Disputes

The Compact is based on the belief that relationships between the voluntary and statutory sectors can be conducted with trust, equality, respect and fairness. If these principles are fully upheld, then differences between partners will never become damaging disputes. However, each party has the right to raise concerns, to be attended to positively and to receive a timely response. If a dispute should arise because either party fails to follow the shared principles of the Compact or the Code of Good Practice, then a four stage process shall apply.

Stage 1

Whenever possible, parties will meet together to resolve the disagreement, without the use of a third party, using the shared principles, relevant Code of Practice and the Communication Code of Practice above.

Stage 2

When a face-to-face meeting is too difficult for either party or has been unsuccessful, an impartial third party will be called in by any of the parties or the Compact Implementation Group. At Stage 2, this third party shall be Conflict and Change, a reputable local voluntary organisation which has over 20 years experience as a resource for conflict resolution in Newham. The aim will be to facilitate better communication between parties so that it becomes easier to talk about the difficulties they are having and to find an agreed way forward. Conflict and Change mediators will also aim to assist in the development of skills which can be used by parties themselves in future situations of conflict.

If you wish to seek extrernal mediation, you need approval from the Compact Implementation Group. To request the support available from Conflict and Change, contact one of the following:

Tom Connor, for London Borough of Newham - tom.connor@newham.gov.uk

Ian McDowell, for Newham NHS- Ian.Mcdowell@newhampct.nhs.uk

Sarah Ruiz, for the VCF sectors in Newham - sarah@nvsc.org.uk

Newham Police - to be confirmed

Stage 3

If agreement still cannot be reached, then an independent investigator will be appointed and will, if necessary, seek the support of the nationally-commissioned Compact Mediation Scheme run by CEDR. The independent investigator will report their findings and recommendations to both parties and to the Compact Implementation Group.

Stage 4

Should the VCFS remain dissatisfied with the outcome of mediation and the independent investigation, then they can seek support from the Compact Advocacy Programme at NCVO and take their concerns to the Parliamentary or Health Ombudsman.

Learning from disagreements and disputes

Conflicts can provide the opportunity to reflect on the underlying and wider issues relating to the disagreement or dispute. These wider issues often need to be addressed in order to prevent the conflict from recurring in a different form. To ensure learning is shared, Compact partners who have worked on a conflict together will ensure that they feed back the reasons, results and outcomes to the Compact Implementation Group, which will in turn undertake to work on the identified, underlying causes.