I work for the Church of Scotland, but I don’t work in a church. I’m not a minister or a theologian, but the work that I do is a key part of the Church's mission. As the chief executive of Church of Scotland CrossReach I am privileged to be part of an organisation which has a social care heritage stretching back almost 150 years, and which continues to support people in communities across Scotland every day.
The Church of Scotland’s professional involvement in social care began in 1869 with the establishment of the Church’s Committee on Christian Life and Work. Since then, our organisation has experienced urbanisation and the aftermath of the Industrial Revolution, two world wars and the establishment and continual reformation of the welfare state.
In a changing society, we have had to innovate to survive. We, along with the rest of the sector we work in, have learned to respond positively to change.
We are celebrating an anniversary this week. Ten years ago our organisation took a significant step, changing our name from the Church of Scotland’s Board of Social Responsibility to Church of Scotland, CrossReach - a name which reflects our values: active, inclusive, person-centred and providing support tailored to each individual we work with.
Our name conveys both our determination to reach people across Scotland who need support, and our understanding that our faith is the motivation for our work.
Anniversaries are a time for reflection. In reflecting on the achievements celebrated and the challenges faced over the last decade, what strikes me above all else is the untrammeled passion my colleagues have for bringing about a better society. When I meet with colleagues working in CrossReach services who have devoted their careers to supporting people, their commitment for enabling people to live life to the full never fails to inspire.
Across Scotland they work in over 70 projects supporting people through Services to Older People, Adult Care Services and Children and Family Services. Each of these individuals deserves our gratitude for the work they are doing. Every day, they are supporting others to contribute to the community, overcome the challenges of disability, keep in touch with family, hold down a job and a myriad of other amazing outcomes.
Their work brings massive benefits economically, socially and individually. Looking back on the last decade in social care, and looking forward to the next ten years, I am convinced that, as a society, we need to re-examine the value we place on social care and on its dedicated workforce. We must recognise and respect the benefits of social care, and ensure this recognition finds its way into public policymaking.
CrossReach operates, along with the country’s other charities and community groups, in the Third Sector. This is a great privilege. We are free from the requirement to make a profit, but still face major challenges in attracting adequate funding to deliver the services we provide. The UK Government once described our sector as “the place between the state and the private sector”.
In such a position, sometimes our challenge is in finding our voice. Many of the people CrossReach supports – from older people with dementia, to adults dealing with addiction, to children in care – do not immediately draw the media’s attention when the services they rely on face funding cuts, and are rarely afforded an influential voice in the realm of politics. For us and for the people we support, we need to be more confident in speaking out.
In and of itself, the challenge of inadequate funding is not a new one for our sector. Indeed, we do not expect to have money handed to us just because we do good work. In social care, much of our work is funded by competing for funding through tendering for public contracts.
In the past, we have found a host of creative ways to meet the needs that public contracts do not pay for: through charitable trusts, grants, donations and fundraising campaigns. So the challenge of finding funding is not new, but the scale of the challenge facing us presently is something I have not seen before.
It is a great encouragement to work for an organisation with such a long history. History provides perspective, and a sense of stability. But it is also a great responsibility to be a custodian of such an organisation. To honour those who have gone before, but more importantly to benefit those we currently support, organisations like CrossReach need to convince policymakers of the value of social care. We are sure of the value of our work – we need to let more people know about it.
Peter Bailey is chief executive of CrossReach.
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