Exemption to consent could be extended to not-for-profits. In a move welcomed by the Institute of Fundraising, the Government has confirmed it intends to extend the use of the ‘soft-opt in’ for electronic marketing to charities under UK data reform plans.
The Data Protection Network holds an article on ‘What soft opt-in’ is, how to use this within your marketing and future changes to GDPR.
As part of the government and NHS England’s requirement to help the VCSE and ICS engage and work more closely together, a new-tier system was created to allow all voluntary sector organisations to engage successfully within the different levels of the ICS & health system.
The newly launched VCSE Health Alliance (which is just one part of the agreed system in which VCSE will engage with the ICS) is responsible for creating a platform to allow information and representation from grass root charitable and non-profit organisations and provide an access route to ICS leadership within the multiple Boards of the ICS.
In particular, the VCSE Health Alliance will look to achieve its vision of being a vibrant and thriving VCSE within the ICS that drives health and wellbeing in our communities in an inclusive and empowering way. The key goals aim to:
Both the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) which outlined how we will co-operate to facilitate the strategic aims of the ICS, and the VCSE Strategy, which outlined in more detail the goals and ambitions and indicators of success, have both now been agreed upon. They have been submitted to the Integrated Care Board (ICB) and are just waiting for the rubber stamp of approval.
The first meeting of the VCSE Health Alliance was held on 10th August 2022. It was chaired by Julie Farrow, CEO of Hunts Forum, with the underlining topic covering workforce strategies. Other key topics covered include:
If you missed the first session, you can watch it below.
The slides can be found here: CLICK HERE
If you would like to get more involved in supporting and attending the VCSE Health Alliance group sessions, please get in touch by emailing debbie@huntsforum.org.uk to receive the dates of all the scheduled meetings.
For those who attended the Vision for a Volunteering event, which was part of the Connecting Communities Conference 2022, you might be interested to see the report which was featured in the latest DCMS email bulletin where it stated:
All-Party Parliamentary Group on Charities and Volunteering
On 14 June, Minister for Sport, Tourism, Heritage and Civil Society, Nigel Huddleston, was invited to speak at the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Charities and Volunteering on the launch of the Vision for Volunteering, a sector-led initiative setting an ambitious direction for volunteering for the next ten years.
Minister Huddleston thanked the lead organisations, highlighting the role of volunteering, and talked about how crucial volunteers are to many sectors.
The Minister was delighted to accept the invitation for DCMS to join the formal Vision for Volunteering governance structure and DCMS look forward to continuing to provide support in realising this vision.
The cost-of-living crisis is increasing and so are the financial worries. More than a quarter of the UK adults feel ashamed, depressed, and anxious due to financial worries. This isn’t something to be ashamed of, but it is important that you can face up to it and get the help you need.
To help reduce the financial worries of the staff, we the Staff Support Hub have collaborated with the MoneyHelper to add some useful finance calculators to our website.
We have a range of free financial tools including:
Also, this new financial help webpage on our website has got:
To access these tools, please click here. Alternatively, you can find these calculators on our website under the ‘More Support’ tab.
Money worries can impact your mental health.
If you feel your financial worries are affecting your mental health, please call our helpline number at 0808 801 0377 or chat with us online from our website here.
Also, along with Money Charity, we are organising two financial wellbeing webinars this month.
Please click on the below webinar titles for more details and to register.
Please click on the webinar dates below for more details about the webinar and to register.
The Energy Support in Cambridgeshire leaflet has been put together by a few organisations working in collaboration. It contains valuable information including a comprehensive list of financial support to help people manage their energy costs.
A recent report on the cost of living crisis found that nearly 60% of people surveyed were unaware that help is available for struggling households. We hope that sharing information of support there is around can help us reach those who need it.
Households will see a discount of £66 applied to their energy bills in October and November, rising to £67 each month from December through to March 2023. The non-repayable discount will be provided on a monthly basis regardless of whether consumers pay monthly, quarterly or have an associated payment card.
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/400-energy-bills-discount-to-support-households-this-winter
The flyer below can be downloaded and used by community groups to advise those that they support.
Following on from the Connecting Communities Conference 2022, and the Vision for Volunteering event. Support Cambridgeshire partners are excited to bring you Volunteering: Do we need Passports or Passporting? An interactive and informative event where community groups and charities can explore the ideas surrounding the concept of volunteer passports and passporting between volunteer roles.
This event will start with a presentation from Gethyn Williams, who will bring you the theory behind this idea, most recently popularised by a government paper, Levelling up our Communities, which Danny Kruger MP wrote in September 2020 for the (former) Prime Minister, Boris Johnson. Here he will talk through both the concepts of ‘Passports’ (usually used to provide recognition or validation of a volunteer’s activity) and ‘Passporting’ (common systems and processes used by organisations, collaborating around volunteering, designed to make volunteering more efficient for hosts and more streamlined for volunteers themselves) covering the challenges and opportunities of each.
Following this, there will be the opportunity for questions for the audience, with a discussion around the ideas and the possibility of this happening within Cambridgeshire.
Intrested?
Click the button below to sign up
If you haven’t already heard, the last date for the Wellbeing Grant applications is now extended to the end of September. The Staff Wellbeing Grants were launched in June with an aim to provide staff teams with the opportunity to fund an initiative to show appreciation and improve staff morale and wellbeing.
The grants can be used towards a well-being activity of choice. We have had a range of applications for different usage of the grant including the purchase of benches so that the staff can have their lunch together outside, offering a therapeutic massage to all team members, team building events, placing a fruit bowl in the staff room so that the staff always have free access to a supply of fresh fruit and many more!!
Who is it for?
The wellbeing grant is open to all healthcare, social care, the voluntary sector, or not-for-profit sector in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, that includes teams from the:
There will be a maximum of £20,000 for each sector. That is £500 per applicant, but there are conditions! Applicants should submit their application using the application form and should:
To learn more about the terms and conditions and application process, visit our website page here.
Closing Date: End of September 2022
The first ICS Newsletter is here!
Jan Thomas, Chief Executive Officer for Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Integrated Care System (CPICS) and NHS Cambridgeshire & Peterborough (the Integrated Care Board), sets out what’s been happening across the ICS in the first month.
In summary, there has been lots of positive work and a few key developments, NHS Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Board met and appointed new Partner Board Members; Cambridge University Hospital (CUH) NHS Foundation Trust launched a brand new Heart and Lung Research Institute (HLRI) in collaboration with the University of Cambridge. North West Anglia NHS Foundation Trust (NWangliaFT) launched its first-ever Digital, Data and Technology Strategy.
The first-ever Health Inequalities Challenge Prize called on people and organisations to submit plans for new projects to make a positive difference in our local communities. An expert panel judged the applications, and eight finalists have been awarded £3,000 in funding for their project, as well as expert support. You can find out more about the finalists on the ICS website.
Following excellent collaborative work across the Integrated Care System, CPICS have now submitted their plans to NHS England. This revised operational plan takes into account new funding received to mitigate against the impact of inflation (net £25m), as well as the ongoing effects of COVID-19.
Everything at Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Integrated Care System is about improving the health and wellbeing of our local people and communities. If you want to find out more about how the CPICS works, please get in touch with them in the following way;
Follow CPICS on socials – Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter
Read this newsletter in full here
For more information on the ICS – visit their website.
NCVO (National Council for Voluntary Organisations) have just completed a nine-month study on how charities have adapted to face the challenges of covid-19. The Time Well Spent report reveals how the volunteer experience has fundamentally changed and what this means for the future of volunteering.
The Time Well Spent is an NCVO research programme focusing on the volunteer experience. It aims to provide rich, practical insight that will inform debate within the sector and strengthen the impact of volunteering.
It is the fourth in a series of Time Well Spent thematic reports focusing on the impact of the covid-19 pandemic on the volunteering experience.
What did they learn?
For details on the full report, click here
If you work in healthcare, social care, the voluntary or not-for-profit sectors in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough and need someone to talk to, our Staff Support Hub is here for you. The below link allows you to read the latest information and services available to all VCSE organisations offering health and social care services to the community.
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