Why does the new sector Covenant make me so uncomfortable?

I am not a fan of the new sector Covenant with the government. I have been trying to work out why it makes me so queasy. I think there are three reasons:

1. We have been here before. It used to be called the Compact in the last Labour government. I was an outspoken critic of that. The problem is then, as now, that simply saying we will be nice to each other is meaningless. Partly because of the power imbalance: the government can do way more harm to the sector than we can to the government. Which leads me onto my second point.

2. The government is doing some pretty bad things to the sector and the people we serve: National Insurance hikes, Overseas Aid cuts, Disability Cuts, and more. There is some positive stuff, but I struggle to say it is anything but outweighed by the bad. What is the point of a Covenant unless it stops the government from doing things we don’t like? We should only have a covenant if we are clear how it benefits the sector.

3. The covenant appears to be the only tool in the sector toolbox. This is by far the most important point. The Covenant appears to be the only sector-wide concrete activity designed to improve the lot of charities and non-profits. If the Covenant was part of a broader plan to improve the sector, I would have far less problem with it. But it seems that we have a one-piece jigsaw for improving the sector.

This matters because the sector is having a tough time at the moment. Fundraising is at best static. Volunteering is at best static. A Labour government is proving less than wonderful. AI and digital change threaten to sideline us. The awareness statistics suggest that younger people know less about the sector and its work. The list of challenges goes on and on.

Yet the sector’s response to these challenges is not a coordinated approach, creating synergy. It's not a strategy which analyses the issues and creates an action plan. It’s a collective shoulder shrug and a covenant with the government. Yet charities have as many problems and challenges as I can remember over the decades I have worked in the sector.

I remember the Deakin report published in 1996. It had a whole range of recommendations: 61 in total. Some were for government and others for the sector. Not every recommendation was implemented over the following 10+ years, but many were. It wasn’t perfect. But where is the new Deakin report that will make the sector a better place in 5 or 10 years, analysing and embracing both sector and government action.

My conclusion is that it's not the Covenant that leaves me queasy, but the fact that at a time of major crisis, it appears to be the only tool in our toolbox for tackling the raft of sector issues and challenges. We can and should do better.