TY - JOUR

T1 - Voluntary support in a post-welfare state

T2 - Experiences and challenges of precarity

AU - Power, A.

AU - Hall, E.

AU - Kaley, A.

AU - Macpherson, H.

N1 - This is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in Geoforum. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published in Geoforum, 125, 2021 DOI: 10.1016/j.geoforum.2021.07.003

PY - 2021/10/31

Y1 - 2021/10/31

N2 - This paper examines voluntary sector care and support provision under a context of significantly reduced government funding. Whilst geographers have analysed the causes and aftermath of austerity on different populations, our focus is on how managers of voluntary sector organisations have had to learn and evolve through bidding for non-statutory funding to sustain their core provision. Drawing on research with voluntary support organisations in the learning disability social care sector in England and Scotland, the paper examines the effects of the state's continued reliance on the sector for core ‘public’ services whilst simultaneously withdrawing its funding. Using accounts from managers, the paper offers a particularly novel and potent example of voluntary sector precarity and the deepening unfinished and unsettled nature of care and support that has unfolded in the wake of austerity. Through the empirical research, attention is drawn to three levels of precarity that are experienced by those seeking to sustain voluntary support provision: voluntary sector organisation and structures, the voluntary sector workforce, and individual managers’ everyday emotional and affective experiences.

AB - This paper examines voluntary sector care and support provision under a context of significantly reduced government funding. Whilst geographers have analysed the causes and aftermath of austerity on different populations, our focus is on how managers of voluntary sector organisations have had to learn and evolve through bidding for non-statutory funding to sustain their core provision. Drawing on research with voluntary support organisations in the learning disability social care sector in England and Scotland, the paper examines the effects of the state's continued reliance on the sector for core ‘public’ services whilst simultaneously withdrawing its funding. Using accounts from managers, the paper offers a particularly novel and potent example of voluntary sector precarity and the deepening unfinished and unsettled nature of care and support that has unfolded in the wake of austerity. Through the empirical research, attention is drawn to three levels of precarity that are experienced by those seeking to sustain voluntary support provision: voluntary sector organisation and structures, the voluntary sector workforce, and individual managers’ everyday emotional and affective experiences.

KW - Austerity

KW - Co-production

KW - Disability

KW - Non-profit

KW - Third sector

KW - Welfare

U2 - 10.1016/j.geoforum.2021.07.003

DO - 10.1016/j.geoforum.2021.07.003

M3 - Journal article

VL - 125

SP - 87

EP - 95

JO - Geoforum

JF - Geoforum

SN - 0016-7185

ER -