The VS6 Update on European Funding for the Liverpool City Region

VS6 met on October 10th for an update on European funding for the VCSE sector in Liverpool city region. Here’s a summary of what was revealed on the day.

Five more years of ESF and ERDF, even if there is no deal

The UK Government has guaranteed that funding for the current programme (2014-20) will continue to the end (i.e. until 2023), even if we leave Europe with no deal.

Half Way

Now that we are half way through the European Programmes, funding for the second part is being announced and agreed, and there are revisions to the Regulations and to the Operational Programmes.

YEI additional funding agreed

Finally, extensions for ESF-YEI programmes have been agreed (supporting NEET young people under the age of 30). In some cases, these are extensions in time, in others, extensions in time and money.

This brings the total ESF directly allocated to the VCFSE in Liverpool CR to almost 40% (£25 million of £65m), not counting indirect funding, through local authorities etc.

BBO lottery extensions

On 25th September, Big Lottery agreed to allocate more funds for the ESF-BLF projects, supporting extensions in time or in time and money. This will still need the support of the LEP level ESIF committees, and a letter was sent out to the Chairs on 26th, with the projects being emailed directly.

ESFA further funding

ESFA has found additional match funding to the end of the Programme, and issued calls in August for those on its tender list. This was for a total of £323 million across England (including £43m for social capital community grants). For Liverpool CR nothing was allocated for P1.1 or P2.1 (education and skills), but there was £2.250 for NEET young people, and £2.7 for Community Grants. Successful bidders are likely to be known at the beginning or 2019, with projects starting in April. The LCR allocations were less than for the other areas in the North West. Liverpool CR was intending to announce more calls, but withdrew them for further consideration once the ESFA said it would provide more cash.

ERDF calls

These went out for most of England on 5th October. But not for Liverpool CR - it is expecting calls later on through its Intermediate Body status.

More money

It has finally been agreed that LEP level allocations can be raised to take account of the devaluation a couple of years ago following the referendum. (ESF and ERDF programmes are agreed in Euros). This will give an extra eleven per cent of further funding, so over £600 million will be available across England. Liverpool CR was sent a provisional revised allocation for ESF on 14th September (now a total of £103m ESF) - the money needs to be committed (not spent) within the next year.

UK-Shared Prosperity Fund

This will replace the £9.7billion for ESF and ERDF we receive from Europe, with UK money if we leave. The Government’s Manifesto said that it would be to reduce inequalities. However, a recent Statement has contradicted this, saying that it will be to increase productivity (and this will trickle down to reduce inequalities). A paper has been published about how to make the LEPs fit for purpose, with them having a single goal of increasing productivity. It refers to the Peterborough/ Cambridge issue, and how to make the LEPs accountable - for example charging for membership (which Liverpool LEP does) will be abolished, to increase involvement for all.

There have been pre-consultation meetings for the UK-SPF taking place. A Green Paper for consultation is promised before the end of 2018.

European Week of Regions and Cities

This annual event is taking place now, with around six thousand people looking at what has been achieved with European Funding, best practice, and planning for the future. There has been considerable discussion around solidarity, bottom up development, more citizens involvement, and tackling the growth of extremism. Partnership and Simplification continue to be key issues.

Community Leaders join Greater Manchester’s Devolution Reference Group

The Greater Manchester Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise (VCSE) Devolution Reference Group has welcomed two new members.

Khadija Tily, Operations Manager with KYP, an independent charity which aims to empower individuals and communities to bring about socio-economic prosperity for Rochdale and surrounding areas. Her 20 year vision for Greater Manchester is to see a marked change and improvement in specific localities that have not seen sufficient development in the last 30 years. She fears that the dialogue and landscape have changed very little in that time.

As a nominee from the GM BME Network, Khadija feels that there may be multiple, complex barriers holding the region’s black and minority ethnic communities back and that there ought to be research into the causes. She also believes that change will only occur with the political will, supported by high level strategic measures and accompanied by action that redresses the situation. Khadija is keen to connect with the LGBT Foundation and other equalities groups to learn from their achievements, link into the BME Leadership Group and also work with the Greater Manchester Health and Social Care Partnership to try to make an evidence base for difficulties within BME communities.

Charles Kwaku-Odoi (pictured below) is the new faith representative in the group and he aims to, “act as a bridge between the VCSE Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) and the Faith & Health MoU”, which is under development. He works with colleagues at Faith Network 4 Manchester (FN4M) and the Greater Manchester Interfaith Network. Charles would like to see greater inclusivity in the region, with more role models from BME communities at senior levels, and greater knowledge and transparency in order to remove barriers to his vision of this becoming a reality.

Charles believes that:

“Many communities miss out on key messages as they don’t use social media, and more needs to be done to make sure that people can identify with the messages that are being developed. There needs to be work around cultural competency and how we resource cultural awareness in NHS funding priorities. Work also needs to be done on the practicalities of how we support local communities to drive change.”

The GM VCSE Devolution Reference Group aims to promote the role and involvement of the VCSE sector and communities in devolution. The members come from voluntary, community, faith and social enterprise organisations from across Greater Manchester.

The group works to support sector engagement across Greater Manchester’s devolution agenda and with Mayor Andy Burnham. It has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Greater Manchester Health and Social Care Partnership and signed the Accord with the Combined Authority.

Members such as Khadija and Charles are nominated by their own networks to join the reference group, acting as voices for their communities and working under a signed protocol agreement. Reference Group members are then expected to be ‘catalysts and connectors’ on behalf of their sector, bridging the gap between the people they represent and the public services that the public rely on.

North West Social Prescribing Network

The North West Social Prescribing Network (NW SP Network) is part of a national network which is supported by NHS England and coordinated by the University of Westminster. In the North West it is hosted by VSNW and co-chaired by Jo Ward, Changemaker, and Warren Escadale, Chief Executive of VSNW.

Our core objective is to be at the forefront in social prescribing and we aim to:

• Engage and support health and social care leaders and decision-makers
• Develop the evidence base for excellence in social prescribing
• Build stronger working relationships between acute, primary, community and social care and effective, sustainable, local community action

Want to know more about Social Prescribing?

We have developed a set of resources. There is also an excellent article from healthcare charity The King's Fund, 'What is social prescribing', which succinctly explains the term.

Different potential sources of support for referrals

Become a member of the network

We are particularly interested in public sector leaders and decision-makers (from organisations such as the NHS, CCGs and councils), local Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise (VCSE) strategic leads and those running or playing a lead role in social prescribing schemes operating in the North West. Plus anyone who is advancing the evidence base for excellence in social prescribing.

To become a member or discuss being a member please contact Jo Ward by email: jo@jowardchangemaker.org.uk or telephone: 07708 428096, or you can complete our registration page and sign-up online.

Calls to action

We have two initial ‘calls to action’ for our NW SP Network members.

Firstly, we want to emphasise the importance of a ‘vibrant community’ in social prescribing. Social prescribing will be successful if it is supported by its community. And we need to understand how to drive forward this work, in particular through local voluntary, community, faith and social enterprise (VCSE) activity.

Aligned to this, we need a clearer understanding of how we include the VCSE sector, support the right investment frameworks, and develop a social prescribing agenda that drives not only new models of care (where there's a shift in control to the public) but that also supports an effective population health agenda capable of articulating its merits to emerging Integrated Care Systems in the North West.

Secondly, we plan to adopt a regional commitment to deliver the first free social prescription to support maternal well-being and the best start in life for a child. This should engage non-healthcare sector partners in a social prescribing conversation that cuts across policy silos and draws collaborators in from across the nation. It also provides a link to a potential wider conversation with the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Arts, Health and Wellbeing about alignment with their national recommendations.

Further Links

·         National Network

·         NW SP Conference 2017: presentations

·         NW SP Conference 2017: report (launched in Parliament)

·         Social Prescribing Resources

·         Biographies for Jo Ward and Warren Escadale

Cancer Champions Grant Fund now live

Small grants of £250 and £500 to host events to recruit Cancer Champions

We are inviting groups to apply for funding to put on an event, or extend a current meeting/event, that recruits new Greater Manchester Cancer Champions. This can of course be from your business, team or network, as long as individuals are residents of or workers in Greater Manchester.

Open to organisations from across Greater Manchester

Download full details and an application form at Salford CVS

Application deadline is Sunday 26th November 2017.

Ground-breaking scheme aims to sign up 20,000 ‘cancer champions’ to save lives

A new movement bringing together 20,000 ‘cancer champions’ to step up the fight against cancer across Greater Manchester is calling for people to get involved.  Cancer champions use their experience, knowledge and passion to support those at risk of developing cancer and those recently diagnosed with the disease. You can get involved by signing up here.

Cancer survival rates are improving across Greater Manchester. In 2000, the chance of surviving a year after diagnosis in Greater Manchester was 58 per cent. The gap has closed in recent years and the survival rate in 2013 stood at 69.9 per cent, just under the national average. The aim for Greater Manchester is to increase that rate to 75 per cent or higher by 2020.

However, there is still a lot to do. Although survival rates are up, due to our ageing population the number of people being diagnosed with cancer in Greater Manchester is growing. In 2014, 14,500 people were diagnosed with cancer, compared with 13,600 in 2011. In 2013, 6,700 died from the disease.

But we are in a better position to fight cancer than ever before. We know that up to 40 per cent of cancers are preventable through lifestyle changes. We also know that cancers that have been diagnosed at an early stage, before they have had the chance to get too big or spread, are more likely to be treated successfully. This new initiative aims to help support people take charge of their own health and wellbeing, and help those with cancer get diagnosed and treated earlier.

A wide range of voluntary sector organisations are working together to lead this work, funded and coordinated by Greater Manchester Vanguard Innovation, part of Greater Manchester Cancer, the cancer programme of Greater Manchester Health and Social Care Partnership, and also jointly funded by NHS England. 

The work focuses on supporting new and existing cancer champions who will get involved in their local communities. They will share messages that will help reduce adult smoking rates and other unhealthy behaviours that increase a person’s risk of getting cancer, prevent avoidable cancer deaths by encouraging people to take up cancer screening invitations or go to their GP if they have symptoms they are worried about. They will also get feedback from people to help improve patients’ experience of cancer treatment and care.

Cancer champion Gilbert Morgan, who was given the all-clear from prostate cancer in 2014, said: ‘It’s easy to get involved and it’s very rewarding to be able to help people look after themselves.’

‘I’ve been a cancer champion for a couple of years now and it’s a great way of raising people’s awareness because the people you are talking to know and trust you.’

‘You don’t need any skills, qualifications or any special knowledge of cancer to be a cancer champion. It’s about real people talking to real people, and it really does make a difference.’

As a cancer champion, you can become involved in a very wide range of activities, including:

• Becoming a volunteer with a local community group to get more people talking about how to prevent cancer
• Using your experiences to talk about cancer prevention, even just with friends and family
• Visiting events and communities to find new ways to talk about cancer prevention

If this sounds like something you would like to get involved in, something you are doing and want to connect to others, and you want to help save lives, sign up by visiting our cancer champion sign up page. It’s free, you can do it in your spare time and training opportunities will be made available.

Lord Peter Smith, Chair of Greater Manchester Health and Social Care Partnership Board said:

‘Devolution in Greater Manchester has given us a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to undertake this pioneering work on a scale that has not been attempted before.’

‘I’m delighted that so many volunteers are getting involved and using their personal experiences to engage others. This is another example of Greater Manchester leading the way in adopting new approaches to critical health issues.’

Jane Pilkington, Deputy Director of Population Health at Greater Manchester Health and Social Care Partnership and Vanguard Innovation Prevention Lead, said:

‘We are very excited about this programme. We plan to connect and support the energy of groups of people across the community to make our cancer champions movement a success. Eventually it will develop its own momentum and we are confident that, as a result, we will see continued improvements in cancer outcomes and care for the people of Greater Manchester.’

MoU between GM Health & Social Care Partnership an the VCSE sector in Greater Manchester

The flyer below provides a summary of the Memorandum of Understanding between GM Health & Social Care Partnership an the VCSE sector in Greater Manchester. This builds upon the work by the VCSE Devolution Reference Group, over the past year in supporting the partnership in its goals for improving health and wellbeing in Greater Manchester.

The MoU was negotiated by the VCSE Devolution Reference Group on behalf of the sector in Greater Manchester, to which VSNW provides the secretariat. You contact us for more information on it or you can find out more about our work on devolution here.

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!

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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.

#VSNW16 Conference Round-Up: Community Powered Change

How will devolution transform communities? It won't, unless communities transform devolution!

Thanks to all delegates and speakers for a successful conference. It was at the excellent People’s History Museum in Manchester, a museum dedicated to the history of working people improving their lives. We thought this provided an excellent setting for the event (apologies if it was a little cold!)

If you missed the Storify collection of tweets from the day, you can view it on our Twitter. Thanks for the hundreds of tweets throughout the day - #VSNW16 was trending on Twitter!  

"People have a right to feel left behind, they have been left behind"

Jim McMahon MP, the Shadow Minister for Local Government, Communities & Devolution kicked off the event. While the Brexit vote showed people feel left behind, new ways for people to have more power and control need to be found – and the voluntary sector has a significant role to play here. Politics and public services should be redesigned, argued McMahon, and he challenged the sector to make sure this is grassroots led. ‘Don’t wait for permission – make devolution your own!’

"Inclusive Growth isn't inclusive unless it's reducing poverty"

Next we heard from Professor Ruth Lupton, who is head of the Inclusive Growth Analysis Unit, a joint JRF and University of Manchester project to track social prosperity.  While ‘inclusive growth’ is now entering the mainstream, ‘it isn’t inclusive growth unless it is reducing poverty’, and there is still a long way to go to deliver a truly inclusive economy. Lupton highlighted many sector led initiatives that can help: using social value, fostering social enterprises and implementing the living wage are all good starts. What is measured, counts,and Professor Lupton argued the sector needs a visible, credible voice on the economy. More widely though, social policies should be seen as investment too.  

As ever, we had a fantastic range of workshops throughout the day, delivered by colleagues from across the voluntary sector, public sector and think-tanks from the North West and wider, that gave attendees the chance to learn more about specific areas, and play a part in shaping policy, from Sustainability and Transformation Plans to social indicators.  

What does inclusivity look like? The theoretical and the practical

Delivering inclusive growth for communities was one theme for the day, and while CLES’s Matt Jackson had plenty of examples of ‘been and gone’ social projects, the economic development policy climate is changing, he argued. The voluntary sector used to be seen as an afterthought, but is now seen as a partner, and the centralised approach of the 80s, 90s, and 00s, is beginning to be replaced by place based approaches to local economic growth.

Professor Anthony Rafferty, also at the Inclusive Growth Analysis Unit, wanted to know how social success could be measured, and posed the question of whether it is better to use what data you have, or abandon it and seek new methods. Those present had the small workshop task of designing these to feed into the Inclusive Growth Analysis Unit!

Brexit and the implications for the voluntary sector

EU funding has supported many social inclusion projects, and Gill Bainbridge from Merseyside Youth Association gave practical examples of her organisation’s programmes supporting young people into work, through a wide lens approach. Network for Europe’s John Hacking suggested that, while EU funding may not be around forever, it is likely to continue to 2022. Nonetheless, a complete loss of European Social Funding could mean over 21,000 people in Merseyside losing out on life-changing support.

Assessing the sector's role in Sustainability and Transformation Plans

Over a third of VCSE organisations in the North West are involved in health and social care, and this was a popular workshop theme at the conference. Frances Newell, a patient and public partnerships specialist at NHS England gave an overview of Sustainability and Transformation Plans in England. Given the key role they have in delivering the Five Year Forward View, the lack of sector involvement thus far was an issue that came up and is likely to again.

Alternative and new approaches to improving health and social care

A practical model for health inclusion was outlined by Chris Dabbs, Unlimited Potential and Francesca Archer-Todde, Big Life, who presented the findings from the Realising the Value person and community centred care research project.  

Ben Gilchrist, VSNW’s Social Movement lead, and Chris Easton from Tameside NHS talked about how wider approaches to improving health can be achieved, in the context of their Social Movements for Health project with the Greater Manchester cancer vanguard. If you’d like to know more about the project or be involved, do contact Ben Gilchrist.  

How can we ensure the disempowered are represented? Exploring 'what works' in the voluntary sector

Transforming the voluntary sector was the task of those in the Engine Hall, and we heard from a range of perspectives: Anne Lythgoe, Salford Council, covered investment strategies for the sector, while David Beel discussed the sector’s inclusion in urban governance, with learning from cities across England and Wales. Whether the current model of devolution is more like ‘central government localism’ was his question, but in any case it was useful to hear from members voluntary sector partnerships in Liverpool City Region and Greater Manchester that have been spurred on by devolution processes, and have set out ambitious visions for their areas.

Policy silos and linking up the economic and the social

Delegates got a chance to hear about the emerging findings of the RSA’s Inclusive Growth Commission from Jonathan Schifferes, who is the RSA’s Associate Director of Public Services and Communities. Schifferes spoke passionately about linking up social and economic policy, and asked why the only focus is on infrastructure projects such as HS2. The task of the Commission is to join up the silos, and inject ‘inclusivity’ into governmental policy, said Schifferes. Building a shared agenda – across the voluntary sector, public sector, business, politicians, and wider society, was certainly a message that came through strongly on the day.  

"Let's use the energy in this room - and capture it for social and economic ends"

The conference finished off with a panel discussion on how ‘communities can transform devolution’, and what the voluntary sector’s role is. We were pleased to hear from Kathy Evans, Cllr Sean Anstee, Conservative candidate for Greater Manchester Mayor, Hal Meakin, from Youthforia, Cllr Jean Stretton, the GMCA portfolio holder for fairness and equalities, and Neil McInroy, Chief Executive of CLES.

Although all of the panellists came from different perspectives, many of the points raised suggested shared sentiments: the current political climate is unprecented, unstable, and unpredictable; but there are reasons to be positive, with inclusive growth and devolution providing opportunities for progress. Much more needs to be done, and Hal Meakin argued that young people are currently being left out. It was clear from the discussion that policy over the past few decades has largely not improved lives for many in the North, and if 2016 is to be a critical juncture that ends positively, the voluntary sector and communities need to be driving change themselves.