Chris Hanvey

July 2009

Chris Hanvey talks about children, an entrepreneurial sector - and his boat

What attracted you to the voluntary sector?

I was hooked on the voluntary sector as an 18 year old, working with the Simon Community in the old Grassmarket area of Edinburgh. I and another volunteer were given more freedom and responsibility than we could really cope with, but ran a successful all night soup kitchen catering for those who really did have no where else to go. My career has largely been spent alternating between local authorities and voluntary sector social care (although I also had a spell in the Cabinet Office working on deregulation issues).

Where do you feel you have made the biggest difference?

The dilemma for me is that although the ultimate statutory authority for the lives of children, for example, lies with local authorities, the state sometimes makes a pretty lousy parent. The old African adage that ‘the goat owned by the whole village dies of starvation’ can be true of children too. The voluntary sector has two advantages: it is free of the statutory burdens that are carried on a daily basis by local authority services (although there is a responsibility that goes with this freedom – to work alongside councils). I also think that the voluntary sector can be more entrepreneurial, intervening earlier in the lives of children and able to take greater experimental risks. I therefore feel my contribution has been greater within the third sector.

What are the goals for Barnardo’s?

They are to reach out to those children and young people who are in greatest need. Although it might be seen as a marketeers nightmare, the fact that we work across the age range from babies to young adults with life-threatening illness helps Barnardo’s speak with confidence on a raft of
children’s issues.

What most excites you about the job?

Undoubtedly visiting Barnardo’s services. I recently met a group of young carers who look after other family members with disabilities.
One young 10 year-old boy got up at 6 am. every morning to wash and feed his mother before school and to attend to her disabilities before he had his own breakfast. He rushed home at lunchtime to give her lunch and her medication and did the same in the evening. Quite a lot of his school day was also spent in worrying that she was surviving at home. This kind of heroism and the ability to intervene to give him back some of his childhood makes every day very special.

How do you see the voluntary sector evolving?

We live in challenging times when nimbleness will be increasingly important. Large charities will
survive and will probably continue to grow the amount of work they gain from large contracts with both central and local government. My prediction would be that it will be the medium-sized charities – that need to maintain national coverage and therefore have considerable infrastructure costs – that will be most affected as the recession continues to bite. I think that we will also see more private sector delivery of social care and recent statements from the Conservatives that they have no difficulty with charities generating a surplus from contracts, could provide another pointer for the way that the third sector might evolve.

How do you relax?

We have two children of 14 and 16, so weekends are spent running the family taxi, shivering on football pitches or standing as far as I can from the business end of horses. My passion is dinghy sailing, although neither of the children, nor my wife, are particularly attracted to getting wet and cold, hiking out on a tipping dinghy.

Books and radio?

I am an avid reader and usually have two or three books on the go at any one time. At present, I am reading Ian Summers, The Secret History Of The End Of An Empire, which is a fascinating account of the transfer of India and the role that Lord Mountbatten played in this, The Tricky Part – a semi-autobiography by Martin Moran who grew up being abused by a counsellor in a Catholic boys camp and traces his attempts to confront his abuser, and Andrea Levy’s Small Island, a novel about Jamaican family life in the UK just after the Second World War. I am also a very keen Radio 4 listener and prefer radio to television, agreeing with the small boy who said that on radio the pictures are better!

Best of times?

Marrying my wife Rosie and setting off for the longest break either of us have ever taken, exploring Canada, the Rockies and the northerly parts
of Alaska.

Worst of times?

The death of my father, who like so many of his generation, worked hard for all of his life only to be deprived of the restful retirement he so richly deserved.

Chris Hanvey was talking to Clarissa Dann

Author: Chris Hanvey

Chris Hanvey is deputy chief executive of Barnado’s. He started his career working in local authorities where he ran a 30 bed children’s centre. In the voluntary sector, he was formerly director of Policy at NCH, now Action for Children and chief executive of the Thomas Coram Foundation. He holds a PHD in psychology and has written extensively on social welfare in books and magazine articles

www.barnardos.org.uk

Click here for other articles written by Chris Hanvey

Comments

Keith Linge, 23/11/2011
I found this article most refreshing, in effectively delivering balanced and realistic views, about the future direction of the voluntary sector in these rapidly changing times. Many years ago I had the privilege to have Chris as my line manager. It is a pity he is not the Children's Minister

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