Ten Years of the Faith Covenant: Reflections from the National Launch Event
April 28, 2026
By Tim Jones, Project Coordinator, Brighton & Hove Faith in Action
On 28 April 2026, I attended the Ten Years of the Faith Covenant launch event at One Great George Street, Westminster, where a new independent national evaluation of the Faith Covenant was presented. Conducted by Daniel Range and Aurelie Bröckerhoff of The Centre for Inclusive Evaluation, the report examined the impact of the Covenant across the UK since its introduction a decade ago and the authors offered a helpful presentation of the findings.
For those of us involved in building practical partnerships between faith communities and civic institutions, the event was both affirming and challenging. It confirmed much of what many local practitioners have experienced firsthand: when faith groups and local authorities work constructively together, communities benefit. It also set out clearly what must happen next if the Covenant is to fulfil its potential in the years ahead.
What is the Faith Covenant?
The Faith Covenant was developed by FaithAction (chaired by Daniel Singelton) and the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Faith and Society (currently chaired by MP Zoe Fanklin) as a framework to strengthen trust, dialogue and collaboration between local authorities and faith communities. Rather than being a symbolic statement, the evaluation found that where it has been actively used, it has helped formalise relationships, improve communication, and create more effective partnership working.
Over ten years, the Covenant has grown from a single local agreement into a framework now active in 33 local areas across the UK.
That matters because faith communities are often deeply rooted in neighbourhood life. They bring trusted leadership, volunteer capacity, buildings, networks, and the ability to reach people whom formal institutions can struggle to engage.
What the Evaluation Found
The report’s findings were substantial. Across the areas studied:
75% of participants reported increased trust and visibility of faith communities
70% said it improved day-to-day working relationships
64% said it enabled quicker and more effective crisis responses
One of the strongest themes was the Covenant’s value during emergencies. During COVID-19, winter pressures, and periods of community tension, areas with established relationships were able to mobilise faster, share information better, and coordinate support more effectively.
This reflects something many of us know locally: relationships built before a crisis are what make action possible during one.
The report also highlighted the conditions that make Covenants succeed:
- Clear ownership and leadership
- Dedicated coordinators or champions
- Senior buy-in from councils and public bodies
- Regular forums or steering groups
- Focus on shared priorities
- Stable staffing and sustainable resources
Where these were missing, Covenants risked becoming passive documents rather than active partnerships.
Honest Challenges Raised
The event did not avoid difficult truths and the panel of the report authors, augmented by Rt Revd. Rob Wickham, Amrick Singh Ubhi (Birmingham and West Midlands representative), and Mustafa Field (Brent Covenant representative) engaged in a lively questions session.
Many Covenant areas still depend too heavily on the goodwill of overstretched individuals. Staff turnover can stall momentum. Small grassroots groups can struggle to participate. There were also important discussions about power imbalances, representation, and ensuring women, young people and smaller organisations are fully included.
Another key challenge is proving impact. Faith groups do enormous preventative work around loneliness, poverty, wellbeing, food insecurity and community cohesion, but that value is not always captured in ways commissioners or policymakers recognise.
Why This Matters in Brighton & Hove
Brighton & Hove has a strong foundation on which to build. Brighton & Hove Faith in Action was established to strengthen cooperation between faith groups and civic life, and since 2018 our city has had its own Faith Covenant with Brighton & Hove City Council, re-signed in 2024. BHFA also convenes the Faith Council, bringing together faith groups, council representatives, police and voluntary sector partners for regular dialogue and practical cooperation.
- Brighton & Hove Faith in Action: https://www.bhfa.org.uk
- Brighton & Hove Faith Council: https://www.bhfa.org.uk/faith-council
Our city is religiously diverse, socially creative, and civically engaged. Yet like many places, we also face serious challenges: housing pressure, poverty, mental health need, isolation, community tensions, and pressure on public services.
The national evaluation shows that the Faith Covenant is highly relevant to these local realities.
New National Opportunities
The timing of this report is significant. A number of national policy developments create fresh opportunities to embed the Faith Covenant more deeply in public life:
Devolution and Local Government Reform
Government plans for English devolution and local government reorganisation are creating new strategic authorities and mayoral structures across the country, including proposals affecting Sussex.
This creates an opportunity to ensure faith communities are included from the outset in emerging regional governance, particularly around housing, skills, transport, resilience and inclusion.
Further information:
https://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/article/explainer/devolution-priority-programme-dpp
Civil Society Covenant
The Government’s new Civil Society Covenant signals a stronger emphasis on partnership between public bodies and civic organisations.
Faith communities should be recognised as a core part of that civic ecosystem: not peripheral to civil society, but one of its most established and effective expressions.
Further information:
https://www.local.gov.uk/publications/common-ground-building-cohesive-communities
Social Cohesion and Pride in Place
National policy is also increasingly focused on social cohesion, neighbourhood resilience and “pride in place”. Faith communities already provide many of the local assets these agendas seek to build: trusted leadership, community venues, volunteer mobilisation, social support and belonging.
Further information:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/pride-in-place-programme-prospectus/pride-in-place-programme-prospectus
The Report’s Key Recommendations
The evaluation did not simply celebrate past progress; it set out a practical agenda for the next decade. These recommendations were directed variously to national government, local authorities, the APPG on Faith and Society, FaithAction, covenant partners, civic officers and funders.
1. Strengthen National Leadership and Visibility
National stakeholders should give renewed profile and leadership to the Faith Covenant, ensuring it remains a recognised framework for effective partnership.
2. Embed the Covenant in New Policy Opportunities
The Covenant should be woven into emerging agendas around health, prevention, cohesion, neighbourhood renewal, devolution and civil society partnership.
3. Use Reorganisation to Strengthen Networks
As local government structures change, existing faith partnerships should not be lost. Reorganisation should be used to strengthen and scale effective networks.
4. Protect Faith’s Distinct Role within the Civil Society Covenant
Faith communities should be fully included within wider civil society frameworks, while retaining recognition of their particular strengths, motivations and reach.
5. Pursue Dedicated Resource for Covenant Areas
Successful partnership requires capacity. The report called for funding and staffing support rather than continued over-reliance on goodwill.
6. Strengthen Governance and Shared Ownership
Clear roles, agreed priorities, accountability and co-ownership between civic and faith partners are essential for long-term success.
7. Build Capacity and Peer Learning
National and regional learning networks, case studies and peer support should help newer areas learn from established Covenant practice.
8. Commission Further Research on Long-Term and Preventative Impact
More evidence is needed on the Covenant’s contribution to prevention, resilience, health outcomes and long-term social cohesion.
Local Priorities for Brighton & Hove
Drawing on both the evaluation and this wider policy context, there are several practical actions worth pursuing locally.
1. Refresh the Brighton & Hove Faith Covenant
After several years of social and political change, now is the right time to review the Covenant jointly with partners and renew shared commitments around today’s priorities.
2. Embed Faith Partnership in City Policy
The Faith Covenant should not sit on a shelf. It should be reflected in city strategies on:
- Health and prevention
- Community cohesion
- Housing and homelessness
- Emergency resilience
- Neighbourhood renewal
- Equalities and inclusion
- This is how the Covenant moves from statement to operating practice.
3. Focus on Shared Civic Challenges
The Covenant works best when tied to real issues. In Brighton & Hove these could include:
- Loneliness and social isolation
- Housing insecurity and homelessness
- Food poverty
- Mental health and wellbeing
- Youth opportunity and belonging
- Community cohesion
4. Strengthen Coordination Capacity
Partnerships need organisation. Sustainable coordination support is essential if volunteer-led faith communities are to contribute effectively without burnout.
5. Improve Evidence of Impact
We should better capture the social value already being delivered by faith communities across the city: volunteering hours, meals provided, debt advice, befriending, warm spaces, youth work, crisis support and community mediation.
6. Include Grassroots Voices
Smaller congregations and grassroots organisations often have the closest relationships with communities facing hardship. Their participation must be enabled, not crowded out.
7. Develop Diverse Leadership
The event rightly highlighted the need for stronger representation of women and younger people in leadership and decision-making.
A Key Reflection: Embed, Don’t Instrumentalise
My strongest takeaway from the event was that faith communities must not be engaged only when there is a crisis, funding gap or need for volunteers.
They are not simply convenient delivery agents.
They are existing, motivated, values-driven communities with buildings, relationships, legitimacy and local reach. When included properly in civic life, they can make a profound contribution to the common good.
The next phase of the Faith Covenant should therefore be about embedding genuine partnership at every level of local government, not occasional consultation.
A Decade On: From Goodwill to Strategy
The case for faith partnership has already been made. The next step is moving from goodwill to strategy, from isolated relationships to embedded systems, and from under-recognised contribution to visible civic partnership.
Brighton & Hove already has much of the infrastructure required. We have relationships, experience, diversity, and a track record of practical collaboration. The opportunity now is to build on that foundation with renewed ambition.
Ten years after the Faith Covenant began, the message from Westminster was clear: where faith communities and public institutions work together well, cities become stronger, kinder and more resilient.
That is a vision worth pursuing here in Brighton & Hove.
