Learning from Mergers - the case studies

South Craven Community

Action and Bentham
Development Trust
Craven, North Yorkshire

Infrastructure organisations in Craven, North Yorkshire, initially

attempted a three-way merger, with two continuing to pursue
the process after the third went into liquidation. In the end,
no merger went ahead, but it was still possible to rationalise
infrastructure services. One of the organisations, South Craven
2004-05 Community Action, is now providing support services across
The four
Craven Local
infrastructure the whole district, while the other, Bentham Development
Infrastructure
organisations in
Craven work in
Organisations Trust, is instead focusing on local service delivery for its core
(CLIO), a formal
partnership – at
partnership communities in the Bentham area.
first informally, then
agreement between
through CLIO
the organisations, is
Craven is a rural district that sits on the western side of North Yorkshire.
formed
Historically, four key voluntary organisations provided infrastructure services
2007 in Craven. South Craven Community Action (SCCA) focused on the south
Initial discussions on
of the district, providing infrastructure support to voluntary organisations
merger begin; Away
Day held to explore as well as delivering services direct to communities, such as an after school
options further club and children’s play project. Bentham Development Trust was initially a
Working committee
2008
community body largely concerned with the implementation of economic
undertakes
preparations and Decision in principle
and environmental regeneration in Bentham itself. Its role had developed
holds consultations to merge taken by over the years to increasingly embrace a social and service role and to reach
with funders boards of three out beyond Bentham but it was really only in the community transport field
organisations;
that it operated outside its original boundaries. Sitting alongside these
working committee
established organisations was Craven Voluntary Action that concentrated on central
Craven, and a volunteer bureau working across the district, which had
July 2009
become independent from Craven Voluntary Action in 2005.
One of the
organisations,
Craven Voluntary Recognising that there was duplication in some of their services, the four
Working committee
continues to
Action goes into organisations began working together informally from 1999. For example,
liquidation they started producing a joint newsletter for frontline organisations. They
prepare a two-way
merger between end of 2009 also divided up some representation tasks and agreed on allocating
SCCA and BDT
Boards decide to specific areas of work to individual organisations. For example, while
abandon merger SCCA’s infrastructure support continued to be focused on South Craven,
it started delivering relief care, childcare and services for older people
across the whole of Craven district. Bentham Development Trust (BDT)
SCCA changes its name to Craven Community and
Voluntary Service and alters its Memoranda and Articles to
focused on providing services in North Craven, as with its widely dispersed
reflect its wider role population, this area required distinct skills and resources. BDT’s projects
included helping to deliver a market towns initiative in and around North
Craven. Over the last ten years, this form of collaboration worked well for
all involved.

With the introduction of the ChangeUp programme, North Yorkshire

Forum for Voluntary Organisations brought infrastructure organisations
from across the county together to form a formal consortium with agreed
 Learning from Mergers - the case studies
Page 2 South Craven Community Action and Bentham Development Trust

terms of reference. SCCA represented Craven in this group. Prompted by

this driver to rationalise, the infrastructure organisations in Craven came
together as Craven Local Infrastructure Organisations (CLIO), forming a
formal partnership in 2004/5.

In 2007, the partnership was tightened further. CLIO delivered an IT

support programme in Craven, which SCCA led on. In the same year,
Craven Voluntary Action employed a funding advice worker for the whole
partnership. The partnership also began making joint applications to
funders such as Capacitybuilders (via North Yorkshire Consortium for Local
Infrastructure Organisations) and Lloyds TSB Foundation.

During this time, whilst looking to tighten the partnership further, the
organisations began to explore the possibility of merger. This culminated
in an Away Day in 2007 to explore options in more depth. The outcome of
the away day was that they would tighten up the partnership agreement but
maintain their local focus, acknowledging their original aims of supporting
communities in those distinct areas.

Motivations for merger

Between 2008 and 2009, Craven Voluntary Action was experiencing

increasing capacity and resource problems, and as a result of this, SCCA
started picking up more and more of Craven Voluntary Action’s work. As
such, Craven Voluntary Action approached SCCA to look at a potential
merger option.

This prompted discussions within the wider Craven partnership. It came

to the fore that at the same time, some of Bentham Development
Trust’s (BDT) funding streams were coming to an end. BDT thought that
merging would be an opportunity to ‘feel part of something’, and to be
less isolated. They wanted to explore economies of scale that could be
achieved in administration and to open up greater chances of receiving
further project funding to meet the Trust’s wider aspirations. The Chair
was also concerned about the decline in the number of people wishing
to be involved as trustees or volunteers - critical for an organisation that is
supposed to be membership led. As such, it was decided that a three way
merger would be a sensible option to consider.

Moving towards merger

Following the decision to merge, a small working committee was

established, made up of chief officers and a trustee representative from
each organisation. This group started to look into the feasibility of merger
in further detail.

SCCA approached key local funders, North Yorkshire County Council and
the Primary Care Trust, on behalf of the partnership, to explain the situation
and their decision. As both statutory partners funded Craven Voluntary

Page 3
“When the [SCCA] chief
officer visited the board
of trustees at Bentham, a
couple [of trustees] were not
as comfortable [about the
merger as some of the others].
So we had to back-track. We
had run on ahead a bit. They
wanted us to do more work
to prove the benefits and
wanted to have it explained.
They were asking ‘why should
we do this?’
Employee, Bentham
Development Trust
“There was a subconscious
understanding that there
was a lot of duplication
going on, and in terms of
communication in and out of
the sector, it’s much better to
have the one channel rather
than three or four.”
Chief Executive Officer,
South Craven Community
Action
Learning from Mergers - the case studies
South Craven Community Action and Bentham Development Trust
Action, they wanted to hold direct talks with the organisation about its
financial situation. These discussions took a little time and unfortunately,
Craven Voluntary Action went into liquidation in July 2009. This effectively
left parts of the district without infrastructure support.
During this time, SCCA had been funded by the local authority to carry
out a mapping study of the voluntary sector in Craven. SCCA took this
opportunity to consult with frontline organisations about their expectations
and needs from infrastructure support. As a result, SCCA had a good
understanding of what support was needed and felt prepared to fill the
gaps left when Craven Voluntary Action ceased trading. Discussions took
place between SCCA and key statutory partners, who were happy to back
SCCA as the key infrastructure organisation in Craven.
Meanwhile, SCCA and Bentham Development Trust remained keen
to pursue a two-way merger. Deeper talks took place between the two
organisations. The working committee, comprised of the chairs and chief
officers from both organisations, remained the key driver and each board
was kept informed about developments.
The decision not to merge
The working committee’s efforts culminated in the chief officer of SCCA
visiting the board of trustees at BDT to discuss developments. It became
clear at this meeting that a number of trustees were anxious about the
prospect of no longer being solely focused on Bentham, and at the time
did not have a full understanding of the benefits the merger would bring.
The two chairs agreed to meet, but this was slow to happen. By the time
key meetings were in place, BDT’s chief officer retired and around the end
of 2009, the board made the decision that they didn’t want to go ahead
with the merger.
This decision reflected challenges that had arisen through the merger
discussions. As Craven is a very rural district, the physical distances
between the infrastructure organisations and the strong identities of the
local communities that each served had been an issue throughout. A lot
of work was done to try and mitigate anxieties in order to bring people on
board.
After the merger was abandoned
The decision not to merge still meant that infrastructure services in Craven
were split across more than one organisation. In January 2010, it was agreed
that Bentham Development Trust would relinquish any infrastructure
activities that they undertook to SCCA, formally leaving them to focus their
work in Bentham. They are now looking to become a local access point
and work in partnership with Bentham Town Council.

Page 4
“The modernisation fund
from Capacitybuilders helped
the process a lot. It enabled
us to bring in consultants to
help with some of the work,
which freed up staff time to
focus on other aspects of the
process.”
Chief Executive Officer,
South Craven Community
Action
“[Our relationship with SCCA
is] very good, very open. One
of the things that struck me
was the openness through
the [whole process]”
Stakeholder
“Whilst the final outcome is
not what we had planned, we
are starting to see light at the
end of the tunnel. Overall I
think people would agree it’s
starting to look better for the
sector as a whole in Craven.
Although as a sector, we still
have a way to go.”
Chief Executive Officer,
South Craven Community
Action
Learning from Mergers - the case studies
South Craven Community Action and Bentham Development Trust
SCCA has since changed its name and altered its constitution. It is now
the single infrastructure organisation for Craven, and is seeking to relocate
to Skipton, a more central location. Although the failure of the attempted
merger was an initial blow, SCCA, its partners and funders now see the
recent developments as a good opportunity, offering a way forward for
the sector.
Positive aspects of the process and its outcomes
SCCA, which was leading the merger process, was able to access good
quality advice and support throughout the process, including from
NAVCA, the NCVO’s Foresight website, the Charity Commission and
Capacitybuilders.
Although it was a difficult process for those involved, key stakeholders
are positive about the openness of the process and the way things have
turned out. For example, collectively, the key infrastructure organisations in
North Yorkshire have recently put in a bid to the BIG Lottery Fund’s BASIS
2 programme. SCCA now has a new funding advisor, rural voice officer
and community accountant, who are driving forward improvements. Key
members of staff are now all based in one office so internal communication
is much better and the management of projects has improved.
SCCA put a lot of effort into trying to restore the confidence of statutory
partners in the voluntary sector in Craven, after it lost investment when
Craven Voluntary Action went into liquidation. The County Council and
Primary Care Trust have now redirected funds to SCCA, so overall funding
levels for infrastructure in the district are the same as before.
SCCA has led on the development of a strategy for the whole of the
voluntary sector in Craven, which many key voluntary organisations were
involved in and have bought into. From that, SCCA has developed a
business plan for the new infrastructure organisation.
Key activities will include setting up a voluntary sector assembly for Craven,
possibly mirroring local strategic partnership structures. The work will also
involve bringing together a Contracts and Commissioning Voluntary Sector
group and up-skilling representatives who can represent the district. All this
aims to give the sector a stronger voice – whereas in the past the sector’s
voices have been disparate and dispersed. From SCCA’s perspective, this
shows that positives can come out of a difficult process.
 Learning from Mergers - the case studies
Page 5 Community Council for Somerset and Community Action

Lessons Learned
• The case study shows the importance of communication and making sure everyone is involved and on board
with the process. Keep everyone as much up to speed as you possibly can.
• Spend time with organisations involved in the merger and their trustees from an early stage and be clear
about the time it may take to get buy in from trustees.
• Find out what frontline organisations and stakeholders want and would expect from a single infrastructure
organisation.
• Have the courage to stick with the process of rationalisation and see it through. In the end it is worth it.
• Be flexible enough to change direction if needs be.

For further information about this case study, please contact:

Milton Pearson, Chief Executive Officer, Craven Community and Voluntary Service
01535 634588 milton@sccaco.com