Banking Woes for Charities: A Persistent Problem

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Managing finances for small community organisations has always been a hassle. The process has been far from smooth, from cumbersome paperwork to limited online access. The pandemic exacerbated these issues, with many banks closing their doors or restricting services for charities.

NCVO and Chairty Finance Group’s recent report sheds light on the charitable sector’s ongoing challenges. While it confirms what many of us already know, it also signifies a crucial step toward addressing this persistent problem.

To read the full NCVO article : Click Here 

 

Cambridgeshire and Peterborough + Voluntary Sector Network – Update Bulletin – December 2024

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The December edition of the Voluntary Sector News is here. Please get in touch with Sandie Smith or Debbie Drew if you would like to know more about any of our work. Please pass this on to colleagues who may be interested.

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The Voluntary Sector Network meeting – 13th November 2024

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Chair Sandie Smith

Laura Porro

Laura attended the meeting to give an update on the ICS People Strategy. This has been a co-produced piece of work and is to cover the next 5 years.

It has been decided to have 5 mission areas.

  • A more integrated and flexible workforce.
  • An attractive system-wide career offer.
  • A workforce with the skills and leadership for the future.
  • An equal, diverse and inclusive workforce.
  • Strong foundations for working together.

Nine actions have been shortlisted and prioritised from a long list of 69 identified actions. These will be taken forward by task and finish groups which will start in 2025.

The strategy is now being written and will include a traditional written strategy but will also have an interactive webpage to encourage more engagement.

As each chapter is written we will bring it back to the VSN for feedback. We want to ensure that we have the language right for all parties.

Laura has consulted the VSN strategy and has an advanced awareness of the voluntary sector so is making sure that this new strategy matches ours where appropriate.

The ICB are aware that changes sometimes take too long to happen/ implement, so we are looking at a different style of delivery method. We plan to have some smaller task and finish groups so work can be done in the background and thus speed up delivery. We may at this point come to the voluntary sector for involvement.

It was raised that some of the contracts from Health and other statutory bodies are now asking employers to pay the Real Living Wage which most organisations want to aspire to. However the cost implications for this are just not with raising the lower wages but having to up all wages. This was an issue before the government then asked for more

contributions. It was asked that there could be a commitment to the understanding of this.

Laura asked how this could be captured in the strategy.

ACTION Sandie to liaise with KS, SA, and JL and send out a paragraph to include in the strategy to reflect this.

It was acknowledged that there have been increased opportunities for training which has been taken up my some of the VSN members.

There is a willingness for some secondments into and from the ICS but the process for this needs consideration.

Director Update- Sandie

STRATEGY- the consultation on the strategy and action plan is now complete. It has been taken to the steering group and Andrea and Sandie have presented it to several ICS committees and a few tweaks have been made. Andrea will be taking it to the ICB executive meeting to get approval and then it will go to the Investment, Commissioning, improvement and Reform Committee in December. The Steering group will then sign this off ready for the launch at the January VSN meeting. A work plan will then be put in place to address actions.

NEW MODEL OF CARE- we have had some briefings on this and the aim is for there to be a digital improvement with an aim to make systems compatible and thus easy for all.

A workshop has been held around the potential providers of digital platforms. Invites went out to the Voluntary sector as well as others and included people with lived experience. When we have more information we will share it with the group.

NORTH PLACE DEVELOPMENT MEETING- Sandie had asked for people who may be interested in this after being offered some places for the voluntary sector. We had a lot of interest in this and Sandie has spoken to the chair to look at priorities for the areas and see which organisation was best placed. Sandie thanked people for their enthusiasm for this and those who have not been offered a place this time may find other opportunities are just around the corner. There are no notes for these meetings but Sandie said she may be able to include something from North and South in her news bulletins.

ACTION Sandie to source items for newsletter/ bulletin for future.

A mention of the Poverty Strategy Commission for Cambridgeshire- If groups want to submit evidence for the commissioners then they can do. Several organisations are involved including DISH, Reimagine, CAB and Sunnetwork.

Peterborough also has had the Poverty Truth Commission. This is due to end soon and they are holding a big event in February.

ACTION Sandie to include both links in the next newsletter.

MEETINGS- the next meeting is an in-person meeting being held in Hartford Village Hall. We have 3 of the Assura/ICB-funded projects coming to share their success and if any other Assura/ICB projects or collaborations would like to present please contact Debbie or Sandie.

We have had interest nationally in these funded projects as we worked with the Integrated neighbourhoods and NAVCA will be attending the December meeting and doing some filming.

Karen Nolan from Assura (Head of Social Impact) has also asked to attend.

We have invited Matthew Smith to present the ICS Outcomes Framework.

PLACE ON ICB BOARD- The steering group had been invited to submit a letter of request for a VSN place on the ICB board. The letter has been submitted and we are awaiting a response. Across the country, some VSNs have a place others do not.

VCSE Reps

We are pleased to say we have been offered 2 more places for VCSE reps. One for the Quality Performance and Finance Board and one for the People Board. These places will be funded until the end of the financial year.

ACTION – to send an email for Expressions of Interest to VSN members.

FEEDBACK– Miriam, Lynda and Keith were all present and fed back about the meetings they attended.

Miriam said that her committee had been looking at the wider impacts of the system ie planning permissions being given to fast food outlets near the school when childhood obesity is on the increase.

She was also pleased to hear that the impact on people who use a service, when late decisions on future funding happen was considered.

Action log

This was complete except for the sharing of slides from North Place from the last meeting. Debbie said she had been in contact with Abby and they would be with us soon for sharing.

AOB

Hunts Forum have AGM on 27th Nov CCVS has theirs on 28th Nov and PVCS on 14th.

Debbie reminded the group about the showcase event on 20th November

Support Fenland, Development Officer update

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Since joining the Support Fenland team just over three months ago it’s been a very busy time, with the project continuing to gather momentum. As a resident of Fenland and also having worked locally in the charity sector, I feel privileged to play my part in helping local groups and organisations flourish in their communities.

One of the first tasks was to plan our official launch at the Queen Mary Centre in Wisbech on 24th September. It was a great success, with over 40 group representatives and stakeholders attending. After a presentation about the project, we gathered valuable feedback hearing first-hand about some of the challenges and positive aspects experienced by the voluntary sector in Fenland. From this we identified key priorities that the project would focus on going forward.

The project launch on the 24th of September 2024.

Whilst recruiting for our communications role – I was given an extra day a week to fill the gap on an interim basis and that included compiling information for social media and writing and distributing press releases to local newspapers and magazines to heighten awareness of the project. We had some excellent coverage following our launch, and it was good to build rapport with local editors and journalists who are keen to continue to promote Support Fenland.

Here are some of the articles:

Support Cambridgeshire website Support Fenland – Support Cambridgeshire

Cambridgeshire Times Support Fenland project launched to assist communities | Cambs Times

Wisbech Standard  Support Fenland project launched to assist communities | Wisbech Standard

Fenland Citizen – Search – find stories and content on the Fenland Citizen site

Discovering Whittlesea /March magazine

 

The Fens magazine

The publicity has been an excellent springboard to generating more leads and conversations and has resulted in me now working with several voluntary organisations offering support with sourcing grants and funding opportunities. Another of my tasks was to write a communications mapping document highlighting and planning the communication opportunities and challenges which will influence the ongoing and future promotion of the project.

The first few months have also been about meeting, listening, and networking with different groups and looking at ways in which Support Fenland can work collaboratively. These include, I Love Wisbech, Fenland Youth Network, Integrated Neighbourhood Partnership, Collaborative Fenland (Wisbech Community Farm) and Living Sport who recently had a two-day Fenland Place Leadership Programme event in Wisbech which I found extremely beneficial in building rapport with other attendees. (see photo below)

It’s also been a time of working with our colleagues at CCVS (Volunteer Cambs) where we’ve attended events already happening in the district. This has helped to discover how Fenland communities are engaged in current work. It was great to support the team at the Volunteer Fair in Wisbech a couple of months ago and more recently in Whittlesey (see photo below).

The Support Fenland Team supports Volunteer Cambs, staff and community groups. (Whittlesey Volunteer Fair)

Having finalised the action plan for the coming year, there are lots of things in the pipeline centred around networking events and training. Including a networking event on the 3rd of December, Let’s Shape Fenland, where we welcome people to find out more about the project and talk through what’s going on around them and issues they are facing across the district. Click here if your interested to join : Click here

Then, March 2025 is Support Cambridgeshire’s Funding Month, and I’ll be delivering a Fundraising training session with lots of ideas on how to generate extra income for charities and voluntary sector groups. More details on this, plus other training opportunities, will follow soon.

My passion is to see Fenland communities go from strength to strength, and I’m committed to offering groups and organisations the support that they need, including advice and guidance on their group structure, sourcing funding, grant applications, and much more. For further information, please email me at marija@huntsforum.org.uk

Voluntary Sector Network meeting notes – October 16 PCVS Peterborough

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Chair Sandie Smith

Sandie welcomed everyone and thanked Kirsteen and PCVS for providing the venue.

ACTION LOG

All the actions have been completed with action 99 the offer of ReSPECT training about to go out to VSN members within the week.

North Care Partnership and Integrated Neighbourhoods – Dr Abby Richardson & Sara Bailey

Abby gave a presentation explaining where the North Care Partnership covers as well as sharing the priorities for this area.

Abby explained that with the introduction of more comprehensive care plans they had started to see some results. They have completed 3723 care plans for the area.

The patients are coded so the system can see the background activity and can capture some of the associated costs. The quality of the Care Plan has improved for the patient and there already has been a reduction in costs associated with these patients. There is still some way to go to see the full benefits

The My Asthma App now has 5820 people onboarded. This is an app to help people manage their own asthma.

The North Care Partnership have been £180k from the Cancer Alliance this is to do work around increasing the uptake on cervical screening.

Sara gave an overview of the Integrated Neighbourhoods (IN) for the North Partnership. At present there are 12 with one more for Peterborough to be launched. A lot of learning has gone on since the first launch.

Each IN area has a Programme manager and each individual IN has a project manager making the work very localised for a localised need.

It was mentioned that some of the voluntary sector organisations work across North and South and thus some understanding of this needs recognising when priorities etc vary.

There is a North IN Development group that Sandie attends. The group have reviewed their terms of reference and agreed an extra place for a VCSE organisation. Sandie will be asking VSN members for interest.

ACTION– presentation slides to be shared post meeting.

Leesa Murray- Peterborough City Council

Leesa gave the meeting a background of her previous roles and explained that she is now the Commissioner for Adult Social care. She is responsible for contracts as well as quality.

The Local Authority priorities are

Education and Employment for those with LD and Mental Health problems

Supported Living settings- hoping to give people more options of what types of support they need.

To improve the transition from Child to Adult services.

The home and community support tender is due out at the end of the month. Organisations interested should look on Pro Contract

There is a job advert coming out shortly for a mental health commissioner for the team.

The Home Care market is quite buoyant at the moment with plenty of spaces. It is more difficult to find dementia care though.

The council are looking at ways to support carers better and there is soon to be a launch of an App called BRIDGIT this will help identify unpaid carers and point them to the right place to get support etc.

The council are keen for direct payment to be used but do not want it used for agencies. Thus we are working with PCVS looking at the personal assistant role to try and encourage more people to take up these posts and are looking at a wage of £15.49 hr . PCC are actively trying to get care packages uplifted to enable this.

Workwell- Andrea

This is an 18month pilot being funded by DWP. The aim is to get those people who are able to get back into work maybe after an intervention etc. This is not aimed at people with permanent long term conditions.

Allocation for the 4 areas have been agreed. CPSL Mind have Cambridge City, East and South, Fenland DC are covering Fenland, HDC have the contract for Huntingdonshire and the Papworth Trust have the contract for Peterborough.

Phase 1 will run from Oct to March approximately and will look at the spot purchasing options.

There will be small personal budgets for each person and people will be asked what it is they need to get back into work.

Some spot purchasing will be needed but only to purchase a new service or an extension of places to an existing offer.

There will be initial evaluation after 6 months.

The group recognised that often people are off work with stress- is there potential to work with employers on this?

There is also a worry that there will be an increased risk of referrals coming to VS organisations and as with Social Prescribers there will not be finance to support this.

 Director Feedback- Sandie Smith

Sandie attended an away day for VSCE alliance lead recently and found it very useful.

There is an aim to have a National Network of Networks (like the VSN) and Sandie has agreed to support the set up of an Eastern region network.

It has also been agreed that VCSE health alliances, ie our VSN, can join NAVCA.

STRATEGY REVIEW the consultation on this closes next week so there is still time to fill in the survey. Sandie will then finalise the action plan for approval by the VSN Steering Group. ICB approval planned for December. The new plan will be launched in January.

ASSURA MONIES we are still looking to have a second round of grants offered out before Christmas.

Three of the previous grant recipients will present their projects at December’s VSN meeting which is in person meeting.

DECOUPLING OF LDP- the steering group sent a letter to the leader of CCC and to the ICB raising the concerns around this. The steering group are meeting with some relevant partners to discuss this. A question around this was raised at South Place and it may be raised at North too.

FAITH RESEARCH- Hunts Forum have done some work on this and are now looking at Global faiths. The Gather Movement are putting on a conference next year and the VSN will be supporting this.

Reps Feedback

Miriam – several items discussed at recent meeting. The making sure that monies are being allocated to the right areas. The New Model of Care, as well as general ask for approval on investments.

Sharon- Sharon has been contributing to the workforce data group. The strategy is still NHS data. Sharon is happy to share the strategy if anyone is interested.

They are looking at anti racism in the workforce- Roger Cline who wrote the paper “Snowy White Peaks” is being consulted.

Sharon is happy to say the enabler groups have been reduced from 8 to 3.

Andrea mentioned the Health Economics workshop that was due to be held in November but the date has had to be changed – Andrea will keep the group in the loop on this.

AOB

The ask/ offer for VSN organisations to be involved in some mentoring has only seen 2 organisations sign up for this. Please have a think if you could be interested.

ACTION Debbie to resend the info.

There is going to be a Cambridge Poverty conference and 11 commissioners are on board – this includes Tracey for DISH who reported their first meeting had taken place.

DISH have also launched some animations around what they do. They are also holding some awareness sessions in Jan, Feb,March

The next Health and Wellbeing Network meeting is on 7th November  “Support in Difficult times” there will be speaker from Anglia Water, HEAT partnership and Peterborough CAB. To book a place see below (on line)

https://forms.office.com/e/z1nqn1fAkf

The next Showcase event will be 20th November online

Cambridgeshire and Peterborough + Voluntary Sector Network – Update Bulletin – November 2024

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The November edition of the Voluntary Sector News is here. Please get in touch with Sandie Smith or Debbie Drew if you would like to know more about any of our work. Please pass this on to colleagues who may be interested.

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