Government's response to the Kruger Report (2020), Homes for Ukraine and Community Covenants

We are delighted to finally share the Government's response to Danny Kruger's report of 2020 here. The response was published on Wednesday, the same day as the Levelling Up White Paper which also reflects many recommendations in the report. You can read that too here.

In their response, the Government promised to undertake a number of actions. These are as follows:

• Work with the Office for National Statistics to measure the social value of civil society

• Pilot new models of community partnership (see 'Community Covenants' on p215 of the White Paper)

• Further explore 'pop-up parishes' and community improvement districts

• Co-develop a strategy to empower communities in disadvantaged places, including through community ownership (see White Paper p213)

• Support independent social infrastructure (see 'Strategy for Community Spaces and Relationships' on p214 of the White Paper)

• Encourage social enterprises to flourish in left-behind places, including the option for a 'match-trade' scheme

• Consult on the use of new dormant assets, including the 'Community Wealth Fund' option (as on the face of the Dormant Assets Bill)

• Consult on new directions for the National Lottery Community Fund 2022

I hope you are as encouraged as we are that, although much detail is yet to be worked out, including how these initiatives align with the White Paper's ambition to devolve powers more locally, that we have much to press the Government to deliver.

Homes for Ukraine

The same report recommended ‘community sponsorship’ as the best way to ensure refugees are resettled with access to support.

Community Sponsorship, a model of refugee resettlement that depends on groups of volunteers - often mobilised by churches - to provide refugee families with the help and support they need to integrate and make a success of life in the UK, is already working at a small scale with help from the Home Office. It offers a far more supportive and ‘human’ relationship for the refugee family than that offered by local authorities. The Home Office should make it easier for groups to register for community sponsorship, with more light-touch regulation.

We are delighted that the ‘Homes for Ukraine’ sponsorship scheme resembles this ambition.

Levelling Up White Paper

The government has accepted a recommendation that we to boost community power in the form of a ‘community covenant’ for every place. You can read more in our paper ‘Trusting The People’. We are delighted that in his Levelling Up White Paper, Michael Gove announced a new pilot to do just this.

These would be agreements between councils, public bodies and the communities they serve, seeking to harness the energy, know-how and assets of local communities. They would also set out how local social capital and infrastructure can be built and sustained to encourage confident and active communities.

We will work with partners to ensure the success of this pilot.