As someone who works in the sector, I feel there is a certain irony that the Big Society relies on its potential success on small, local voluntary and community organisations and social enterprises which have suffered significantly from both central and local government cuts.

Its also ironic that the Labour government provided more support to this sector to increase their capacity to provide more services – for example through the Capacitybuilders programme which the current goverment quickly axed. Another example is the potential cuts to Legal Aid which will potentially impact on a large number of advice agencies and their clients. And Volunteer Bureaux in many parts of the country have also been hit hard.

Also most small charities want support with running costs not capital costs, although social enterprises are more likely to require loan finance for capital investments such as buildings.

In my view its a Big Con!