.
Strengthening Workforce
Building more inclusive workforce pathways through community leadership
Strengthening Workforce
Building more inclusive workforce pathways through community leadership
What this work enabled
Case study
This work is supporting a shift towards more inclusive and representative community-connected workforce models. By working with VCSE organisations, the SEL ICB Workforce team and NHS Trust Volunteer Leads to widen participation in the health and care workforce and strengthen volunteering structures across SEL, it helps understand and tackle key workforce issues, and create a health and care workforce ecosystem and pathways that better represent and respond to the communities they serve.
Relationships changing: How we understand our workforce is more cross-sector and incorporates VCSE sector
Who is more included: People most under-represented in health and care workforce and volunteering
Where: System and Place
What enabled this: Partnership, alignment and community-based pathways
Relationships changing: How we understand our workforce is more cross-sector and incorporates VCSE sector
Who is more included: People most under-represented in health and care workforce and volunteering
Where: System and Place
What enabled this: Partnership, alignment and community-based pathways
SEL VCSE Charter commitments:
Volunteering for Health
Creating a single, more inclusive volunteering offer across SEL
Challenge: Volunteering in and around the health and care system is fragmented, with limited links between Trust‑based roles and VCSE-led volunteering, making it hard for local people – especially those under‑represented in the workforce – to navigate opportunities.
What the work enabled: The Alliance brought together NHS Trusts, NHS charities, VCSE volunteer centres and the ICB Workforce team to co‑design a single south east London volunteering offer and pathway, rooted in community‑based partners.
What changed: Partners are now working as one system to create a streamlined route into volunteering that better connects community and NHS roles, increases diversity among volunteers, and strengthens volunteering as a pathway into employment and wellbeing.
What the work enabled: The Alliance brought together NHS Trusts, NHS charities, VCSE volunteer centres and the ICB Workforce team to co‑design a single south east London volunteering offer and pathway, rooted in community‑based partners.
What changed: Partners are now working as one system to create a streamlined route into volunteering that better connects community and NHS roles, increases diversity among volunteers, and strengthens volunteering as a pathway into employment and wellbeing.
Widening participation and increasing equity
Opening up NHS careers to under-represented communities
Challenge: People from communities most affected by health inequalities face systemic barriers and a lack of tailored support when trying to access jobs in the local health and care system.
What the work enabled: The Alliance connected specialist By and For VCSE organisations and their communities with NHS Trusts and the ICB workforce team to surface barriers, co‑design solutions and create supported pathways into NHS roles.
What changed: The ICB and providers are now actively working with community partners to remove access barriers, test new approaches to recruitment and in-job support, and begin building a more diverse, representative local workforce.
What the work enabled: The Alliance connected specialist By and For VCSE organisations and their communities with NHS Trusts and the ICB workforce team to surface barriers, co‑design solutions and create supported pathways into NHS roles.
What changed: The ICB and providers are now actively working with community partners to remove access barriers, test new approaches to recruitment and in-job support, and begin building a more diverse, representative local workforce.
Access to NHS Spaces
Opening up NHS spaces for community‑led health and wellbeing
Access to NHS Spaces
Opening up NHS spaces for community‑led health and wellbeing
What this work enables
Case study
This collaborative work with the NHS, through the SEL ICB Estates team, enabled free access to NHS estates across south east London for community-embedded and By and For VCSEs to deliver their services from. This was thanks to SEL ICB absorbing the cost of space hire. Through this we strengthen localised VCSE service delivery and ensure greater social value and social capital is generated from our NHS estates. By removing one of the biggest practical barriers for VCSEs - safe and affordable spaces to operate from - it supports a more localised provision where prevention and support can happen in accessible, community-based trusted environments.
Relationships changing: ICB Estates leads, VCSEs and local communities working as partners
Who is more included: Local VCSEs previously unable to access suitable spaces to deliver services from, and local communities which are able to access more locally-based support
Where: Neighbourhood and Place
What enabled this: Brokerage, ICB innovation around use of Void spaces and simplifying access routes
Relationships changing: ICB Estates leads, VCSEs and local communities working as partners
Who is more included: Local VCSEs previously unable to access suitable spaces to deliver services from, and local communities which are able to access more locally-based support
Where: Neighbourhood and Place
What enabled this: Brokerage, ICB innovation around use of Void spaces and simplifying access routes
SEL VCSE Charter commitments:
The Waldron Centre, Lewisham
An accessible health hub bringing together local communities, health and care, and voluntary sector organisations
Challenge: Community organisations often face barriers accessing suitable, affordable space to deliver services, limiting opportunities for joined-up preventative support locally.
What the Alliance enabled: Partnership working between NHS Estates teams, the local PCN and VCSE organisations helped identify additional capacity within the Centre, increasing community space and strengthening connections between the Centre, local infrastructure organisations and the wider VCSE sector.
What has changed: More community organisations can access space within the Waldron Centre, with clearer pathways between local infrastructure organisations, Lewisham Local and LBVN, and the Centre's community navigators, helping residents access a wider range of support and activities.
What the Alliance enabled: Partnership working between NHS Estates teams, the local PCN and VCSE organisations helped identify additional capacity within the Centre, increasing community space and strengthening connections between the Centre, local infrastructure organisations and the wider VCSE sector.
What has changed: More community organisations can access space within the Waldron Centre, with clearer pathways between local infrastructure organisations, Lewisham Local and LBVN, and the Centre's community navigators, helping residents access a wider range of support and activities.
Some challenges still remain
While we have made significant progress across SEL, some challenges remain. The Alliance sees the issues below as the key areas we must address together over the next two years to further strengthen our NHS–VCSE partnership across SEL and realise its full potential. This is particularly important as the NHS navigates major structural changes, reduced ICB capacity, and an evolving role for ICBs and NHS trusts.
Short-term, non-recurrent funding continues to limit VCSE sustainability, workforce stability, and long-term impact
Smaller, community-led VCSE organisations face barriers from risk-averse funding and disproportionate commissioning approaches
Lack of full-cost recovery, rising operating costs, and increased employer NI contributions are placing significant financial pressure on the sector
Funding levels often do not support payment of the London Living Wage, contributing to recruitment and retention challenges
Significant change across the NHS, including new roles and responsibilities for ICBs and NHS providers, may create uncertainty about where VCSE partnership is embedded and how it is sustained
VCSE data, insight, and impact remain poorly integrated within health and care systems, meaning the sector’s contribution to prevention, reducing inequalities, and strengthening community resilience is often undervalued
Demonstrating impact remains challenging, particularly for long-term prevention, relational work, and community outcomes that are difficult to measure within short funding cycles and traditional NHS metrics
Existing metrics often fail to capture community trust, relationship-building, lived experience leadership, and wider social value
VCSE organisations face increasing pressure to disproportionately demonstrate measurable outcomes despite limited evaluation capacity and resources
Rising expectations and demand are being placed on the sector without equivalent investment in infrastructure and organisational support
Insecure funding and lower pay levels compared to statutory services and the cost of living crisis continue to impact the recruitment and retention of skilled staff and volunteers within the sector
We still do not have an agreed approach to remuneration of VCSE leadership in strategic spaces
Reduced capacity across ICBs and wider NHS organisations may limit the time and resources available to build and sustain meaningful VCSE relationships, particularly as the NHS is forced to focus on managing substantial organisational transition and delivering immediate priorities
Our strategic priorities 2026 - 2028
Further strengthening the conditions for VCSE-NHS partnership across south east London
Relationships that make change possible
The Alliance will build on progress by continuing to strengthen collaboration between the ICB, communities and the VCSE sector – supporting prevention, health creation and equity through deeper partnership, shared leadership and more consistent neighbourhood working.
We will focus on enabling fairer, more sustainable funding and commissioning, embedding VCSE insight and lived experience, and recognising the role of trust and community-led approaches -while connecting learning and supporting joined-up working so prevention is felt more clearly in day-to-day work.
We will focus on enabling fairer, more sustainable funding and commissioning, embedding VCSE insight and lived experience, and recognising the role of trust and community-led approaches -while connecting learning and supporting joined-up working so prevention is felt more clearly in day-to-day work.
Key priority areas
Strengthening neighbourhood ecosystems and integrator models
Developing shared outcomes and impact frameworks
Strengthening workforce and volunteering pathways
Transforming commissioning and funding approachesing workforce and volunteering pathways
Developing shared outcomes and impact frameworks
Strengthening workforce and volunteering pathways
Transforming commissioning and funding approachesing workforce and volunteering pathways
The diagram presents the Alliance’s future priorities as a set of interconnected focus areas. These include:
- strengthening neighbourhood ecosystems and integrator models
-shaping prevention and health creation
- developing shared outcomes and impact frameworks
-strengthening workforce and volunteering pathways
-unlocking VCSE insight and data sharing
- transforming commissioning and funding approaches
The diagram shows these priorities as linked areas of work, supported by continued collaboration between the ICB, VCSE sector and communities.It highlights that progress will be driven by strengthening relationships, shared leadership and coordinated action across the system.
- strengthening neighbourhood ecosystems and integrator models
-shaping prevention and health creation
- developing shared outcomes and impact frameworks
-strengthening workforce and volunteering pathways
-unlocking VCSE insight and data sharing
- transforming commissioning and funding approaches
The diagram shows these priorities as linked areas of work, supported by continued collaboration between the ICB, VCSE sector and communities.It highlights that progress will be driven by strengthening relationships, shared leadership and coordinated action across the system.
Get the latest south east London Alliance updates straight to your inbox
Join our growing community of VCSE organisations and statutory partners to hear about the latest resources, events, training and opportunities to get involved in strategic collaboration to drive change.