NCVO’s Counting the Cuts research shows, the voluntary and community sector nationally is set to lose around £911 million in public funding a year until 2015–16. In response to this, NCVO has produced a quick guide to help organisations challenge cuts where they believe the decision was made unfairly.  The main things you need to know are:

Best Value Guidance

In 2011, new Best Value Guidance was introduced by the Department for Communities and Local Government. It has statutory force, which means that the guidance must be taken into account by local authorities when they are making funding decisions. It applies to all local authorities.

What You Need to Know

• At least three months’ notice needs to be given to an organisation and service users when funding is to be withdrawn or reduced
• A local authority should actively engage the organisation and service users as early as possible before making a decision on the future of the service
• Authorities should seek to avoid passing on disproportionate reductions – i.e. they should not make larger reductions to the voluntary and community sector than they take on themselves
• Authorities should be responsive to the benefits and needs of voluntary and community sector organisations of all sizes (honouring the commitments set out in Local Compacts)

The Compact

The Compact is an agreement aiming to ensure that the Government and civil society organisations can work most effectively in partnership. Clear expectations and undertakings of what each partner will do are set out and committed to.

What You Need to Know

• The Compact is a national agreement, renewed by the coalition government in December 2010 and covers central government departments
• Nearly all local areas have their own Compact agreed between the local authority and voluntary and community sector – often using the national Compact as their basis, they are shaped to reflect the particular needs of the local area
• Key undertakings common to nearly all Compacts are a recognition of the need to give at least three months’ notice of funding cuts; conduct consultations for a 12 week period; and respect for the independence of voluntary sector organisations

Public Law

Public bodies, including local authorities and central government departments have to abide by a set of legal rules which regulate their public functions.

What You Need to Know

• A public body must ask itself the right questions and take into account relevant information when making a decision – when considering whether to make a funding cut, this means that they must have consulted groups that will be affected
• The Public Sector Equality Duty requires public bodies to have due regard to the need to
  eliminate discrimination, advance equality of opportunity, and foster good relations between different people when carrying out their activities.
• When deciding whether to reduce or cut funding the public body must show how they have understand how different people will be affected by their decision – this is often done through an Equality Impact Assessment

An unfair decision by a public body can be challenged through a judicial review process in the courts, although there are strict guidelines and timescales that must be followed.

Overall

When talking about ‘unfair’ funding cuts remember the focus is on how the decision has been made, not what the decision is – you may be unhappy about a decision that has been made, but it is only ‘unfair’ if it has not been made in the right way.

Make sure you’ve looked at your local Compact and understand the Best Value Guidance – if a decision is made to reduce or withdraw your funding then it’s best to know in advance what will make a decision unfair so you are prepared

If you think a decision is unfair then act quickly – write to the public body setting out your concerns with the decision and asked for it to be looked at again

If you are unsure whether a decision is unfair or would like some further advice contact the Compact Advocacy programme on 020 7520 2460 or daniel.fluskey@ncvo-vol.org.uk or download a printable version of the NCVO cuts guide

With all the doom and gloom surrounding the economy, it’s good to know that something just gets better each year.

SUSTAiN’s fundraising initiative – Solihull Together – has helped 30 organisations in 2011 with small grants of between £100 and £500.

That’s more organisations than in the previous two years combined

A big thanks to everyone who helped in particular SUSTAiN’s own June Mole who has been the driving force behind Solihull Together.

To find out who benefitted, go to our Fundraising web section

We were delighted that The Mayor, Councillor Irene Chamberlain was able to officially open the volunteer centre at Chelmsley Wood on Wednesday 30 November. She was joined by over 20 representatives of the various groups and organisations that are working together to ensure the successful development of this exciting new project.

The Chelmsley Wood Volunteer Centre is open Monday to Friday, 10am to 1pm for drop-in enquiries as well as appointments for anyone wanting to find a volunteering opportunity.

Organisations wishing to promote their volunteering opportunities are also encouraged to contact the centre.

Contact the Chelmsley Wood Volunteer Centre

Chelmsley Wood Volunteer Centre
Solihull Connect Office
West Mall
Bluebell Centre
Chelmsley Wood
B37 5TN
(Near to Asda and library)

Tel: 0121 704 6789
Email: volunteering@svcuk.org

Fair Shares Trust – Community Chest – North Solihull

Colebridge Trust’s Community Chest provides grants of up to £1,000 for to smaller community groups in the North Solihull area to help them sustain and develop their activities. The Community Chest is a hardship fund for isolated activities that support existing projects. Long term project will not be supported by this fund.

The Local Priorities for Fair Share Trust in North Solihull are to:

1. Improve and establish community wide communication and information mechanisms
2. Develop and support existing community groups through training, administrative support provision of facilities and commonly owned equipment
3. Form new community groups and projects with particular emphasis on cross community groups and projects
4. Support the acquisition and development of community owned assets and facilities

The deadline for the first round of applications is Friday 6th January 2012 at 12.00 noon and we will be distrbuting £5k with a second round in March 2012 when the same amount will again be distrbuted

Guidance & Application Pack

Please download the following:

Guidance Notes – Community Chest

Application Form – Part A

Application Form – Part B

Localgiving.com Leaflet

Please note that all grant recipients will be automatically registered to Localgiving.com, in order to ensure the sustainability of their activities. This provides access to online fundraising tools, automated donation and Gift Aid processing for both charities and community groups. The first 3 months on Localgiving.com are FREE, after which there is an annual charge of £75 inc VAT. This will be automatically deducted from your grant allocation if you are successful. Further details about Localgiving.com can be found on http://localgiving.com/.

For further information about Colebridge Trust’s Community Chest programme, please contact Janet Johnson, Funding Manager Colebridge Trust Ltd on 0121 711 3148 or janetj@solihull-sustain.org.uk

About the Fair Shares Trust Fund

The Fair Share Trust Fund is a ten-year project, which targets those areas that suffer considerable disadvantage and have previously received less than their fair share of National Lottery funding. The areas within the West Midlands that are eligible for funding are: Dudley (St Andrews), Walsall (Alumwell), Sandwell (Great Bridge) and North Solihull.

Fair Share Trust funding aims to:

• Connect people with their neighbours, become part of networks, meet other groups and form relationships with others;
• Enable communities to pro-actively improve their local environment, through enabling them to influence local decision making;
• Increase the confidence of group members and individuals through learning new skills, raising morale and developing new aspirations;
• Build a stronger voluntary and community within FST areas through funding, training and volunteering encourage inactive members of the community to become active;
• Improve the quality of local facilities and access to services;
• To enable all groups to feel that they belong to their local area and are responsible for improving their environment

Further information about Fair Share Trust in Birmingham and the Black Country can be found on the Birmingham and Black Country Community Foundation website

Councillor Ken Meeson, Leader of the Council and Phil Mayhew, as Compact Champion have written again to all commissioning staff within Solihull Council “to remind commissioners of the need to work with the voluntary and community sector and to do all that we are able to do to ensure that the sector is informed and engaged in the commissioning process.”

Recognising the financial pressures from spending cuts they ask that “At a minimum, organisations should be given at least 12 weeks notice of any reduction but this we would stress really is an absolute minimum and the expectation is for earlier engagement and dialogue.”

They ask Commissioners to “ensure that you are familiar with the principles of the Compact and use it as a resource to assist your work with the sector.”

The letter also asks that they consider the Best Value guidance issued by Eric Pickles – the full text of the ‘single page’ guidance can be read by clicking on the link below and you can also download a copy of the letter from Ken Meeson and Phil Mayhew.

We cant ask for fairer treatment than that.

Read Eric Pickles Best Value Guidance

Download the letter to commissioners

SUSTAiN, Enable, the SILC Consortium, Young Solihull (aka SCVYS) and Sport Solihull are working in partnership to secure funding aimed at strengthening infrastructure support services for charities, voluntary organisations, community groups, sports clubs and youth organisations in the borough.

We need your help to ensure that our project application is matched to your needs.

Please spare a few minutes telling us what you need.

Thank you

Click for Online Survey

We look back over the past challenging year and some of our successes plus tell you about some NEW SERVICES we now provide on Funding, Volunteering and Safeguarding Support for organisations delivering services to children.

This edition also explains how SUSTAiN fits in with the Colebridge Trust, the benefits that brings and invites you to become a member of the Trust to help shape what we do.

The newsletter also gives you an update on our Solihull Together fundraising project and explains how you can benefit through the Charity Ball on 15 July or Sponsored Walk on 9 October.

SUSTAiN Newsletter – Spring 2011 Edition

With some funds from the Big Lottery BASIS program, Colebridge Communications has produced a short film which demonstrates the breadth, depth and quality of services the voluntary sector provides. The film features a cross section of the 600 or so Voluntary and Community Sector organisations supporting people in Solihull and provides some enlightening facts about the sector

You can watch the video on the Colebridge Communications Vimeo Channel

The Colebridge Trust Annual Report was published this month at our Annual General Meeting, held at The Fordbridge Centre on 19 May.

It provides a summary of our key achievements in the 2010/1 financial year, a record that we are proud of, delivering a substantial and broad range of outcomes for groups and people in our communities.

The report can be found here.

(Note: The Colbridge Trust is the organisation – legal entity – behind SUSTAiN. Visit the Colebridge Trust parent site for more)

If our parent organisation, the Colebridge Trust is to improve its effectiveness across all its activities – including SUSTAiN – then we need your help. We need to be accountable to everyone in the voluntary and community sector in Solihull so we can help you meet your aspirations.

We want to increase our membership to give you the opportunity to:

• Inform our work and the ways in which we can support you
• Keep up to date on current issues and developments
• Network with organisations and people with similar interests
• Get involved in shaping the community in which you live and work
• Ensure your views are reflected in our dealings with our public sector partners and the Solihull Partnership

Membership is free.

If you would like more information or would like to become a member, download the documents below or contact Tina Burgess on 0121 711 3148.

Colebridge Trust and SUSTAiN Membership Invitation

membership application form 2010