The Lancashire VCFSE Draft Manifesto
Over the last six months, VSNW has helped to facilitate a consultation across the VCFSE sector in Lancashire, with the aim of collectively creating a vision for the next three years. As a start, some priority headlines were suggested and used as starting points for discussions.
Organisations have had the opportunity to input via LOCAL’s website onto a comment forum or during events hosted my some sector Leaders across Lancashire. The information was then collated into a draft manifesto with the aim of streamlining the input into a set of ‘asks’.
On the 29th June, the manifesto was presented at the ‘Lancashire VCFSE Draft Manifesto Aseembly’; breakout rooms explored what was missing from the manifesto, what was good and anything that they disagreed with. We are now asking all those who attended the event and even those that did not, to further read the manifesto and give feedback via a short survey. The deadline for this feedback is the 13th July. The information gathered after this will be used to make a final edit of the manifesto, before distributing and asking groups for endorsement.
This is a really important opportunity for VCFSE groups across Lancashire and we encourage as much input as possible.
Employing Ex-offenders in the VCSE Sector Event Summary
VSNW Presents ‘Employing Ex-Offenders in the
VCSE Sector’
19th May 2021 4pm-5pm
A full recording of the event can be found here.
The pandemic has exaggerated unemployment levels, which has had dramatic effects on individuals, families and the wider community. Ex-offenders have a particularly high risk of unemployment after finishing their sentence, which, amongst other factors, enhances the likelihood of reoffending. Helping and securing employment can have long and prominent positive effects, not only for the individual but for wider society too.
VSNW welcomed a selection of speakers to discuss their processes and experiences of working with and employing ex-offenders, including an inspiring insight from John, who has been through the process himself.
Our key takeaway messages:
People deserve a second chance-employment is vital in lowering re-offending rates.
Re-creating real-life work scenarios inside prison is an important process of getting offenders ready to work.
Supporting offenders release from prison with travel expenses ,meeting them upon release etc is vital to the transition.
Many ex-offenders have transferable skills intrinsic to business and the workplace.
Support and buddy programmes needed as ex-offenders can be vulnerable.
Employment is only one variable that effects re-offending rates,family support and housing being examples of others. This needs to be kept in mind.
For organisations wanting to implement practices to employ ex-offenders, partnerships with other organisations to support can be key. Whether that’s another organisation already successfully employing ex-offenders to learn employment practices from, or a housing or mental health organisation for example to provide the wrap around support that can sometimes be required.
Darren Burns, from the Timpson Foundation, discussed the history of the foundation and how the group became invested in employing ex-offenders and giving them a second chance. They are now proudly the largest employer of ex-offenders in England.
They have four main streams of employment:
1: ROTL (Release on Temporary License)
This begins with informal interviews after liaising with prison staff, the aim of which is to grasp the character and personality of the individual. ROTL allows successful applicants to leave prison in the day to work and return to prison in the evening. They receive national living wage.
2. Prison training academies:
As a lot of prison work doesn’t get prisoners ready for the real world, these prison training academies aim to replicate a real Timpson branch environment for practice and assessing skills. When the prisoners are then eligible for ROTL, the continuity of environment is very positive.
3 .Some people in custody do not have access to ROTL (perhaps they are in category B prisons/sentence is too short). In this instance they are risk assessed and interviewed and then met upon release and given a travel pass and a job.
4. People feel confident applying through normal streams as Timpson is renowned for its employment ethos.
Darren explained some of main reasons why the Timpson Foundation has decided to engage with the above employment processes:
People deserve a second chance-reoffending rates are dramaticallyr educed if employed.
Reoffending costs the taxpayer vast amounts each year, thus reducing this benefits family, individual, wider society, tax payer and communities
Experience of prison often gives people qualities of personal resilience. They are often more hardworking, more honest and can be business savvy.
Annie Gale, from COOK Ltd and the Raw Talent Programme gave an overview of their experiences and processes too.
The RAW (Ready & Working) Talent Programme supports people with convictions, who suffer from addiction and who are homeless. Their company values see their employees as “essential ingredients” to their success, which they regard as doing the right thing by society as well as turning a profit. The programme has the following stages:
1. Training before job offer (a supported trial shift)
2. All those who complete the programme are interviewed
3. The programme is run 3 times a year and 2-4 jobs are offered from each.
COOK Ltd strive to see the potential in people and maintain that somebody’s past doesn’t have to define their future. They believe that doing good business attracts good people, shareholders, suppliers and customers. They put equality at the fore of their ethos and make sure that their employees are offered support, buddy programmes etc. They have high expectations and a disciplinary process, which has been devised from learning over the years.
Summary: VCSE North West Networking Meeting #1 Workplace Well-being
We were happy to begin our new networking event series with the theme of ‘Workplace Well-being’. Not only is it Mental Health Awareness Week but this past year has plagued the VCSE sector with more work, less staff and new working environments. Those who work in the VCSE sector are often under immense pressure, which can cause strains on mental health. It is vital that the wellbeing and mental health of staff in the sector are protected, so that we can continue to provide the depth and breadth of support to our communities under the right conditions
The aim of our new networking series is to connect organisations from across the North West to share issues, solutions and best practices.
We have six takeaway lessons from our first networking session, which we would like to share across the VCSE sector to help advance the sector’s workplace well-being strategy:
Think through informal support for staff e.g. a dedicated wellbeing role for a trustee
Mental health first aid training e.g. from MIND
Develop blended/hybrid models of working e.g. working from home (WFH) and/or office work
Develop policies to manage workplace well-being
Staff well-being surveys e.g. quarterly surveys asking how staff are feeling/coping and reaching out to those in need
Staff appreciation vouchers
We would like to thank our eloquent speakers, Mustafa Hassan who is a Project Officer at Lancashire BME Network (LBN) and Maisie Hulbert, Policy Officer from ACEVO. Furthermore, thanks to all those who came and contributed to the session; we hope it was useful and can benefit future practices.
You can find here more detailed notes from the speakers and breakout rooms.
Our next networking meeting is on the June 15th and will focus on the NHS reconfigurations; we will update more details via Twitter and our website. We hope to see you there.
Employing Ex-Offenders in the VCSE Sector
On Wednesday 19th May, VSNW will be hosting an event exploring “Employing Ex-Offenders in the VCSE Sector” from 4pm-5pm.
As we exit the pandemic all reports suggest that the employment rate will improve. Whether this is a gradual improvement or a sudden spike remains to be seen. However, it is recognised that it will be some time before employment gets back to where it was in pre-pandemic days. This will affect many households and some who already have difficulties in accessing employment.
One such group is those who have served a custodial sentence. Without a job, the risk of reoffending is higher than would otherwise be the case. This hour long seminar, organised by VSNW, will hear from businesses who have a positive process to recruit from prison and also from a community development worker who works full time with ex-offenders with the aim of gaining them employment.
We are delighted to announce the following guest speakers:
Farhana Musarat, Project Officer at Lancashire BME Network in Blackburn. She is leading on work with ex-offenders and guiding into employment. A graduate of University of Central Lancs, Farhana is a stimulating and passionate speaker and an Experienced Employment Advisor /Transformation coach/ Project Officer with a wealth of skills gained from diverse working environments. Skilled in Communication, Leadership, Writing, Project Management, offender rehabilitation and Customer Service she brings a wide range of perspectives to this event.
Annie Gale, Head of RAW Talent & Apprenticeships at COOK Trading LTD. Arriving in Sittingbourne, where the company is based, via Birmingham University Annie cares deeply about good results, good values and good communication. She believes in people's potential - whatever their past - to do a fantastic job and oversees the 'RAW Talent' programme at COOK. This supports people from prison / homelessness / addiction / mental ill health into meaningful, sustainable work. Annie will be accompanied by John, one of the team recruited under the Raw Talent programme.
Darren Burns, National Recruitment Manager, Timpson Group. He specialises in the recruitment and retention of ex-offenders, veterans and others who face barriers to employment and also fosters relationships with many UK prisons and agencies such as Police and Probation services. Just in case he is not busy enough he also manages the Timpson prison training academies and is responsible for overseeing the transition from custody into the work place!
We will hear from all of our speakers in turn then move into a Q&A panel discussion, where you will be able to ask your questions to our guests.
Once registered for the event, Zoom joining details will be emailed to you the day prior to the event.
REGISTER HERE
VCSE NW Networking #Workplace Well-being
We begin our networking series with the theme of ‘Workplace Well-being’ to coincide with Mental Health Awareness Week. This pandemic has strained all of us, at home, and at work; as we navigate our way out of lockdown it is imperative we focus on well-being in the work place.
We are excited to be joined by Maisie Hulbert, Policy Officer at at ACEVO and author or “workforce wellbeing in charities” and Sehrish Qureshi Well-Being Service Manager at Lancashire BME Network.
Join us and have the chance to network and discuss with other organisations.
World Health Day 2021
This year’s World Health Day falls in the midst of a global health pandemic. Despite England’s efficient vaccine role out and drastically falling new infection rate, Covid-19 has already and will continue to devastate the lives of many of us.
During VSNW’s Festival of North West Thinking which included a series of online events from October to December last year, we welcomed an array of inspirational speakers discussing different areas- mostly related to the pandemic- and its affect on communities and also the VCSE sector.
In recognition of World Health Day, we want to remind organisations of the powerful words of Farzana Kahn, Director of Healing Justice London, who spoke eloquently during our first event "Covid-19 Recovery: VCSE Leadership Voices Assembly” about ‘health inequalities’.
See some highlights from her opening remarks here:
Further highlights from the event can be seen here.
New Trustee Board Member- Circle Steele
We are delighted to welcome Circle Steele as a new trustee board member!
Circle Steele is a Chief Executive Officer (CEO) at the Wai Yin Society, which provides support to, and has empowered and worked in partnership with, Chinese individuals and families for 30 years (since 1988). She has extensive experience of working with community-based organisations and feels extremely proud to be a part of one of the largest BME community centres in the Greater Manchester.
She was the first Chinese Youth Leader to win the British Diversity Gold Award for involving Chinese young people in employment, in partnership with Halifax Bank. And she was the Chinese female leader to share that experience of diversity and integration at international conferences in countries such as Sweden and Germany.
She was pleased to receive an invitation from Her Majesty to attend a Royal Garden Party at Buckingham Palace in 2008 to acknowledge the contribution she had made to society.
As an Executive Member of various other boards and organisations, she consistently champions cultural diversity on behalf of, and gives a voice to, Chinese and other ethnic minorities in Greater Manchester.
She was nominated as one of the Strong Manchester Women campaigners in the 100th year anniversary of the suffragette movement in 2018.
She has spoken about Wai Yin innovative delivery model and approach to diversity and diversification of services at the House of Lords in 2019.
Circle is currently nominated for the INSPIRE AWARDS as a Woman in Leadership finalist 2020.
We look very forward to working with her!
The Law Family Commission on Civil Society
The Commission on Civil Society was launched at the end of Nov 2020 and will explore many elements of Civil Society. Lord O’Donnell will chair the commission, which has 17 commissioners from across the private, public, voluntary, education and education sectors. Commissioners include: Roots Programme Director, Ruth Ibegbuna; Chief Executive of Barnardo’s, Dr Javed Khan; Clore Social Leadership Chief Executive, Shaks Ghosh; NCVO Chief Executive, Karl Wilding; and Theresa Shearer, the Chief Executive of ENABLE Scotland. The heavy lifting will be undertaken by Pro-Bono Economics, who already undertake a Charity Tracker Survey, and the work is expected to take two years.
The ears of VSNW were pricked when the Commission was launched with a speech by Oliver Dowden, Culture Secretary, who stated that the government does not know enough about Civil Society. We explored further to see if this piece of work is (a) connected to the Kruger “Mutual Aid Groups” report and (b) official in terms of status. The answer appears to be no to both questions.
So, why is the Commission doing what it is doing and how did they get a Cabinet Minister to attend the launch? The answer goes beyond Lord (Gus) O’Donnell – the former Cabinet Secretary. The trail leads all the way back to Stockport.
The Commission is nothing to do with legal provisions. It is funded by the Law Charitable Trust. This is the same trust that gave the Lowry a donation of £1m towards a gallery, which is now named in its honour. The Trust is the philanthropic vehicle of Andrew Law who was born in Cheadle Hulme and educated there. He has gone on to be a hedge fund manager and now is a hedge fund owner. From his personal wealth (not via the Trust) he is a major donor to the Conservative Party – hence the ability to connect with a Cabinet Minister.
There will be calls for evidence in the New Year. VSNW will monitor these and share them as they appear. The North West connection is strong (the Trust supports other bodies in the North West) which may create opportunities to influence.
Please see here for initial brief for the commission.
Andrew Rainsford, Research and Policy Officer VSNW
VSNW Trustee Recruitment
VSNW is seeking individuals with experience in the Voluntary Sector to join it’s Trustee board. You will be joining a range of people from various backgrounds across the VCSE sector who make up our current trustee board.
For more information on this role, please see the Trustee Role Profile and Person Specification. You can find out more about the work of VSNW here.
To apply please complete and return the following:
We particularly welcome applications from people living or working in Cumbria and Lancashire.
If you would like to discuss this role before applying, please contact VSNW CEO Warren Escadale at warren.escadale@vsnw.org.uk or 07753 14766.