We are pleased to say that we have been commissioned by Leicestershire County Council to deliver bespoke and CPD accredited Self Harm Awareness and Suicide Bereavement course for workers throughout Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland (eligibility criteria applies, see below for details). We thought that the training may be of interest and do hope you can attend, and/or share this new training to your networks. Information below and attached.

To book please use the Eventbrite link to self-register and book on the dates that suits you:

LLR Self harm awareness training

Self harm awareness training

PLEASE NOTE: You must meet the following eligibility criteria for this funded course:

• Work in Leicestershire, Rutland or Leicester City, UK
• Be a Frontline worker
• Support those who self harm
• Supporting those at risk of self harm

General:

5th December 2022
23rd January 2023 
10th February 2023 

Self harm awareness training – for schools specifically

PLEASE NOTE: You must meet the following eligibility criteria for this funded course:

• Work in Leicestershire, Rutland or Leicester City, UK
• Be a school worker
• Support children and young people who self harm
• Supporting children and young people at risk of self harm

Schools:

2nd February 2023 – 

This document sets out guidance for charities and people who distribute food for free, such as food banks.

Anyone working or volunteering with a food bank or food aid charity should be aware of the information in this guide.

You may need to register as a food business if you, or your operation, provide food to the community on a regular and organised basis, even if it’s free, 28 days before you start providing food.

We have specific advice on how to register as a food business.

Before regularly providing food to the community, contact your local authority food safety team to discuss registration requirements.

As a food business operator, you need to follow the relevant food safety and hygiene requirements, outlined in this guidance. Registering as a food business means your operation will receive inspections from authorised officers and be given a food hygiene rating, if applicable.

If you only occasionally provide food to the community, you may not need to register as a food business. However, the food you provide should still be safe to eat and we recommend you follow the food safety and hygiene best-practices listed in this guide.

If you are unsure, we have scenarios available to read of community food providers that do or don’t need to register as a business.

As a food business operator, your local food safety team can provide further support and advice on matters in this guidance.

We also have food safety and hygiene guidance for hosting or providing food at a community or charity event.

Full document available:  https://www.food.gov.uk/node/12361?print=1

Governance

Trustees are collectively responsible for their charity and ultimately accountable for everything done by the charity and those representing the charity. Trustees must actively understand the risks to their charity and make sure those risks are properly managed; the higher the risk, the greater the expectation and the more oversight is needed. In a large and complex charity, it is normal for the executive to have significant decision-making authority – but the trustees must still be willing and able to hold the executive to account.

Management

To be effective and to meet their statutory duties as charity trustees they must ensure that it is managed in accordance with its governing document and general law. All charities should have appropriately tailored internal policy documents which address the specific risks associated with the kind of activities that are undertaken.

Trustees should ensure that these policies are implemented and reviewed at appropriate junctures. A failure to implement and ensure compliance with internal policy documents could be evidence of misconduct and/or mismanagement in the administration of the charity and can put assets, beneficiaries and a charity’s reputation at risk. The Commission expects trustees to make conscientious and continuing efforts to ensure that they resolve the issues that have already been raised with them by the Commission. Where a previous commitment has been given, the Commission will view non-compliance as evidence of misconduct and/or mismanagement.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/charity-inquiry-muslim-aid/charity-inquiry-muslim-aid

Our figures show that nearly one in ten people who borrowed from loan sharks last year did so to cover the costs of Christmas.

Loan sharks create an environment of fear, intimidation and control for their victims and they will use almost any means to tempt people into taking out a loan with them. They know how to spot people who are vulnerable and who need money. This creates a vicious cycle of debt for those unable to pay back their loans and often leads to serious financial issues, such as families losing their homes or being pushed into extreme poverty because they do not have enough money to survive.

The only way we can put an end to illegal money lending is with your help. Your support means we can reach more people who are at risk, put loan sharks out of business and help victims rebuild their lives. It’s especially important we spread awareness of loan sharks tactics during the festive season when their activity increases dramatically.

Please support our latest campaign #SleighNoToLoanSharks and help spread the message about the risks of illegal lending and how people can access our support. I’ve attached our national press release which can be adapted for local audiences and social media resources can be downloaded from our website here.

Loan sharks present a significant threat to the safety, security and well-being of many individuals in your community. They use deceptive tactics that can isolate people from friends, family and support services. You can put an end to the suffering these criminals inflict on borrowers. We’ll teach you about their tactics and techniques, so you’ll know how to spot and stop them. Please contact me if you would like to book a free training session for your organisation.

The Great Winter Get Together this January is all about events that act as ‘places for connection’.

It can be hard to feel connected with others in the winter months when we might not go out as often, and especially this year as many will be cutting back on social activities due to the cost of living crisis.

Jo Cox said:

“I will not live in a country where thousands of people are living lonely lives, forgotten by the rest of us.”

While in Parliament, one of Jo Cox’s key goals was to turbo-charge the response to the loneliness crisis. She was touched by hearing of people’s isolation when doorknocking in her constituency and had her own experience of loneliness during her time at university.

When we feel lonely, we seek out places for connection. That’s what the Great Winter Get Together is all about. Kicking off on ‘Blue Monday’, from 16-29 January 2023 we’ll be celebrating the events and activities around the country where you can make meaningful connections with new people.

https://www.greatgettogether.org/winter

Why? Because they’ve joined easyfundraising – the online funding platform that allows organisations to receive free funding every time their staff, volunteers, and the local community shop online.

easyfundraising is committed to helping local groups and communities access essential funding – they partner with over 7,000 online retailer who want to give back. It’s simple – when your community shop online, a proportion of what they’ve spent transforms into free funding your organisation can put to good use.

The next payment run is early 2023; what a great start to the year that would be if your organisation joined easyfundraising.

Make sure you’re a part of it. Find out how here: https://www.easyfundraising.org.uk/val/

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easyfundraising is spreading some Christmas cheer by giving away £5,000 in their Advent Calendar giveaway!

To join, sign your organisation up to easyfundraising. easyfundraising partners with over 7,000 brands so your organisation can earn free funding on all online purchases. By signing up, you can be a part of 25 days of advent fun and create an easy and accessible fundraising option your volunteers and the local community can get behind. Remember to spread the word loud and clear with as many people as possible. Every time they open the door, your organisation gets an entry into the big Christmas Day prize.

Plus, they could win daily £100 gift vouchers for brands like M&S, John Lewis, Argos, Boots, Very, and many more. Give your organisation the gift of easyfundraising this Christmas. Sign up here: https://www.easyfundraising.org.uk/val/

Reaching People brings together frontline delivery partners from the Voluntary and Community Sector in Leicester, Leicestershire, and Rutland.

Working together, they develop and provide high quality contract delivery, business and funding opportunities in fields that include health and well being, homelessness, advice and guidance, education and training, and community services.

See below the free training that is available:

• Trustees Programme – 6 sessions starting 18th January 2023
• LLL Coaching – CEO, Trustees and other leaders coaching sessions
• Community Connector Programme
• New to the Sector course – for new VCSE employees, volunteers looking for paid work
• Aspiring Leaders Programme – 8 sessions starting 26th January 2023

Meet the Funders is an event organised by VAL which gives people the opportunity to learn about current funding programmes, float their ideas past potential funders and how VAL can help you to succeed in your future bids.

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The event was held at the Arc Community Hub in Loughborough in two sessions 12.30pm and 3.30pm, with a total of 105 people attending.

The attendees represented 75 VCSE groups based in Leicestershire who discussed the projects that they required funding for with grants officers from:

• Charnwood Community Grants
• East Midlands Airport Community Fund
• Intelligent Energy Charitable Trust
• Leicestershire & Rutland Community Foundation
• North West Leicestershire District Council – Community Grants
• Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner for LLR
• Severn Trent Community Fund
• SHIRE Community Grant – Leicestershire County Council
• The National Lottery Community Fund: Reaching Communities
• Waitrose – Give a Little Love.
• The VAL Sector Support team were also available to give advice and support to groups.

We have had very positive feedback from both the funders and groups that attended the event and will continue to build on this success.

Well done to Heather Jallands for coordinating the event and thanks to all who were on hand to support on the day!

Here is some of the feedback we received:

I thought the event went well and was well organised. The printed summary of each participating organisation was appreciated, as it enabled attendees to prioritise which potential funders were the most relevant for their particular charity and/or project.  For my charity, Leicestershire Search and Rescue, I am planning to follow up the event with a couple of grant applications.

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The introduction was useful as I thought I knew which people I wanted to see but on hearing your introduction realised that there were a couple more worth chatting to.  We are looking for major funding to turn our disused Methodist Church into a village hall and got a very positive feedback from Severn Trent and the lottery fund so thanks again.

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I found the event very useful. I met the funders I wanted to meet, and discussed my project

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It was good to meet other organisations looking for funding and chat to them whilst waiting. I have put my name/organisation down for support with funding applications we are almost ready to submit a National Lottery Heritage Fund (NLHF) application.

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We really enjoyed the event. The little talk at the beginning was useful, helping me to decide which tables to approach, thus saving time. We received positive advice, help and support from several funders. Quite a bit of networking inevitably takes place at this type of event, which is always a positive extra.

A strong and effective ICB and in the long term wider Integrated Care System (ICS) will have a deep understanding of all the people and communities it serves. We want to create a genuine partnership arrangement with the voluntary and community sector, social enterprises, and individual communities, initially with NHS and overtime across all partners.

To help us to deliver this we are excited to announce the launch of the Voluntary, community and social enterprise (VCSE) Alliance and we would like to invite you to join today.

Why join?

If you are a voluntary, charity, social enterprise organisation or support an individual community you can join the VCSE Alliance by clicking here.

Firstly, by creating a login on our website you will have access to our dedicated webspace where you will find a wide range of tools, opportunities and resources including;An online searchable VCSE Alliance Directory of contacts
Applications and opportunities hub

Skills and resources

Mechanism to feed community insight into the Insights, Behaviour and Research Hub.
To become a VCSE Alliance member you will need to add your organisation to the VCSE Alliance Directory so that others will be able to find you. Once you have added your organisation, you will also be invited to join our VCSE Alliance forum.

The forum is hosted on the NHS futures platform where you can:ask or answer questions in the forum, or start a conversation
hear the latest health news, hot topics and updates from other vcs organisations Collaborate with other organisations on shared priorities Share events, opportunities, skills and resource

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Invitation to the formal launch of the VCSE Alliance

Finally, we would like to invite you to attend the VCSE Alliance’s formal launch,

Wednesday 23rd November 2022,
Hosted by the LLR ICB Chair, David Sissling
1pm – 4.30pm
NSPCC National Training Centre, 3 Gilmour Close, Beaumont Leys, Leicester LE4 1EZ.

At this meeting we will focus on primary care, and how we will work with you in the future to influence decision making.

Spaces are limited, so please book early by emailing llricb-llr.beinvolved@nhs.net or calling 07778 467672
We are really excited to work with you to tackle health inequalities, deliver health messages and focus on our priorities.  Join today!

Carried out by the independent researchers at Pro Bono Economics and Nottingham Trent University’s National VCSE Data and Insights Observatory, this survey is essential to understanding the challenges faced by organisations right now, and the scale of support that’s needed. NAVCA is part of the consortium of VCS organisations supporting the work.

The information you provide will help us communicate how the cost of living crisis is affecting our sector. The survey results will be delivered to government as it reviews which sectors will continue to get help with their energy bills in the new year.

The survey will take about 10 minutes to complete. It contains questions about your organisation’s finances, demand for services, staff and volunteers, as well as questions about energy costs. You might want to have your latest accounts and energy bill (if relevant) available. Please complete the survey by Monday 21st November.

The survey can be found here. Thank you for taking the time to complete it.