Chapter 7 - continued

It would be unfair to say that BDRC was exclusively reaping the opportunities generated by the activities of the city’s disability militants. The Birmingham Coalition, in particular, was also receiving substantial levels of new funding which had been squeezed out of public coffers since 2000.

It would certainly be true to say that BDRC’s reputation for dependable service provision over the previous decade appeared to carry weight with potential funders. However, as current BDRC chair, Tim Phillips, says nothing was ever handed to BDRC on a plate and its survival was dependent on developing a robust business-like approach:

“I was on the board when Irene, Derek Farr and myself interviewed Steve Blick for the then vacated Chief Exec job, it was around, probably ‘97-ish. Andy Beaton represented the then Employment Service part of the city council on the board, but he left for a while.

“On his return a few years later Andy took the BDRC through a difficult time when we lost Steve Blick to another job. It also coincided with the third sector moving away from Grant Aid arrangements whereby companies like ourselves basically got money, pretty much as a right for want of a better phrase, from the council in three year chunks.

“When the ERC network collapsed we, in effect, had to lose one or two jobs. Although Steve had left just prior, we couldn’t afford to fill his role. Andy and I had to see the BDRC through a difficult transition period in which we had an interim arrangement without a Chief Executive Officer.

“We employed Tom and Deb Veitch, with whom Andy had had connections with his work both within the city council and the Third Sector, to carry out a feasibility study to see how the BDRC could re-sustain itself, regroup and look at the way forward.

“They did a very good piece of work for us, highlighting areas of reshaping of the BDRC to meet the changing environment and the shift away from Grant Aid to a self-sustaining community-business scenario or model.

“One of the points that Deb and Tom highlighted was the area around the Chief Exec. The position, they felt, should be within a parameter of a personal specification to drive the newly formed business forward. After a period of time, during which we had to secure the funding to employ a Chief Exec at a rate that would attract a person that we felt would actually meet the spec and put BDRC’s vision forward, we engaged them.”

Former BDRC employee David Heap offers his views on how the social and political landscape changed between the 1990s and the 2000s, both within the BDRC and for wider society as a whole:

“It is different today – there is more awareness – that is one of the key things. I think that you see more evidence of disabled people. If you think about the Olympics at Beijing, even though it could have been better and more involved, disabled athletes were promoted and you saw positive public attitude when people were receiving medals; that’s a big change from the past.

“I think that also goes with wider attitudes which have definitely changed because you see more exposure on the media. I am not, therefore, saying that there have not been some positive things, but we are still trying to change things for the better. With regard to transport, it was hoped then that by the year 2010 there would be fully accessible transport but look at it – this hasn’t happened.

“The ‘90s was definitely a period of great change and there was an expectation of things changing for the better. Many people worked hard to eventually get the DDA into force, with organisations working together within an overall movement. It took time, but eventually the movement worked to get the Government to push it through, eventually. There were a lot of battles along the way.

“It was interesting that in the ‘90s the radical element, the Direct Action Network were very local and very active. When we went into the early ‘noughties’ it all went quiet and they went underground. If you like it was as if there was a feeling ‘we have done it’. Things quietened down with still a lot more work to be done. I think people’s attitude definitely changed.

“At the moment, the National Deaf Children’s Charity organisation is trying to improve classroom acoustics. This Government has built a lot of new schools, but right from day one the architects, and so on, don’t implement the changes which would cost absolutely nothing – ‘oh we forgot to make sure the acoustics in that classroom are right for the deaf children or hard of hearing children’. It never ceases to amaze me and this is where it gets frustrating.

“It is always about funding and I think that the big struggle throughout these growing few years was core funding. That was one thing that we were always fighting for recognition for, not just for our organisation, the Disability Resource Centre, but all the organisations; because local authorities say that it is crucial that you have a solid infrastructure in place with funding that recognises administration and maintenance for the organisation.

“It is all right funding the services with a two or three-year budget, but you need to keep them there. It was a big, big struggle and I think that it ultimately led to the demise of some organisations – not just in Birmingham. Disability West Midlands was one of those incidentally.

“The BDRC seems to have survived that process and I think it comes down to people such as the Social Service reps who have recognised the need for core funding.”

Andy Beaton summarises how BDRC has adapted and is still adapting to the wider context of Third Sector funding:

“There will always be a need for a grant aided sector. However, agencies which support that sector are finding that while there are still opportunities for grant aid a lot of what local authorities and health authorities used to give in main programme grants are now only available on a tendering and commissioning basis. I think that is the way it is moving.

“The Adults and Communities tendering process, procurement processes with small voluntary organisations for instance, many that BDRC deal with around specific disabilities, are all having to look at issues like tendering for contracts and establishing what they should charge in the forecast recovery model and that is about business-like practice. To some small organisations that is very new.

“I think there is always going to be a voluntary sector, but a more self-sustainable one – a ‘not all eggs in a single funding basket’ one. A lot of organisations may well, for longer term existence and sustainability, move to a more varied funding package such as that which the BDRC has.”