Support & Advice

VANS works closely with our commissioners at North Somerset Council and the Bristol, North Somerset, South Gloucestershire Clinical Commissioning Group, alongside the community health contract provider Sirona care & health, to provide a strategic voice for the sector across North Somerset.

As part of this infrastructure, we facilitate several forums which provide a platform and voice for the VCFSE sector to be represented at a strategic commissioner level. We represent the sector on regional boards to help ensure that the needs of the Voluntary, Community, Faith and Social Enterprise (VCFSE) sector continue to be heard and met.

Our flagship Online Volunteer Centre remains a centralised outreach tool to enable individuals to access local volunteering roles and VCFSE’s to promote opportunities, with a brokerage to link suitable candidates to roles.

Over and above providing direct business support to the sector, we continue to deliver consultancy-based initiatives aligning to our infrastructure role.

Our sector is facing ever increasing demand for services. Working in a challenging and competitive funding environment means there is increased pressure for services to be agile and innovative and to work collaboratively with partners to deliver the best outcomes for people.  VANS aims to stimulate these opportunities and enable the sector to grow, allowing VCFSE’s to be independent and deliver high-quality services to the communities they support.

VANS is committed to working in partnership to continue to increase its impact and sustainability as the VCFSE infrastructure link for North Somerset. Our strategic role in influencing will be vital to stabilising, securing and strengthening the sector as we move forward.