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

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

- "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, 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 discu ...

. 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 __NOTOC__ NAVCA (the National Association for Voluntary and Community Action) is the national membership body for local support and development organisations in England. It is a registered charity (1001635), based in Sheffield, and was previously ...

Each county in

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

has a

County Voluntary Council Every county in Wales has a voluntary sector infrastructure body, generically called a County Voluntary Council or CVC. The key role of a CVC is to provide advice and information to local voluntary and community groups on volunteering, funding sour ...

rather than a CVS.

See also