Under the Concordat agreed between COSLA (the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities) and the Scottish Government from April 2008, each Scottish Local Authority has individual agreements with the Scottish Government to deliver services; these are called Single Outcome Agreements (SOAs).

Although originally directly with the Councils, this agreement would later be between the Scottish Government and the Community Planning Partnership (CPP) in each local authority area. Information on the Community Planning Partnership Structure in Shetland and on the Community Planning Delivery Group can be found here: The Structure of Shetland's Community Planning Partnership

In March 2008, the Scottish Government announced that it would be changing the way in which it funded Councils of Voluntary Service and Volunteers Centres and decided it would fund one organisation per local authority area. This development also included local Social Enterprise Networks (SENs) and Local Social Economy Partnerships (LSEPs). The Scottish Government wanted to see one organisation representing all these third sector services, and the third sector in general, which could liaise directly with the CPP, both to inform the CPP and to demonstrate the ability of the third sector to deliver services described in the SOA. This single organisation would be called the ‘interface’.

In Shetland the third sector interface is Voluntary Action Shetland (VAS). Formerly Shetland Council of Social Service, VAS is recognised as a full partner on the Community Planning Delivery Group, which develops the SOA and champions the Safer Stronger element for the year 2009/10. This element includes support to social enterprises and development of Service Level Agreements that enable local organisations to deliver services locally, including befriending, assisting organisation with disclosures, advocacy services and so on.