Kensington and Chelsea Compact

View the Kensington and Chelsea Compact online
Download the Kensington and Chelsea Compact (pdf 325kb)

The Kensington and Chelsea Compact has been in place since 2001. It exists to strengthen working relationships between the public sector and the voluntary and community sector, and lays the foundation for a positive experience when working together.

Who is the Compact for?

Kensington and Chelsea contains one of the most diverse populations in London. The Compact aims to provide a framework for ensuring good practice for those organisations involved in providing services for local residents from all communities.

The Compact is relevant to all voluntary and community groups working in the Royal Borough, not just those funded by the local public sector.

How does the Compact help?

The Compact is designed to support and provide guidance to all sectors on how they work together and deliver services. There are a number of direct benefits including:

• providing an additional and independent forum for dealing with issues and grievances between the voluntary and community and public sectors;
• highlighting some specific rights and responsibilities of both sectors in delivering services;
• setting out best practice in consulting with and representing the voluntary sector.

Why do we have a Compact?

The Compact lays the foundation for a positive experience when working in partnership across sectors. It is not a legally binding document and does not replace existing legislative requirements or procurement law. It is built on mutual trust and respect.

Become a Compact Champion

In order to ensure that the Compact is understood and implemented fully and consistently, we want to develop a network of Compact Champions across the voluntary, community and public sectors to promote and encourage a Compact way of working.

Being a Champion does not involve extra work, but it may sometimes involve additional reading and time in advising others. It is primarily about encouraging a way of working within your organisation, sector or service that helps to make your work more effective and add value.

The Compact Champions will:

• have a good understanding of the Compact and its principles
• promote partnership working and good communication between the public sector and voluntary and community sectors
• identify, share and encourage good practice in implementing the Compact
• be an advisor to others on implementing the Compact and keep organisations up-to-date with Compact developments
• be the first point of contact for your sector when concerns about breaches of the Compact arise
• link to the Compact Implementation Group by keeping the group informed of issues and attending an annual meeting.

What we will need from you

We are looking for Compact Champions who are trustees or staff of funded groups or public sector organisations, and who have experience of delivering the principles of the Compact.

You will need to be a proactive, enthusiastic and committed to the implementation of the Compact. Fulfilling the role should not take up much time, but we would like Champions to sign up to the role for a minimum of one year.

If you are keen to promote the principles of the Compact and would like to register as a Compact Champion, or if you would like to know who the Compact Champions are in Kensington and Chelsea, please contact the borough's Community Engagement Team:

T: 020 7598 4633
E: compact@rbkc.gov.uk
W: www.rbkc.gov.uk/compact