[Read the Guardian 'Best Bits' in full]

Nick Carey, Policy Officer from ACEVO, contributes advice on what lessons the voluntary sector can learn from the Work Programme.

[Read the Charity Times article in full]

ACEVO, NCVO and CFDG welcomed the Government’s plans to introduce the long-awaited VAT cost sharing exemption, announced today in the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement document. Sir Stephen Bubb, CEO of ACEVO, said: “Today’s announcement is a victory for the third sector and a positive step towards the removal of barriers to charities coming together to deliver public services. The doubling of VAT costs has too often prevented cooperative ventures and partnership working between charities, which is why ACEVO have been working with the sector in its long call for such an exemption.”

[Read the Civil Society article in full]

The Public Services (Social Value) Bill passed through the House of Commons on Friday without amendments which would have seen a greater role for civil society organisations in public service commissioning. The amendments would have seen social value introduced throughout all government commissioning, and repeated a call for the publication of a document setting out a clear ‘national social enterprise strategy’. They also called for annual reports on the operation of the strategy to be made by the Secretary of State which would require prior consultation of the Charity Commission, the NCVO and Acevo in preparing the report.

[Read the full Third Sector article here]

Individuals who want an ethical career should consider a career in banking rather than the voluntary sector, according to an Oxford University academic.

Sir Stephen Bubb, head of the chief executives’ body Acevo, defended charity workers. "Unlike in the States, I know few leading bankers in the UK who have made a significant contribution to changing society," he said. "Yet I speak to hundreds of third sector leaders doing exactly that every day of the year."

[Read the full Guardian article]

Charity chief executives tend to be recruited from within the third sector, but from outside their own organisations, according to the latest pay survey by the Association of Chief Executives of Voluntary Organisations (Acevo). But is it is rare to find any chief executive with a background in fundraising, which is poorly represented at the top level according to Paul Marvell, director of learning at the Institute of Fundraising (IoF). He can name only two charity chief executives who are former fundraisers – Jeremy Hughes who heads up the Alzheimer's Society and Chris Askew at Breakthrough Breast Cancer.

[Read the full Civil Society article]

James Caan, entrepreneur and ex-Dragon's Den investor, says ego and emotion get in the way of achieving scale in the charity sector, and has urged more charities to merge, saying the sector is ripe for consolidation. Caan was speaking at the Acevo annual conference yesterday, where he said the cost of delivery in the charity sector was very expensive, because people were creating “little fiefdoms” instead of creating synergies and merging.

[Read the Civil Society article in full here]

Sir Stuart Etherington, chief executive of NCVO, has suggested that too much money from government led to an unstrategic and bloated national infrastructure sector, and welcomed recent moves  towards rationalisation.

Today, Sir Stephen Bubb, CEO of Acevo, also used his speech to the Acevo national conference to welcome a more united sector. He said people would be happy that last night's conference dinner was held with the board of Acevo and NCVO in attendance. “It’s the first time you’ll hear the chairs of Acevo and NCVO speaking at the same conference," he added. "We will be working more closely together.”

[Read the full Third Sector article]

A Marriage Made in Heaven? by Penelope Gibbs, a programme director of the Prison Reform Trust and a fellow of the Clore Social Leadership Programme, is based on in-depth interviews with three pairs of chief executives and chairs, five other interviews with chief executives and five other interviews with chairs. "Successful, effective CEO/chair relationships are too often the result of luck rather than design," says the report, jointly published by the Clore social leadership programme and the chief executives body Acevo.

[Read the full Civil Society article]

Women chief executives in the voluntary sector are paid on average 16 per cent less than their male counterparts, according to Acevo’s latest pay survey.

The annual study analysed pay and benefits information from 603 chief executives and 125 chairs, members of Acevo, Acosvo in Scotland and CO3 in Northern Ireland.

[Read the full Third Sector article]

Charity chief executives’ average pay increased by 3.5 per cent last year to break the £60,000 barrier for the first time, according to the Acevo Pay Survey 2011/2012. The survey of more than 600 chief executives, published today, reveals that the median salary for charity leaders increased from £57,974 to £60,000. It was less than £50,000 in 2005. It is the second consecutive year in which chief executives’ pay has risen by less than the rate of inflation. Sir Stephen Bubb, chief executive of Acevo, the professional body for charity leaders, said this showed chief executives were "showing restraint in testing times".