Council for Voluntary Service (CVS) is a type of organisation in

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

- "the place at which local voluntary and community organisations speak to each other". They offer a wide variety of services and support for other local organisations, for example training, or advice on funding. CVSs are also involved in

advocacy Advocacy is an Action (philosophy), activity by an individual or advocacy group, group that aims to influence decision making, decisions within political, economic, and social institutions. Advocacy includes activities and publications to infl ...

for the organisations they represent, and aid in communication between the local voluntary and community sector and the statutory sector. They will typically provide fora for organisations to meet, often a

Community empowerment network In the United Kingdom, community empowerment networks (CENs) are networks of a collection of local community, voluntary and third sector organisations and groups, set up by the central government as part of an initiative to foster community inv ...

, and will interact with, or have a seat on, the

local strategic partnership Local strategic partnerships (LSPs) exist in nearly all local authority areas in England. They bring together representatives from the local statutory, voluntary, community and private sectors to address local problems, allocate funding, and disc ...

. They may also advocate on behalf of the organisations they represent on a one to one basis. A CVS may or may not incorporate the local Volunteer Centre. CVS are bought together nationally by NAVCA, the National Association for Voluntary and Community Action Each county in

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

has a County Voluntary Council rather than a CVS.

See also