NorthumberlandCVA ISSUE 1: July 2018 FOUR CORNERS The magazine for voluntary and community organisations in Northumberland Above: Jacqueline Robson from BBC Children in Need discussing funding at our latest Funding Fair in Prudhoe - Page 8 In this issue: • We’re expanding our community payroll service • Checking the health of volunteer-involving organisations • Supported Volunteering works! • Plotting our reach Welcome Welcome to the first issue of our new magazine-style newsletter. Contents The name we’ve chosen, ‘Four Corners’, is significant for a Payroll 3 number of reasons. Firstly, we deliver services across Memberships 4 the whole of Northumberland and so the name refers to the reach we have into all four corners of the county. The name also refers to the four corners of our logo, which in Older People 5 turn relate to our four main organisational objectives that can be summarised as: group development and funding advice, volunteering, community development, Employability 6 and voice and influence. Throughout this first edition of our newsletter you’ll Volunteering 7 be introduced to our team members with a little bit of background information and a photo of each to help you put names to faces. That’s probably a cue to tell Funding & Governance 8 you a little about my own background too, and so you Support can read about me below. Four Corners will be published twice per year in July and in March. Along with our Annual Review, which VCS Assembly 10 is published around October/November time, you can expect a publication every four months to keep you up to date with everything that is happening at Comms 11 Northumberland Community Voluntary Action. We do hope you enjoy our newsletter and we’d love to hear your comments. Please get in touch - simply Room Hire 12 email [email protected] or call 01670 858688. Anne Lyall After initially working in the public sector as a Youth Then, building on our reputation as a deliverer of and Community Worker, developing outreach work in a quality services, she led our success in securing number of deprived areas within a school’s catchment four commissions from Northumberland County area, Anne’s passion to strengthen communities and Council to deliver VCS Support Services throughout engage people in society, led her to work within the Northumberland, a contract that is now in its fifth year. voluntary and community sector, firstly with victims of crime, then in setting up a Volunteer Centre, which Anne has also held a number of trustee positions at eventually merged with other volunteer centres in the national level and was involved in the merger of three county, to form Volunteering Northumberland. national organisations to form Volunteering England. She held the position of Chair and Vice Chair with Anne was appointed as Chief Executive Officer of North East Region of Volunteering Infrastructure (NEVI) Northumberland CVA (then operating as Wansbeck CVS) and was regional representative on England Volunteer eight years ago at a time of major restructure. Development Council. 2 Community Payroll We’re expanding our Community Payroll Service For some years, Northumberland CVA has prepared range of organisations. We take on the administrative the payroll for a small number of local community burden to free our customers to deliver their services. organisations, providing practical support and Our Community Payroll package includes payroll information on any aspect of PAYE and other payroll calculation and the production of monthly/weekly pay related issues. slips, payroll reports, help with queries on payroll, Now, with Rachel onboard, we’re looking at expanding PAYE, National Insurance and HMRC, year-end data, this work and will soon begin to promote our P60’s and automatic enrolment, as well as support Community Payroll service to a wider audience that with any payroll issues, such as absence, SSP, SMP will include small businesses as well as voluntary and and record keeping. community sector organisations. If this is something that would interest you, why The service we offer is comprehensive and not give Rachel a call on 01670 858688 or email competitively priced to meet the needs of a wide [email protected]. Rachel Lewis Since graduating with a BA(Hons) degree in Accounting & Finance from Teesside University, Rachel was employed by private accountancy firms in Newcastle working predominantly on preparing year end accounts and various tax returns, including personal & VAT returns. Rachel also assisted on audits of large privately owned companies and with those of solicitor’s practices, whilst also completing her Association of Chartered Certified Accountants qualification. Rachel has now been with Northumberland CVA for over a year. Memberships Northumberland CVA developing the network and, with a little funding from the Hadrian Trust, Northumberland Trustees’ Network membership was born. As a charitable organisation delivering traditional Now, all trustees of organisations that are members CVS-type support services, Northumberland CVA of Northumberland CVA, and those who are from is now in its fourth decade of working with local organisations operating in Northumberland with a charities and voluntary sector organisations - helping turnover less than £10,000 are eligible to become them to operate legally and effectively, to manage members of the network for free. Non-NCVA member risks and develop skills, to access funding and to organisations in the county with a turnover above that have a voice at local level. amount, may register any or all of their trustees for Infrastructure organisations like ours have a unique only £50 (in total) per year - that’s less than £1 per role to play in supporting a thriving, place-based week, and only pennies per trustee per week if there voluntary sector with all the recognised benefits that are more than one interested in joining. brings to local communities. Having a strong membership in which our members Northumberland VCS Assembly have the right to stand for election to our board of trustees and vote at our AGM helps us to be truly One element of the commission we hold is to representative and to achieve our mission to engage, facilitate the development of Northumberland VCS stimulate and inspire the creation and development Assembly, which is a separate entity - an inclusive, of strong, sustainable and vibrant communities in independent and influential voice for the voluntary Northumberland and the surrounding areas. and community sector in the county. Its role is to inform, engage with, co-ordinate and champion the Membership of Northumberland CVA is free and views of the sector. The Assembly was already in open to any voluntary and community sector groups, existence when we won the commission and we clubs and organisations based within or operating have worked hard to develop its membership and its in Northumberland, regardless of size. Becoming a geographical networks. member of Northumberland CVA allows you to show your support for our mission and influence the way The Assembly has its own separate membership we develop in the future, and whilst being a member and Executive Committee, which is elected from the is not a condition of the majority of our services, we membership and is currently undergoing re-election. do encourage the groups we work with to join. It is free to join, and membership is open to voluntary and community sector organisations, networks, Since winning the Northumberland County Council forums and anyone working for such organisations in commission to deliver VCS support across the a paid or unpaid capacity in Northumberland. county in 2014 though, we have become increasingly aware that there is a great deal of confusion around Find out more about what’s happening with the Northumberland CVA membership and the other Assembly on page 10. memberships we administer. Northumberland Trustees’ Unraveling the confusion Network Northumberland CVA, Northumberland Trustees’ As a result of a scoping exercise we carried out Network, and Northumberland VCS Assembly - three in 2013-14 on behalf of the previous holders of memberships, all with different qualifying criteria. It’s the commission to ascertain the training needs of easy to see how the confusion began. So now we’re trustees in Northumberland from organisations with carrying out some work to unravel the confusion. a turnover of more than £50,000 and that employed We’re redesigning our membership forms to make staff, we identified the desire of trustees for a the information clearer and we’re about to launch a support network of their own. At a follow-up event second level of Northumberland CVA membership. in 2014, there was an overwhelming response that We’ll report on how we’re getting on soon. Northumberland CVA should take on the role of 4 Older People are doing, and shopping online has been a godsend. But it’s scary doing these things for the first time. Having someone to ask questions of and to show me what I need to do has been a great help. I am very proud of what I have learnt.” Re:Action is helping to bridge a gap with supported volunteering Our Re:Action Assisted Shopping Scheme is helping to increase the confidence and develop the skills of individuals who have multiple barriers to finding work by offering opportunities for supported volunteering to Sylvia with Hugh, one of our Digital Volunteers beneficiaries of Northumberland CVA’s element of the Bridge Project. Doing Digital Our Assisted Shopping Scheme supports older people with declining health and mobility problems Doing Digital is a new element for our Re:Action in South East Northumberland to maintain their project that builds on our previously existing digital independence by helping them to get out and inclusion drop-in sessions, which have been about. The scheme uses volunteers to support the delivered for several years at our main Ashington older people by pushing wheelchairs and carrying office building, by taking the sessions out into shopping so they can continue to make their own accessible venues in our local communities.