Mayor turns to community leaders to help shape West Yorkshire’s future

A new group of frontline voluntary, community and social enterprise (VCSE) leaders will work together to help shape West Yorkshire’s future, it can be announced.

The people running West Yorkshire’s food banks, warm spaces, debt advice services and youth clubs have come together for the first time to advise the West Yorkshire Combined Authority and help ensure its policies and programmes work for all.

The Advisory Group will see fourteen senior leaders from across the breadth of West Yorkshire's VCSE sector meet regularly with Mayor Tracy Brabin and senior regional officials, to discuss how deeper devolution can be harnessed to make life easier for those who find it the hardest.

The group will advise the Mayor directly on her approach to employment, skills, housing, transport, community safety and other areas, to bring decision-making closer to the places hit hardest by the affordability crisis, and the people most impacted by inequalities relating to income, health, disability, race or gender identity.

The Advisory Group will bring the insight, expertise and influence of West Yorkshire’s VCSE sector into regional decision-making, in recognition of the sector’s strategic role in shaping the policies, priorities and the future of the region, alongside its role as a provider of services.

The Mayor said that by working as a partnership with those who see the challenges people face day in, day out, she hopes to improve lives and build a brighter West Yorkshire that works for all.

Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire, said:

“The people who truly understand what our communities are going through aren’t in government – they’re in the community centre, the advice service and the food bank, working with some of our poorest and most vulnerable residents.

“They can see which places are struggling the most and which people need that extra bit of support. For too long, these organisations have been left to pick up the pieces without ever being asked what they think. 

“We’re determined to change that in West Yorkshire, so we can make life easier for those who find it the hardest. I believe the fastest and most effective way to do that is to work in partnership with those on the frontline to build a brighter region that works for all.”

The first meeting of the VCSE Advisory Group took place over the past week, with members setting out the issues they want the Combined Authority to focus on.

Between them, the group supports tens of thousands of people every year, running community centres, nurseries, debt and benefits advice surgeries, youth clubs, adult learning and English language classes, warm spaces, employment support programmes and creative health projects, across some of the region’s most deprived and struggling communities.

Their job will be to make sure that their first-hand experience – from working on the sharp-edge of the cost of living crisis and improving people’s access to housing, health, employment and services – better informs regional decision-making. This could include where buses run and how much they cost; which homes get free energy-saving measures to bring down bills; and how skills funding is targeted to help those furthest away from the labour market get into well-paid jobs.

The group will be chaired by Alison Haskins, Chief Executive of the Halifax Opportunities Trust – the Calderdale-based charity founded by local residents in 2002, which runs business centres, adult learning and employment support services out of Park and Town wards in Halifax.

Alison Haskins, Chief Executive of the Halifax Opportunities Trust and Chair of the West Yorkshire VCSE Advisory Group, said:

“The voluntary and community sector is a crucial part of life in West Yorkshire. There are thousands of charities and community groups working on the front line in neighbourhoods across this region which are bursting with ideas and knowledge about how the Combined Authority can ensure its activities are best delivered and focussed.

“The VCSE Advisory Group represents an incredible sector that is often overlooked and under-valued, so we are really pleased that this Group has been created and excited to bring our combined experience and deep connections within local communities to the regional table.”

The West Yorkshire VCSE Advisory Group will:

• Shape regional priorities from the start, working with the Mayor and the Combined Authority’s leadership rather than responding to decisions only after they are made
  
  
• Speak for the whole sector – not for individual organisations – with members drawn from all five districts plus region-wide roles covering equalities, community wellbeing and funding
  
  
• Test and challenge policies on transport, economic growth, housing, skills, climate action and safer communities to ensure they work for everybody
  
  
• Carry community insight into the room so that regional decisions are better informed by what people are actually experiencing, from skills courses that aren’t tailored to individuals’ needs, to bus routes that don’t get people to the start of their shift on time, to homes that are cold and draughty and need cost-saving improvements urgently.

Members will also be offered mentoring and training to support them in the role.

Humma Nizami, Chief Executive of the Race Equality Network, said:

“As the Equalities Representative on the West Yorkshire VCSE Advisory Group, I welcome the opportunity to strengthen the relationship between the VCSE sector and regional government.

“Meaningful and lasting change happens when communities are not simply consulted but are recognised as equal partners in decision-making. By working collaboratively with WYCA and partners, we can ensure that the voices of grassroots organisations, underrepresented communities, and people with protected characteristics are heard, valued, and reflected in policy and practice.

“Our main focus for the first advisory group meeting was supporting WYCA to implement the Civil Society Covenant which provides a framework for creating more transparent, inclusive, and accountable partnerships, placing the VCSE sector at the heart of decision-making and helping to shape a fairer and more equitable future for everyone in West Yorkshire.”

The region’s VCSE sector is made up of around 5,700 registered organisations and an estimated 7,400 unregistered community and charitable groups, supported by approximately 126,000 volunteers and 32,000 employees. Together, they contribute an estimated £5 billion a year to the economy and society of West Yorkshire.

The new group forms part of the Mayor’s drive to put more money back in people’s pockets and make sure growth is felt in every part of the region. That work includes:

• Emergency help when it’s needed most – the Mayor's Cost of Living Emergency Fund, set up in 2022, has reached 61,000 individuals and households with food, warmth, mental health support and debt advice.
  
  
• Cheaper travel – the Mayor’s Fares scheme has cut the cost of adult single and daysaver tickets, saving passengers around £76 million in total and supporting 82 million passenger journeys over the past year alone. From next year under the new Weaver Network, buses will return to public control for the first time in nearly 40 years
  
  
• Warmer homes and lower bills – over the past year, the Home Energy West Yorkshire programme has made energy efficiency improvements to 1,607 social homes, with a further 1,600 set to be supported this year, in a region where more than one in four households live in fuel poverty
  
  
• Homes people can afford – since 2021, construction has started or finished on 9,500 new homes, with £441 million recently secured to build 4,000 more council, social and affordable homes
  
  
• Better paid work – 132,000 people have been trained through the Mayor’s devolved Adult Skills Fund since 2021, with 43,766 adults helped to upskill or retrain over the past year alone, so they can secure better paying jobs in the region’s growing economy

The VCSE Advisory group makes West Yorkshire a national trailblazer ahead of government reforms. In July, the cabinet set out its plans to rewire the state, committing to good growth in every postcode delivered in partnership with the voluntary and community sector. It said it would replace tick-box consultation with new ways of bringing the public and civil society into policymaking, on the grounds that local leaders are better placed than Whitehall to deliver change.

A white paper setting out the full reforms is due this Autumn, but West Yorkshire has acted fast to become the first region in England to set out its plans for bringing the voluntary sector into its decision-making processes.

Notes to editors

About the West Yorkshire VCSE Advisory Group

The Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise (VCSE) Advisory Group is the sector’s strategic point of contact with the Mayor of West Yorkshire and the West Yorkshire Combined Authority, which is responsible for public transport, regeneration, adult skills funding and policing.

The group held its first meeting on 11 September 2026 and will meet quarterly thereafter. It was established following an open recruitment process that attracted strong interest from across the region’s voluntary, community and social enterprise sector. Members were appointed from each of the five districts and from thematic areas, alongside the five local infrastructure organisations that support grassroots groups in each district.

The group will provide advice, insight and challenge on the Combined Authority’s core priorities, including:

• Developing an integrated transport system that works for all communities
• Supporting a regional economy that delivers inclusive growth
• Tackling the climate emergency and helping create a net zero carbon region
• Creating safe, cohesive and thriving communities

Its creation follows a 2025 workshop between the Combined Authority, the region’s five councils and the five local infrastructure organisations, which tested the strength of the relationship between the sector and the Combined Authority across collaboration, involvement, investment and how far the sector is embedded in decision-making. The authorities then worked in partnership to design a formal route through which VCSE leaders can influence regional policymaking.

Membership

Chair

• Alison Haskins, Chief Executive of the Halifax Opportunities Trust – a Calderdale regeneration charity set up by local residents in 2002, running business centres, adult learning and English language classes, employment support, and wellbeing programmes from Park and Town wards in Halifax

District representatives

• Carlton Smith, Chief Executive of Bradford Trident (Bradford) – a community anchor organisation for Little Horton and south Bradford, managing six community buildings including a sports centre, an enterprise centre and a pre-school nursery. Carlton also co-founded Bradford Community Energy, which installs community-owned solar panels to reduce local fuel poverty
  
  
• Harriet Fletcher, Director of Everybody Arts (Calderdale) – a Halifax art school, gallery and artist studios in a listed textile mill, running creative health and wellbeing programmes and opening its doors for local residents to engage with art through learning and exhibitions
  
  
• Chloë Whitehead, Chief Executive of Proper Job Theatre Company (Kirklees) – A Kirklees based theatre company working across the North of England, using theatre and drama techniques to improve skills, confidence, address physical and mental health issues and move adults towards employment
  
  
• Shanaz Gul, Associate Director of Organisational Development GIPSIL (Leeds) – a Leeds-based housing provider delivering wrapround support to vulnerable individuals in the community, from mental health support to youth engagement programmes. Shanaz is also the founder and board member of The Heritage Cooking Company CIC, which addresses social cohesion, food poverty and wider determinants of health. She is also a Trustee of the Freedom 4 Girls charity which focuses on period poverty.
  
  
• Simon Topham, Chief Executive of Citizens Advice Wakefield District (Wakefield) – a free, independent advice service on debt, benefits, housing and energy, including through the district’s Help at the Hub network

Thematic representatives

• Humma Nizami, Chief Executive of the Race Equality Network (equalities) – a Bradford-based umbrella charity working with more than 80 ethnically diverse, grassroots organisations to tackle racial inequality across the district
  
  
• Louise Forrest, Director of Development and Partnerships at GIPSIL (community wellbeing) – a Leeds-based housing provider delivering wrapround support to vulnerable individuals in the community, from mental health support to youth engagement programmes
  
  
• Natasha Babar-Evans, Chief Executive of Better Connect (funding) – a non-profit organisation that designs and leads partnership employment and skills programmes, delivered through locally-rooted VCSE organisations across Yorkshire

Local infrastructure organisation representatives

• Soo Nevison, Chief Executive of Community Action Bradford & District
• Julie Robinson, Chief Executive of Calderdale-based Voluntary & Community
• Angela Galvin, Chief Executive of Third Sector Leaders Kirklees
• Anna Martin, Chief Executive of Voluntary Action Leeds
• Maddy Sutcliffe, Chief Executive of Nova Wakefield District

Each of the five local infrastructure organisations supports hundreds of smaller charities and community groups in its district with funding advice, training, volunteering and by providing a collective voice.