Three North West Charities Win Weston Charity Awards

Liverpool Mencap, Care Network Blackburn with Darwen and Blackburn and Darwen District Without Abuse (BDDWA) have been announced as 2018 Weston Charity Awards winners and will each receive a core grant of £6,500 and a year’s strategic planning support.

Mencap Liverpool

The Weston Charity awards celebrate and support front line charities which generate incomes under £5 million and are located in the north of England, the Midlands and Wales. Criteria for inclusion includes the delivery of youth, welfare or community services. Nearly 200 small charities applied but there were just 20 winners.

The award applications revealed that small charities seek support to maximise their impact and help more people. This is backed up by research carried out by Weston Charity Awards among 234 small charity leaders indicating that they expect to deliver more with fewer resources in 2018. Three in five small to medium sized charities expect to support more service users in 2018, despite most not feeling confident about income growth this year.

Philippa Charles, Director of the Garfield Weston Foundation behind the awards, said:

“Small charities have stepped up to deliver essential services in their communities and are extremely adept at being highly creative with limited resources. Their directors wear many hats as they juggle multiple roles but they need support.”

According to the UK Civil Society Almanac, half of England’s charities are based in London, the South East and South West – with 3.2 charitable organisations per 1,000 people in the South West compared to just 1.9 in the North West). This highlights how charities in the North have to work disproportionately harder to meet the needs of the communities they support.

The directors of the 20 winning charities will be matched with teams of senior business leaders for a programme of mentoring and coaching, to strengthen their organisations and increase impact. They also receive £6,500 of unrestricted funding from the Garfield Weston Foundation to take part in the programme, as well as access to the advice and support of Pilotlight.

Gillian Murray, Chief Executive of Pilotlight, said:

“Large charities have been in the spotlight in recent months for the right and for the wrong reasons. Meanwhile, up and down the country small charities are quietly facing rising demands for their services. Our programme is an opportunity for the award winners to develop the skills they need to make the maximum impact, even as they are being stretched to capacity.”

Third Sector Trends in the North West of England

Tony Chapman, honorary professor at the University of Durham, has produced a report in partnership with IPPR North regarding third sector trends across the North and the North West of England.

The statistics produced from the report showed that across the North West, 133,000 people are in full-time employment combined with 430,000 volunteers contributing 30 million hours (per annum), worth between £475m and £816m. The total GVA from these figures equates to £2.5bn.

Across the north as a whole, statistics showed that 233,000 people are in full-time employment combined with 930,000 volunteers contributing 66 million hours (per annum) with a total GVA of £5.4bn.

Number of full-time employees and volunteers working in the voluntary sector

Source: Third Sector Trends in the North of England (IPPR North, 2017)

Not only does the data highlight the number of people involved within the sector; it also indicates the contribution from the North West to the region as a whole. These figures highlight the value and importance of the voluntary sector across the North not only at a fiscal level, but also in showing the amount of hours that volunteers invest over the year.

As the report concludes, one of the main strengths of the sector is its sheer size as a whole; as well as the strength of the positive relationships between organisations (both formal and informal), between TSOs and with the public and private sector; and the crucial role of volunteers in sustaining third sector activity.

It is because of these strengths that the sector continues to show great resilience and the capacity to adapt in the face of a stagnating economy, increasing demand, and the continuation of the government’s austerity agenda.

The full report is available here

VSNW and infrastructure partners in the North West have supported the research conducted by and thank groups who contributed towards the project.

Singing in the City 2017 is back!

Want to join our incredible line up?

On Sunday 16 July the Manchester Royal Exchange Theatre’s famous Great Hall will play host to a FREE singing and wellbeing extravaganza Singing in the City. This event has been developed for health and care staff, patients, carers and the public to encourage greater public engagement and understanding of health and wellbeing. The 2017 event will bring together a multitude of NHS, workplace and community choirs to showcase their work to each other and the public in order to encourage new people to get involved in singing. Singing in the City reflects the value placed on singing as a vehicle to promote both community and workplace wellbeing as well as supporting effective public engagement around health.

Singing in the City 2017 is a key element of a collaborative regional learning campaign now known as Learning Matters in Health and Care. Led by Voluntary Sector North West (VSNW) - the voluntary sector network for the region - this campaign brings partners and collaborators together from across the healthcare sector. Learning Matters is delivered in partnership with Health Education England (HEE) - the workforce development arm of the NHS working across the North West.

Get involved

If you have a choir and want to get involved or would just like to know more please contact Jo Ward by email: nwadultlearningconsortium@gmail.com  or by telephone:07708 428096. Please note places go fast.

Producer, Amy Jane Clewes, at the Royal Exchange said, “We’re really excited about bringing together some of the wonderful amateur choirs from across the North West for a fantastic celebration of singing.”

North West Health and Care Awards: just four weeks left to nominate

The Learning Matters Challenge!

Just four weeks left to identify innovative people and creative ideas that are transforming healthcare in the North West through asset based approaches.

Learning Matters is a new, regional learning campaign and awards programme led by Voluntary Sector North West (VSNW) - the voluntary sector network for the region. Learning Matters is delivered in partnership with Health Education England (HEE) working across the North West- the workforce development arm of the NHS.

VSNW is looking to recognise and celebrate innovative examples of asset based community development in any healthcare context as part of their commitment to Learning Matters. The Learning Matters campaign partnership straddles the public, private and third sector bringing healthcare people together. It is all about working better together by effectively sharing knowledge and increasing understanding of what works and why.

VSNW is particularly keen to hear about projects and key people who are unlocking talent in our communities. This might include:

• activity which spotlights prevention and self-management agendas through peer support and mentoring; or by creatively promoting health coaching
• shifting power, to patients and the public, by the provision of better information and advice
• activity with a commitment to reduce health inequality and deliver social value
• harnessing or creating digital opportunities.

Warren Escadale, Chief Executive of VSNW, said: “In this category, we’re particularly interested in how nominees are supporting and empowering community-led activity, with the potential to drive health improvement.”  

Can you help VSNW to identify key people and key activity which is making a difference to healthcare in the North West so we can tell this story, learn from it and inspire others. Your healthcare stories can be told using any relevant Learning Matters award nomination category See: https://www.vsnw.org.uk/nw-health-awards-2017 Nominations are open until 12 noon on 10 April. So we need you to nominate now!

END

Learning Matters! You tell us why

The search is on for people and projects where individual and organisational learning is driving development and transforming the health and care sector in the North West.

Voluntary Sector North West (VSNW) and Health Education England (HEE) are proud to announce a new joint regional award programme and learning campaign, Learning Matters, to celebrate all kinds of learning across the health and care sector. You can nominate people: colleagues, volunteers or patients where their learning is really making a difference; or projects which are applying learning in any given context. Nominations will showcase the impact of learning on people and organisations in order to inspire others. They will importantly, acknowledge and say thank you to those who go that extra mile. Show your support by taking the time to nominate. Help us tell people why Learning Matters so much to everyone.

This joint campaign led by VSNW, recognises the contribution that adult learning makes to individual, community and economic wellbeing. It will emphasise the importance the awards’ partnership places on the need to develop and harness all talent. It will highlight what can be done to enable the health and care system to support people to have the knowledge, skills and confidence to play an active role in managing their own health; and how to work effectively with communities and their assets. Learning Matters will also demonstrate the fundamental role of learning in reducing health inequalities and how the sector can use leverage to add social value.

Warren Escadale, CEO VSNW said, ’Together with HEE we will be jointly celebrating and promoting Learning Matters because we believe learning is good for people, the sector and the region. But we need your help to identify staff and volunteers, working in and across the whole of the health and care sector, who have been transformed by learning and who can inspire others to give learning a go. We’d also like to hear about projects and activity where learning is shared and it is changing the way we think and what we do in the sector.’

The Learning Matters awards launch on Friday 03 February 2017. They will recognise people and projects in public, voluntary or private sector organisations; in all kinds of job roles not just those with direct care responsibility. This includes those working in an unpaid and volunteer capacity. These awards will reflect the diversity of learning and the range of responsibilities across the whole of the health and care sector. The award categories themselves will include a celebration of the role and value of apprenticeships for all ages. They will highlight important first steps into the sector. They will spotlight regional talent and shout about career development and progression. And they will provide an insight into how people in the sector support each other.

The Learning Matters team is also pleased to announce a number of sponsored awards which will celebrate innovation and regional ingenuity. These awards will have an eye on underlining the importance of supporting new care models, driving adoption of innovation, innovative community asset based development, patient, carer and public engagement, widening participation in healthcare education, prevention, digital health, personalised care and social prescribing. Your nominations will tell us how.

Nominations are open from 03 February until 12 noon on Monday 10 April 2017

For full details on all these awards and how to get nominating simply follow the link below.

Community Based Wellbeing takes centre stage at Liverpool City Region Health Summit

Warren Escadale made a presentation at the summit, in which he championed the role of the sector moving forward, and covered various aspects of community wellbeing, with the support of the VS6 partnership. The city region’s lead on Health, Cllr Andy Moorhead (leader of Knowsley Council) made a formal commitment to drawing together a partnership in order to drive improvements in health and social care, which the VCSE sector will be a part of.

Warren's presentation is shown below.  

Warren Escadale: Community Wellbeing from sampopperVSNW

Warren Escadale: Community Wellbeing from sampopperVSNW

The rest of the presentations from the night can be viewed by following the links below:  

Clare Duggan: Challenges and Opportunities for Health

Matthew Ashton: Improving Health and Wellbeing in our Region

Rhiannon Corcoran: Mental Health and Wellbeing

Citizens launch 'People's Plan for Greater Manchester'

A new citizen-led initiative, the People’s Plan, has been launched in Greater Manchester. All who live, work or study in Greater Manchester are encouraged to get involved and to share their views, priorities and proposals for devolution across the region.

Ahead of Greater Manchester’s first Mayoral election on May 4th 2017, the People’s Plan aims to amplify the voices of local people and civil society and provide a constructive challenge to the region’s strategies and delivery.

Devolution could be a unique opportunity for citizens and civil society to have a greater say about the future of Greater Manchester.  The People’s Plan seeks to gather a wide and deep range of ideas and thoughts on what the future for all areas of Greater Manchester should be, exploring key issues such as the economy and jobs, health and social care, transport, housing, the environment, and how to build a citizen-led democracy. 

The People’s Plan organisers aim to involve as many individuals and groups as possible, and people are encouraged to engage via social media, by completing a short online survey, going to events, or holding their own People’s Plan gatherings, which will feed into the wider project.

Events will cover the areas outlined above, and will take place over October, November and December.

For a full event listing go to http://www.peoplesplangm.org.uk/events/

To complete the online survey go to http://www.peoplesplangm.org.uk/online-inputs/

For more information on the People’s Plan, go to http://www.peoplesplangm.org.uk/

New survey looks at joint working between Jobcentres and VCSE organisations

VSNW has conducted a survey of VCSE agencies to understand the strength of relationships between Voluntary, Community, and Social Enterprise groups and Jobcentres, particularly where health and work initiatives are involved.

The results show that although there is some activity between the two, this is limited in most areas, and it is never at a strategic level.  The results also show divergent standards across localities, depending on individual relationships.

The five respondents unanimously agreed on three measures to improve joint working on health and work outcomes between Jobcentres and VCSE organisations:

• Co-working or co-location of Jobcentre Advisers with other community services
• New information standards to support monitoring of health and work issues
• More funding for specific VCSE-led services or initiatives to improve health and work together

The main barriers were mainly around Jobcentres having poor knowledge and understanding of VCSE services, and a lack of time and resources for both Jobcentres and VCSE organisations (shown below). 

VSNW conducted the survey on behalf of DWP’s Joint Health and Work Unit, who were interested in Health and Care Strategic Partners’ views on how well Jobcentres are working with VCSE organisations.

Warren Escadale, VSNW’s Chief Executive, commented: “At present, it seems evident that Jobcentres are not making the most of the holistic support on offer in the voluntary sector for the unemployed. However, it’s pleasing to see unanimity on measures to address this: co-working, improved information for Jobcentre staff, and specific funding streams for joint health and work initiatives.”

Government responds to letter from charities regarding the Lobbying Act

After over forty organisations, including VSNW, Children England, NCVO, and NAVCA, wrote to the Minister for Civil Society to express worries over the effect of the 2014 Lobbying Act on charities' activity, the Government has responded. The letter says the Government supports political campaigning of charities, albeit with a limited scope. 

The letter, which was written by Chris Skidmore MP in his role as Minister for the Constitution, outlined the extent to which the Government sees this type of activity as valuable, saying that: 

"The Government recognises that charities have the right to undertake campaigning and political activity where it supports their charitable aim, trustees consider it to be an effective use of charitable resources and provided they do not engage in party politics. The Government respects that right and Ministers have consistently said as much in public."  

The Minister also said that the Government is in the "early stages" of considering the recommendations made by Lord Hodgson, and is therefore unwilling to meet with stakeholders at this stage.  

The full letter can be viewed here.

For reference, the original letter to the Government is copied below.