We’d like to thank you for your contribution to the discussions we held last year as part of the Communities Mission Network. We gained some hugely valuable insight from the sessions that considered how as a system we could ‘improve and develop the cooperation and collaboration between statutory agencies and the voluntary sector’.
To further sense check our work we held a Communities Reference Group session in November, drawing together many of the Essex infrastructure organisation, with support from The National Lottery and Essex Community Foundation. This discussion allowed us to play back our collective thinking and to further fine tune the key prioritises.
Attached is a document that highlights the revised priorities that we are hoping to present at the Essex Partnership meeting in March, in order to take them forward and establish potential working groups, there are also listed here:
Coherent VCS Infrastructure for Essex
Whole system approach to volunteering
Local panels
Strength through collaboration
We will be circulating further details as to what each priority means, its ambition, insights and the key deliverables in March.
As part of the on-going response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Essex County Council is inviting local community and voluntary sector organisations to submit applications to support people to deal with grief and bereavement.
Grants for Brief Solution Focused Bereavement support
The total grant funding available is £400,00 with £100,000 available per quadrant to deliver support.
Quadrants are as follows:
Mid Essex
Braintree
Chelmsford
Maldon
North-East Essex
Colchester
Tendring
South Essex
Brentwood
Basildon
Rochford
Castle Point
West Essex
Uttlesford
Harlow
Epping Forest
Grants of £100,000 per quadrant are being made available to the voluntary and community sector to support children, young people and adults who are struggling to deal with grief and bereavement using brief solution focused bereavement support.
Successful applicants will demonstrate that they can support people and deliver the service face to face, in person or on-line, or as part of a wider group in line with the persons requirements. The successful applicants will deliver the following outcomes:
People will experience improved mental health
People will be less isolated and lonely
People will know how, when, and where to access on-going support
People will have the opportunity to develop increased personal resilience whilst adjusting to their loss
Please see attached full details of our Solution Focussed Bereavement Support Funding Opportunity and how to apply.
The deadline for submission is Friday 26th February 2022.
This virtual training day will support the development of knowledge and understanding around a variety of elements relating to End of Life and Palliative care, including:
Advance Care Planning
Care of the dying patient
Ethical issues
Managing delirium and terminal agitation
Pain Management
Psychological symptoms
Syringe drivers
The day’s learning events will be delivered via TEAMS and the attendees will have the chance to interact and ask questions at the end of each presentation.
Booking is via Eventbrite. A nominal charge of £10 is in place in order to secure your place. You will be sent the meeting link once you have booked your place.
All participants will be emailed a certificate on completion of the evaluation.
The Healthwatch Essex Trauma Ambassador Group is a group of individuals who have come together to utilize their skills and lived experiences to help inform, shape and develop health, care and wellbeing services in line with the aims and ethos of Healthwatch Essex.
Trauma can be defined as an event, or series of events, which are very stressful, frightening, distressing and/or disturbing. Causes of trauma include domestic abuse, sexual abuse, exposure to crime and bereavement; however, it is very much an individual reaction and there is no exhaustive list of causes. It is unusual for any of us to go through our life without experiencing some kind of trauma.
Trauma can be triggered at any stage in a person’s life and occurs when some kind of external factor causes them to recall the event which was traumatic to them. Again, triggers are very personal and hugely varied, but some common examples can include a smell, visual object or a certain word or phrase. The reactions caused by trauma are equally unique, but often can be likened to the symptoms of a panic attack. The instinct of the individual may well be to retreat, shut down on an emotional and/or communicative level, or to react with a desire to protect themselves. Reactions can manifest on a physical, emotional and psychological manner. The effects have a huge impact on the individual personally, not just in the moment when the trigger occurs but for some time after. They can be hugely debilitating and distressing for the individual concerned.
Trauma is by nature unpredictable and affects so many areas of life for those who live with it. It can manifest in the most mundane and unexpected of situations; for example, at a dental appointment or visiting a chiropractor, chatting with another carer at a support group or taking your child for a health check. It can result in the individual withdrawing and disengaging from these services, which leaves them in a position where they may not receive the level of care and support that they need and are entitled to.
It is these inequalities that we aim to address, and to do this ‘we need to bring change’, as Rosie, one of our Trauma Ambassador’s states. The Trauma Ambassador Group, with each individual member’s lived experience of trauma, has come together with the following aims.
To educate and enhance the knowledge and understanding of trauma in those who commission, provide and deliver our health, care and wellbeing services with the aim of improving these services.
To raise awareness of the effects of experiencing and living with trauma, thus creating better understanding within the public and professionals.
To encourage those in similar situations to access support and empower them to improve their experiences.
Flexible working practices are fundamental to the future of work within charities, helping us deliver more for the people and communities we support.
Together with Acevo and Starfish Search, we’ve published a new report which encourages organisations to embrace them. It draws on conversations we’ve had with colleagues across the voluntary sector and explores the various benefits and barriers.
We have six recommendations to make flexible working the norm:
1. Backed by ACEVO and NCVO, the voluntary sector will champion a default position of ‘yes to flex’ – where employers proactively consider how flexibility is possible in the job design for all roles, for everyone.
2. Flexibility to be advertised for all roles – so employers openly lead the conversation about how flexibility can work, and the focus isn’t on the candidate to request it.
3. Organisations and individuals to openly share their stories of how flexibility is working – so that best practice, learning and inspiration are easily available in the sector, confidence is built, and stigma is reduced.
4. Organisations to embrace a position of trust – where individuals are more empowered to manage their time based on outcomes and impact, rather than when and where they work.
5. Organisations to have the courage to experiment, make mistakes, adjust, learn and improve, and be honest about what is and isn’t working while keeping a focus on individual needs.
6. Flexibility to become a central pillar of equity, diversity and inclusion, and wellbeing strategies.
After successfully distributing 2,000 grants to Localgiving members last year, it was our biggest ever Magic Little Grants programme, we’re incredibly excited to announce that 2022 is going to be even bigger and better than ever before! We will be awarding £500 grants to 2,650 charitable organisations on Localgiving. We are so pleased to have expanded the number of grantees this year as we know how popular these grants have proven to our charities. We would like to extend a huge thank you to the support and contributions from the players of the People’s Postcode Lottery.
Applications for Magic Little Grants 2022 will be open from Wednesday 16th March and applications will still take just ten minutes to complete!
Targeted and personalised employment support is being offered to parents in Essex. Thanks to the Essex Opportunities Portal, parents can now book an appointment with a qualified Employment and Skills Advisor. The advisor will provide online, telephone and outreach support. They will discuss individuals’ employment goals and aspirations and have in-depth knowledge of jobs opportunities, careers advice and skills and training. The advisor can also help with things like interview preparations and presentation of CVs.
Funded by Essex County Council and Southend Borough Council, the Essex Opportunities Portal is a one stop shop for information and advice on jobs, careers, skills and training. If you would like to speak with an adviser for information, advice and guidance please call 03330 320509 or email [email protected].
Cllr Louise McKinlay, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Community, Equality, Partnership and Performance of Essex County Council, said: “I am delighted that the new Employment and Skills Advisor is now in post and ready to offer help to parents, identifying new ways to develop their skills or approach a new job, while reflecting on their existing individual family needs and commitments. “This fully supports the delivery of our Everyone’s Essex strategy and is another positive step in our aims to level up the County and widen opportunities and support to our working families, so that more people in Essex can fulfil their potential.”
An online workshop is taking place on Monday 21 which will look at how the Voluntary, Community, Faith and Social Enterprise (VCFSE) will be involved in the Herts and West Essex Integrated Care System when it comes into existence on 1 July this year.
This involvement is a duty of the ICS and its work to improve the health and wellbeing of residents which is why you are invited to join CVS Uttlesford, Rainbow Services (Harlow) and Voluntary Action Epping Forest to help shape the new Alliance for the VCFSE and make sure your voice is heard by the ICS.
An online workshop is taking place from 10am to 12noon on Monday 21 February – the link below will offer further information about the event as well as the opportunity to sign up.
To apply for this position please download and complete the three-part application form at the bottom of this page and send it to [email protected] by the closing date of Friday 25th February 2022.
More people are seeking one-to-one support from Citizens Advice than at any point during the pandemic. That’s according to stark new figures released today which reveal the enormous pressures facing households even before major increases to energy bills kick in this April.
The charity warns that crisis support – including referrals to food banks and advice on emergency one-off grants – is at the highest level on record. Similarly, advice on managing energy debts has reached unprecedented heights.
Dame Clare Moriarty, Chief Executive of Citizens Advice, said:
“Cost-of-living pressures are at boiling point. April’s price hikes haven’t yet hit and already people are turning to our services in record numbers.
“Frontline advisers are hearing desperate stories of families living in just one room to keep warm, people turning off their fridges to save money and others relying on hot water bottles instead of heating due to fears about mounting bills.
“Our data has reached red alert levels. If the government doesn’t act soon and bring forward a package of support for those on the lowest incomes, many more households will be pushed beyond breaking point.”
“Unwelcome records” this January
In January more than 270,000 people sought one-to-one advice from Citizens Advice, topping a previous high of 265,000 who sought the charity’s help in November 2021. Demand for support is now higher than at any point since the pandemic began
A staggering 24,000 people helped by the charity’s advisers required some type of crisis support such as food bank vouchers and charitable payments. This is the highest on record for the charity, passing the previous peak only set in December 2021
In total 13% of people supported by frontline staff at Citizens Advice since the new year have needed some form of crisis support
The number of people supported with energy debts hit more than 8,000, the highest on record. And debts are rising too, with the average energy debt now standing at £1,450, up from £1,330 in 2020
How to support low-income households through the cost-of-living crisis
To help people weather the cost-of-living crisis, Citizens Advice is urging the government to bring forward a package of measures.
This includes a one-off grant to help people with energy bills to be paid through the benefits system this April, and an expanded Warm Home Discount scheme for Winter 2022 when prices are due to rise again.
“They just keep taking money from all angles” – mother-of-two Ruth from Sunderland
Ruth, 26, lives in a two-bed house with her two young children. She has found her bills rising uncontrollably over the last few months.
“I’m struggling to get by, the money just keeps going up and up and up. They just keep taking money from all angles.
“I knew my energy bills were going to go up but didn’t realise it would go up this much. This week we’ve been living on rations and I’ve thought about ringing the food bank but it’s half an hour away and I can’t afford a taxi or bus.”
“I’ve had to dip into my rent money just to buy some nappies and washing powder. We’ve been spending most of our time at my Nana’s just for some heating and electricity.”
“It feels absolutely relentless” – Rebecca Shiers, energy adviser at Citizens Advice Plymouth
“This is the worst I’ve ever seen. The amount of people seeking help and the stories I’m hearing, it feels absolutely relentless.
“I’ve spoken with a widower who’d built up energy debts trying to keep his home warm for his terminally ill wife. He’s scared about how he’s to repay those arrears and how he’ll cope with further price rises. I’ve also helped a veteran who can’t work due to PTSD. They needed crisis support because rising energy bills are pushing them into the red each and every month.
“I usually spend time with people reviewing and challenging their budgets to see where savings can be made. With prices rocketing for most people I’m getting to the point where there’s nothing left to cut from.”
Notes to editors
Our model of the number of people who sought advice from Citizens Advice in this period is based on data for one-to-one phone advice covering England and Wales. It does not include Citizens Advice consumer service or Witness Service data. Comparison period is defined as April 2020-January 2022. Citizens Advice transitioned to phone and online services when lockdown restrictions were imposed on 23 March 2020. Comparable data on demand for the charity’s services from before April 2020 is not available. This model estimates that over 270,000 people sought advice in January 2022.
Comparable data on one-to-one advice provided with crisis support goes back to 2019. Comparable data on one-to-one advice provided with energy debts is available back to 2014.
Of the estimated over 270,000 people who sought advice in January 2022, Citizens Advice supported just under 181,000. Just over 24,000 of those clients were referred for crisis support.
The median fuel debt arrears held by people who undertook a debt assessment between 1 January 2021 – 31 December 2021 was £1446. The median fuel debt arrears held by people who undertook a debt assessment between 1 January 2020 – 31 December 2020 was £1327.
Citizens Advice is made up of the national charity Citizens Advice; the network of independent local Citizens Advice charities across England and Wales; the Citizens Advice consumer service; and the Witness Service.
Our network of charities offers impartial advice online, over the phone, and in person, for free.
We helped 2.4 million people face to face, over the phone, by email and webchat in 2020-21. And we had 40 million visits to our website. For full service statistics see our monthly publication Advice trends.
Citizens Advice service staff are supported by more than 21,000 trained volunteers, working at over 2,600 service outlets across England and Wales.
Citizens Advice is the largest provider of free, multi-channel debt advice. Providing that help gives Citizens Advice unique insight into the types of debts people struggle with.
Citizens Advice is the statutory consumer advocate for energy and postal markets. We provide supplier performance information to consumers and policy analysis to decision makers.
The Citizens Advice Witness Service provides free and independent support for both prosecution and defence witnesses in every criminal court in England and Wales.
Citizens Advice also offers Pension Wise appointments across England and Wales.
You can get consumer advice from the Citizens Advice consumer service on 0808 223 1133 or 0808 223 1144 for Welsh language speakers.