News

This is where we’ll post third sector news and important updates that are useful for your organisation.

Business Development Manager – Action for Family Carers

Up to £40k
Up to 35 hours per week

Responsibilities will include:
•            Developing networks of stakeholders
•            Proactively seeking new income streams from private and public sectors
•            Securing grants and contracts
•            Growing income from fundraising and donations
•            Demonstrable financial outcomes

You will need to be:
•            Passionate about supporting adult and young carers
•            Driven by results and impact
•            Able to support and motivate staff and volunteers
•            Highly organized and proactive
•            Able to work flexibly and independently across Essex

Call James Clarke CEO for an informal discussion of the role and future plans for the charity.
Go to our website for full details: https://affc.org.uk/about-action-family-carers/work-us

Author: Alliance Admin
Posted:
Categories: News

The Maternity Pledge

The Maternity Pledge provide support for the transition into motherhood, otherwise known as matrescence.

They do this through our workplace pledge and unique Matrescence Packs.

The Maternity Pledge aims to change this.

Our workplace pledge and complementary handbook encourage employers to support pregnant employees and new mothers, and our Matrescence Packs provide unique information and tools to help employees have a positive birth and navigate their own matrescence. Our Matrescence Club for new mothers supports them during their maternity leave with good mood content, wellbeing advice and coaching tips to help them transition back into the workplace. Put together, the commitment of the pledge and tools that accompany it help your business to value its employees and have a productive and positive workplace.

You may be managing your first maternity leave as an employer or already have maternity practices in place. Wherever you are in your journey, by joining The Maternity Pledge you can proudly display and demonstrate your support and commitment to making your workplace one that values pregnant employees and new mothers.

And just a small note on the language you’ll find on the website and in the Matrescence Packs. The Maternity Pledge has made the decision to use ‘mother’ and ‘motherhood’ as inclusive terms. In 2019 UK law determined “Being a mother, is the status given to the person who undergoes the physical and biological process of being pregnant, carrying and giving birth to a child.” At The Maternity Pledge we extend that language to include those who adopt or go through surrogacy as well.

The Pledge.

  • Fulfil the legal requirement for pregnancy in the workplace and maternity leave and give my employee the support they need to do their job so they feel safe and secure in their work environment

  • Create a maternity leave and return to work plan with my employee so they know what to expect before they go on maternity leave and understand that they can make changes to the plan during their maternity leave

  • Communicate effectively with all my employees about how maternity leave works, how it will affect them and their role in the business

  • Help my employee maintain an emotional connection with the workplace so they do not feel anxious about being on maternity leave and their subsequent return to work

  • Support their return to work with as much flexibility and care for their wellbeing as possible

Join the pledge today. 

Author: Alliance Admin
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Categories: News

‘Here to help’: Commission launches new push on trustee guides as sector faces challenging year

The Charity Commission is launching the next stage of its campaign to raise awareness of core trustee duties and guidance available as the sector faces challenges ahead.

Today (2nd February 2023), the Charity Commission is launching the next stage of its campaign to raise awareness of core trustee duties and the guidance available to charities.

The Commission has developed a collection of short and engaging guidance on issues ranging from safeguarding people to managing conflicts of interest. Dubbed the ‘5-Minute Guides’, the collection serves as a basic toolkit for trustees who are managing the many demands of running a charity.

The latest phase of the campaign, running from 2nd February to 16th March, aims to raise awareness of, and boost use of, the 5-minute guides. The regulator hopes this will increase knowledge and understanding of essential trustee duties. This comes as charities face additional challenges due to cost-of-living pressures.

The Commission’s latest research shows that around 98% of trustees feel ‘very’ or ‘somewhat’ confident in managing or governing their charity but, when questioned on basic role requirements, on average, trustees answered just 7 out of 10 questions correctly – demonstrating a knowledge gap that could lead to unintentional governance failings.

The core suite of 5-minute guides cover the following subject areas:

  • Delivering purpose – advice on how to use your charity’s governing document, how to deliver on your charity’s purposes and the law.
  • Managing finances – advice on how to ensure your charity’s money is safe, properly used and accounted for.
  • Conflicts of interest – advice on how to identify and deal with conflicts of interest in your charity.
  • Making decisions – advice on how to make valid trustee decisions that are in your charity’s best interests.
  • Reporting information –advice on how and what you need to report to the Commission.
  • Safeguarding people – advice on your responsibilities to keep everyone who comes into contact with your charity safe from harm.
  • Political activity & campaigning – advice for charities that want to support, or oppose, a change in government policy or the law.

Paul Latham, Director of Communications and Policy at the Charity Commission, said:

We know that this will be a tough year for charities. When approaching difficult decisions, we want trustees to feel certain of the rules in these uncertain times. Our 5-minute guides act as a core syllabus – offering trustees engaging, informative content covering the basics all trustees should know. With advice readily available, we encourage trustees to refresh their knowledge and fill any gaps so that they can best serve their charities – and those who rely on them.

The Commission’s guidance is not yet the first port of call for many trustees. Commission research shows that they often first seek advice from a fellow trustee or colleague (70%) or look online (59%). However, an overwhelming majority of trustees who use the regulator’s guidance find it helpful (94%) and most (89%) trustees who have used the 5-minute guides would recommend them to others.

The previous campaign phase in 2022 saw the percentage of surveyed trustees aware of the 5 Minute Guides rise from 23% to 40%. Furthermore, of the trustees who have read one or more of the 5-minute guides, 39% reported to have taken or intend to take an action as a result of reading them.

The full collection of 5-minute guides can be found at: Advice and guidance for Charity Trustees – Getting the most out of being a charity trustee

Notes to editors:

Press office

Email [email protected]

Out of hours press office contact number: 07976 942355

  1. The Charity Commission is the independent, non-ministerial government department that registers and regulates charities in England and Wales. Its purpose is to ensure charity can thrive and inspire trust so that people can improve lives and strengthen society.
  2. The Charity Commission data comes from ‘Charity trustee research 2022’ which can be viewed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/research-into-public-trust-in-charities-and-trustees-experience-of-their-role/charity-trustee-research-2022

Author: Alliance Admin
Posted:
Categories: News

Essex Multiply Community Grant information and Application Form 2022/23

Introduction to Multiply in Essex

 

The Government’s Multiply programme is focused on raising participation in learning and attainment in Maths for adults aged 19 and over.

 

ECC has submitted an investment plan seeking the maximum allocation of £7.9m, which is the largest of any county in England. Allocation of fund for 2022/23 has been awarded.

 

More information can be found at: Decision Details: Submission of investment plan for ‘Multiply’ adult numeracy programme. 

 

This will help address the crucial skills gaps in Essex, which ranked 114 out of 151 local authorities in England – the 38th lowest – in terms of the proportion of 16-64 year olds with an NVQ3 or above.  

 

As a result, Essex has secured the fifth largest funding allocation in the country and the largest allocation for a single local authority. 

 

Essex Multiply Project

 

Multiply aims to raise participation in learning and attainment in Maths up to NVQ2 for adults aged 19 and over. Failure to attain this level of Maths is often a barrier to progressions to higher learning and in work. Attainment at Entry Level 3 can even bar access into technical apprenticeships at NVQ2.  The Multiply scheme will go beyond traditional maths and will also focus on everyday numeracy skills to help adults with household budgeting, debt management, bargain hunting, and with their children’s homework, etc.

 

The project aims to offer short courses and support that will help adults to cope with the cost of living, to help their children with their schoolwork, to access employment, and to progress in work.  The project aims to whet Essex adults’ appetite for learning through short practical courses that offer maths tools that are useful to residents and families in their everyday lives.   

 

The Government has confirmed the initial grant of £2.4m to ECC to deliver 3,450 opportunities by March 2023. By March 2025, 14,200 residents will participate in education/training: supporting businesses to upskill their workforces, helping parents to support their children’s learning and to offer adults more effective tools with which to manage their money better.  

 

Multiply will support ECC’s objectives as set out in the Everyone’s Essex strategy to support Good Jobs and Future Growth by increasing the skills of Essex residents and workers. It will also support ECCs Levelling Up Essex White Paper which aims to level up priority places and disadvantaged cohorts across Essex. Multiply will also deliver bespoke modules to meet the skills needs of employers in sectors which are set to grow as set out in our Sector Development Strategy and those that are struggling with skills shortages. 

 

Community Grants

 

Community grants will be awarded for this year’s Multiply allocation and more funding will be available in the subsequent 2 years. Grants are available up to £10,000 per proposal and up to £300,000 is allocated for 2022/23 in Essex.

 

We are now able to accept community grant proposals from partners /organisations across the Community, Voluntary and Public Sectors to support the following:

 

  • Provide community outreach for Multiply – to stimulate demand for learning amongst the most disadvantaged groups that skills providers currently find hard to reach 
  • Triage services to identify appropriate support and training for Essex residents
  • Referrals to Multiply provision 
  • Provide ongoing support to the adults that you refer to Multiply provision
  • Enable Multiply provision to be delivered from your premises 
  • Work with local Multiply providers to co-design and co-produce delivery of training
  • Grants will be based on a minimum agreed number of (40 – 60) adults participating in Multiply.

 

Provider Application

 

Please complete and return to [email protected] 

Closing date for applications is 11th November 2022

 

Name of Organisation / Provider
Address of Organisation / Provider
Contact name, telephone and email details
Date of Application
Area/s your proposal will cover
How much funding would you like to apply for (maximum – £10,000 per proposal)
Number of adults your proposal will support 
Number of starts on Multiply learning your proposal will deliver (minimum 40-60)
Proposed start date of delivery 
Proposed end date of delivery 
Additional information

 

Details of your proposal for Essex Multiply Provider Grant based on criteria outlined above (please outline your project plan below – maximum 1 side of A4)

 

Author: Alliance Admin
Posted:
Categories: News

Men’s Shed are looking to open new sheds

Since the first Men’s Shed was successfully established in Essex in 2014, we’ve been working with organisations and volunteers across the county to establish many more and help combat the loneliness and isolation afflicting our communities.

But many of the existing Sheds in Essex are now over-subscribed, so we need help to identify premises or organisations that could accommodate more Shed groups for the benefit of their local community.

We work with local councils, voluntary organisations, charities and groups of private individuals to get Sheds off the ground, so if you are interested in having a Shed in your community please contact us and we’ll provide all the support and guidance needed to start a successful Community Shed Group.

Call: 07897 245675 / 07935 216806 Email: [email protected]

@mensshedsinessex

www.essexshednetwork.co.uk

Author: Alliance Admin
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Categories: News

Don’t Be Invisible – complete your Youth Sector Census return now

The National Youth Agency is passionate about the right of every young person to be able to access the personal, social, and educational development opportunities provided by youth work. As the professional, statutory and regulatory body for youth work in England and with support from the Department for Culture, Media and Support, we conduct an annual National Youth Sector Census to create an accurate understanding of youth sector provision. This helps to inform policy making, commissioning and funding for youth work. By completing the Census:

 

·                It increases organisations’ visibility to Government, commissioners and prospective partners who might benefit from their expertise / services   

·                It helps to demonstrate a local need for provision and help to get more funding flowing into organisations’ area and supports our work to build the national case for investment in youth work  

·                By completing the Census, organisations gain access Youth Work One.

·                An interactive digital map of current youth work provision which allows you understand the picture of youth work provision in your area 

·                It only takes 15 minutes to complete

The NYA needs your help to ensure that everyone who delivers youth work has an opportunity to complete the Census and provide a clearer picture of where youth work is taking place and how it is funded.  We are hoping that you would be able to distribute this call for action through your networks. I enclose a Comms toolkit which contains email, newsletter, and social media copy that could be used.

 

 More information on the Census can be found here: https://www.nya.org.uk/national-youth-sector-census/

Author: Alliance Admin
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Categories: News

Sign up to an Introduction to Counselling course with Renew Counselling and Training– starting this April

Join Renew for an engaging introduction to the world of counselling. Whether you’re considering further counselling study, or you’re looking to improve your interpersonal skills, this course is an excellent platform to increase your understanding.

This course is perfect for people in caring professions or those looking to improve their communication and leadership skills.

Over 12 weeks, we’ll cover:

  • The professional context of counselling
  • Communication skills in helping relationships
  • An introduction to personal development and theory

Classes take place once a week at our Sadlers House counselling centre in Chelmsford.

We’re proud to be known as a centre for excellence for both our counselling and training offer. While Renew is rooted in over 100 years of history, we’re also a dynamic and forward-looking organisation that places high importance on learning and continuous professional development.  Our specialist training is exciting, innovative and meets BACP training standards.

Find out more by heading to our website or by getting in touch with our team via [email protected] or 01245 359353.

Author: Alliance Admin
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Acute Social Prescribing Link Worker – UCAN

Location: The Princess Alexandra Hospital NHS Trust
Contract Type: Fixed Term – Seven Months ( Potentially extendable with additional Funding)
Salary: £20,000 – £27,000 (Based On Experience)
Hours of Work: Part –time. 3 Days.
Position Accountable To: Chief Executive – Uttlesford Community Action Network (UCAN)
Position Line Managed By: Operations Manager – UCAN
Job Context:
This post will operate within the Princess Alexandra Hospital NHS Trust as part of the Complex Discharge Team to facilitate and expedite hospital discharges.  Employed within the Voluntary sector this exciting role is intended to work with individual patients and their families to support effective discharge planning.  This is new role intended to act as an expert in voluntary care and in leveraging community voluntary services in support of post-acute hospital care. 

This role is part of ambitious plans for transforming care and ensuring timely and appropriate discharge arrangements. The post holder will be expected to operate flexibly and collaboratively with all stakeholders, demonstrating practical skills and excellent communication and                  co-ordination.  The role will be part of a multi-disciplinary team and will be central to the delivery of supported hospital discharge and post-acute care.  

The post will be employed by Uttlesford Community Action Network (UCAN), which is working in partnership with the health and social care system to deliver high quality patient care.  This role is critical to supporting the systems ambition to optimise hospital discharges and to support effective post-acute care. 

 

Job Summary:
The post holder will work as part of a multi-disciplinary team to support hospital discharges and to co-ordinate and support post-acute care arrangements provided by the voluntary sector.  The aim is to leverage the support of the voluntary sector and to empower people to take control of their health and wellbeing and to maintain their independence.  

The focus of the role will be to support patients admitted to hospital, making decisions for themselves rather than being more dependent upon others. The post holder will be asking ‘What do you need help with?’ and seeking to find solutions that help maintain independence. By having knowledge of community and voluntary support groups and focusing on ‘what matters to me’ the post holder will take a holistic approach, connecting people to community groups and statutory services for practical and emotional support. 

The aim of the role will be to help to strengthen personal resilience, to reduce health inequalities by addressing the wider determinants of health and wellbeing and to provide practical support to achieve a safe and timely discharge from hospital. 

The post holder will work with all patient groups, but particularly with patients that are vulnerable and those with complex care needs which affect their ability to maintain independence.

 

Key Duties and Responsibilities:
Referrals

  • Promote social prescribing and its role in supporting self-management, within the context of facilitating timely hospital discharge.
  • Actively promote and support the concept of ‘Ticket Home’ helping patients and their families to co-ordinate discharge and to support their post-acute care.
  • Build relationships with key staff in the hospital, particularly ward staff and the complex hospital discharge team.
  • Act as a conduit between the hospital and voluntary services, actively supporting the co-ordination of tasks to facilitate independent living and timely discharge.
  • Monitor referrals for voluntary support, working and communicating effectively with locality community hubs and PCN Social Prescribing Link Workers.
  • Work in partnership with all local agencies to raise awareness of social prescribing and how partnership working can reduce pressure on statutory services, improve health outcomes and enabling a holistic approach to care.
  • Seek regular feedback about the quality of services and the impact of acute social prescribing on supporting timely discharge – our primary aim is to co-ordinate voluntary support to optimise patient self-management and to facilitate timely discharge to hospital capacity.

Provide personalised support

  • Give people time to tell their stories and focus on ‘what matters to me’. Build trust with the person, providing non-judgmental support, respecting diversity and lifestyle choices. Work from a strength-based approach focusing on a person’s assets.
  • Be a friendly source of information about voluntary support networks and approaches.
  • Help people identify the wider issues that will impact on the patient’s ability to manage their own care, following discharge from hospital.  This will inevitably focus on practical issues such as shopping, medicines collection, social contact and informal care support (outside of statutory care provision) health and wellbeing, such as debt, poor housing, being unemployed, loneliness and caring responsibilities.
  • Work with the person, their families and carers and consider how they can all be supported through social prescribing and the voluntary sector to support post-acute care.
  • Help people maintain or regain their independence through living skills, adaptations, enablement approaches and simple safeguards.
  • Work with individuals to co-produce a simple personalised support plan – based on the person’s priorities, interests, values and motivations – including what they can expect from the groups, activities and services they are being connected to and what the person can do for themselves to improve their health and wellbeing.
  • Where appropriate, facilitate the introduction of people to community groups, activities and statutory services. 
  • Where people may be eligible for a personal health budget and/or direct payment support, help them to explore this option as a way of providing funded, personalised support.
  • Develop a team of volunteers to provide ‘buddying support’ for people leaving hospital.
  • Co-ordinate post discharge calls for a period of up to six weeks post discharge, monitoring patient wellbeing and escalating any concerns to the appropriate statutory and voluntary providers. 

General tasks, including data capture

  • Work sensitively with people, their families and carers to capture key information, enabling tracking of the impact of social prescribing on their discharge plan.
  • Encourage people, their families and carers to provide feedback and to share their stories about the impact of social prescribing in supporting timely, facilitated hospital discharge and post-acute care needs.
  • Support referral agencies to provide appropriate information about the person they are referring. Use the case management system to track the person’s progress. Provide appropriate feedback to referral agencies about the people they referred.
  • Work closely with GP practices within the PCN to ensure that social prescribing referral codes are inputted into EMIS and SystmOne and that the person’s use of the NHS can be tracked, adhering to data protection legislation and data sharing agreements.

Professional development

  • Work with your line manager to undertake continual personal and professional development, taking an active part in reviewing and developing the roles and responsibilities.
  • Adhere to organisational policies and procedures, including confidentiality, safeguarding, lone working, information governance, and health and safety.
  • Work with your line manager to access regular ‘clinical supervision’, to enable you to deal effectively with the difficult issues that people present.

Miscellaneous

  • Work as part of the team to seek feedback, continually improve the service and contribute to business planning.
  • Undertake any tasks consistent with the level of the post and the scope of the role, ensuring that work is delivered in a timely and effective manner.
  • Duties may vary from time to time, without changing the general character of the post or the level of responsibility.

 

General Duties:
Health and Safety/Risk Management 

The post holder will take all reasonable care not to endanger themselves or anybody else by any act or omission as stated by the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.

The post-holder must comply at all times with the Health and Safety policies, in particular by following agreed safe working procedures and reporting incidents using the organisations and practices Incident Reporting System. 

Equality and Diversity 

The post-holder must co-operate with all policies and procedures designed to ensure equality of employment. Co-workers, patients and visitors must be treated equally irrespective of gender, ethnic origin, age, disability, sexual orientation, religion etc. 

Special Working Conditions 

The post-holder is required to travel independently between practice sites (where applicable), and to attend meetings etc. hosted by other agencies. 

Confidentiality

The post holder must at all times maintain complete confidentiality of the material and information that they handle. Any matters of a confidential nature, or in particular, information relating to diagnosis and treatment of patients and individual staff records must, under no circumstances be divulged or passed onto any unauthorised person or persons.  The post holder must respect patient named confidentiality in keeping with ‘Caldicott principles’.  

Data Protection

The post holder is required to ensure that any personal information obtained, processed or held (on a computer or otherwise), is done so in a fair and lawful way and that the data held and processed is only for the specified registered purposes, in particular personal data relating to patients.  

Business Conduct, Governance and Standards

UCAN aim to maintain the goodwill and confidence of its own staff and of the general public. To assist in achieving this objective it is essential that, at all times, the post holder carries out their duties in a courteous, sympathetic manner. 

The post holder is required to comply with all policies and procedures in force and ensuring that the reporting requirements, systems and duties of action put into place by UCAN are complied with.

In upholding the good governance and standards, UCAN has an operations framework, which the post holder is expected to comply with and failure in this regard may lead to disciplinary action.  

Equal Opportunities

The Company has an Equal Opportunities Policy. The aim is to ensure that no individual receives less favourable treatment on the grounds of disability, age, sex, sexual orientation, marital status, race, colour, creed, ethic/national origin. Whilst the Company recognises specific responsibilities fall upon Management, it is also the duty of all employees to accept personal responsibility for the practical application of the Policy.

Training & Development

The successful post holder will be expected to be responsible for his/her continuing professional development and to take a proactive approach to maintaining personal and professional effectiveness in an evolving role.

Rehabilitation of Offenders Act

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.  

This job description is not a definite or exhaustive list of responsibilities but identifies the key responsibilities and tasks of the post holder. The specific objectives of the post holder will be subject to review as part of the individual performance review process.

Download application form here.

Application Form can be returned to  [email protected]

If you would like to discuss this role further, please email [email protected]

Or call 01371 404474 to arrange a convenient time to discuss role.

Author: Alliance Admin
Posted:
Categories: News

One Week To Go – Demystifying Mental Health Care at the end of life

Compassionate Tendring network workshop is taking place on Weds 22 Feb at Clacton Town Hall, starting 10am, with refreshments and networking from 9.30am.

We hope that you can make this event that is focussed on Demystifying Mental Health Care at the end of life and includes guest speakers from the SNEE Integrated Care Partnership, Ending Life’s Taboos, Improving Access to Psychological Therapies and Mind.

The poster below and attached describes what you can expect from Compassionate Tendring workshops + future workshop dates.

Compassionate Tendring is a collaborative network that includes residents, organisations, groups, businesses and service providers, who come together to learn from each other and help improve end of life care for everyone. We support kindness, compassion, and a belief that everybody has a role to play in caring for one another at times of health crisis and personal loss.

Please let me know if you can make it and haven’t already accepted via the calendar invite – and please do share with anyone else who has an interest in helping improving end of life care in North East Essex.

For more information about Compassionate Communities see our  Compassionate Communities NEE February Newsletter including details of FREE Compassionate Conversations awareness training.

Author: Alliance Admin
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Explore Resident Survey Findings with New Essex Open Data Dashboard

The Essex Resident Survey is Essex County Council’s biggest survey exercise and aims to generate insights on residents’ aspirations, views and values, helping to shape strategy, and to inform key delivery programmes and our engagement with residents.

With almost 6,000 residents responding to the 2022 survey, it allows us to better understand the diversity of views and experiences within the county across a range of geographies and cohorts.

A new interactive data dashboard recently published on Essex Open Data allows users to explore the findings from the 2022 survey, where they can:

  • View the data by topic – the findings from the survey are categorised by topic such as personal wellbeing, volunteering, views towards the local area, and attitudes towards the environment and climate change.
  • Focus on specific cohorts and locations – the data can be viewed both the whole Essex level and for particular sub-groups and geographies, including individual districts.

For more information and to access the dashboard, visit: https://data.essex.gov.uk/dataset/29wzo/essex-resident- survey-2022-dashboard

Author: Alliance Admin
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