Faithworks Charter commended in government white paper

03 September 2010

The Faithworks Charter has been identified as the foundation for a forthcoming government charter, in the government’s new white paper, Communities in Control: real people, real power.

The paper, which aims to empower local communities to strengthen local democracy by increasing participation, was launched earlier this week. It admits that there has historically been reluctance on the part of local authorities and agencies to commission services from faith-based groups because of confusion over the propriety of doing so.

However, it states that the Faithworks Charter provides a foundation for removing these barriers:

“There are over 23,000 religious charities in the UK and many more faith-based organisations, involving tens of thousands of people motivated by their faith, working at a local and national level to provide support and services to communities,” the paper says. “Building on the Faithworks Charter, we intend to work with faith communities to clarify the issues and to remove the barriers to commissioning services from faith-based groups.”

The Faithworks Charter is a set of 15 standards of excellence for Christian organisations involved in community work and service provision, driven by three key principles: inclusive community service, the value of all individuals, and a professional approach to management, practice and funding. By signing the Faithworks Charter, projects are committing themselves to working towards the standards set out within it. Faithworks also provides a detailed best practice guide to help projects practically implement the standards. Already, 853 Christian organisations have signed the Charter.

The Rt Hon Hazel Blears MP, Secretary of State for Communities, also praised the Faithworks Charter in a debate in the House of Commons:

“I personally feel that many people are motivated by faith of all kinds to do great acts of social good, and if we miss out on that, we will miss out on a lot of talent and energy. However, I am concerned to ensure that if faith groups become involved, they do so on a proper footing—not by evangelising or proselytising, but by providing services in a non-discriminatory way to the whole community. I intend to work on a charter. Faithworks has a similar one, which is very simple and straightforward, but which makes those points very clearly,” she said.

Malcolm Duncan, leader of the Faithworks Movement, said this recognition was the result of years of hard work:

“For some years now we have been proposing that the Faithworks Charter should be the foundation for the development of a ‘faith standard’ for all faith-based organisations delivering community services. It would show that organisations that take public money can serve the needs of the whole community in inclusive and non-discriminatory ways while still maintaining their faith identity. We are honoured that this work has been recognised, and look forward to working with government on taking this forward,” he said.