Solihull SUSTAiN - Helping Solihull's Third Sector Get Fit for the Future

Changes to current legislation will be in force from October. It’s important we all understand what the changes are and put in place any required amendments to policies and working practices. Do you, your staff, and volunteers understand what the changes will really mean?

Changes which are important to note are:

• There will now be nine Equality Strands in total along with a public duty on socio-economics.
• Discrimination also has new additions which are association, perception and arising from disability.
• Who has responsibility for the above has also been clearly defined down to charity shops, clubs and internet-based services.

This means that it is even more important for third sector organisations to be more inclusive and to recognise that difference should not be excluded.

SUSTAiN will be offering support and guidance throughout the coming months but in the meantime, if you want more details about the legislation or specific support with changing your Equality practices please contact Gulbag Singh on 0121 711 3148 or email gulbags@solihull-sustain.org.uk.

The National Council for Voluntary Organisations Advice has published useful guidance and tools for voluntary organisations who are faced with cuts in the new budget in the autumn.

NCVO are also looking for evidence from organisations as to what impact cuts will have. The information will be used as evidence for lobbying the government in the lead up to the next budget. For further information see the NCVO website.

The government announced in May that the Vetting and Barring Scheme was to be halted, suspending the requirement for individuals working with children and vulnerable adults to be registered with the Independent Safeguarding Authority, which was due to come into force on 26th July.

The Criminal Records Bureau has published a briefing on interim arrangements during the Vetting and Barring Scheme review.

Crucially, the requirements introduced during the first phase of the scheme in October 2009 remain in place.  These are outlined in the briefing and include:

• The definitions of ‘Regulated Activity’ and ‘Controlled Activity’ (which itself is subject to ongoing consultation)
• The role of the Independent Safeguarding Authority in making barring decisions and maintaining the barred lists
• The prohibition of certain persons from undertaking regulated activity, and from undertaking controlled activity without safeguards being in place

• Local authorities should give at least one years notice before changing discretionary rate relief and only at the end of the financial year. Keep this in mind if your local authority threatens to reduce or remove discretionary relief. For more information visit Discretionary Rate Relief.
• Water companies can offer concessionary surface water charges for charities and community groups. Consultation on DEFRA guidance for water companies opened on 12th July. For more information visit Rain Tax.
• For information on ‘Meanwhile’ Leases and Licences for temporary non-commercial use of vacant shops and land by charities and other voluntary organisations visit Meanwhile Leases and Licences.
• The government is reconsidering the future of the community infrastructure levy. For more information visit Infrastructure Levy.
• For information about managing premises, and advertisements for premises for rent or hire visit Property Help, Planning Aid or My Community Space

Volunteering England have launched their new Volunteer Management Portal which acts as a gateway to the world of volunteer management with links to over a thousand resources across England.

It brings information on support, training and development opportunities for people managing volunteers together to view in one place. View the portal.

NCVO Workforce Development have been recently gathering new case studies from voluntary sector organisations on a range of HR and employment practice topics. These are now available to download from NCVO’s website.

Case study subjects include:

• How we changed pension schemes
• How we developed and implemented a training programme for our staff
• How we improved recruitment and retention

A free mentoring scheme to help charities improve their data security is launching on 22nd July.

The Charities Security Forum is offering to pair charity staff with security specialists from its 60 member charities.

Mentors will be available by email or telephone to help with advice on areas such as credit card fraud and phishing emails.

The Association of Chief Executives of Voluntary Organisations (ACEVO) has launched a new business tool. Capacity Manager has been funded by Capacitybuilders and aims to help voluntary sector bodies manage their spending on overheads more efficiently.

For more information go to www.capacitymanager.org.uk.

The first ever national Trustee Week will take place from 25th to 31st October 2010. Led by the Charity Commission the week aims to promote and celebrate the role trustees play in running organisations across the sector. More information soon!

The Vetting and Barring scheme, under which staff and volunteers working with children and vulnerable adults would have to register to be checked by the Independent Safeguarding Authority, has been halted, the Home Office has announced.

The scheme, which was due to come into force on 26th July 2010, will be remodelled.

The government is now contacting 66,000 organisations, including charities, voluntary groups and education authorities, to tell them that the planned registration is being cancelled.

Eligibility for CRB checks is unaffected for the moment, and the planned introduction of new CRB application forms is still scheduled for 26th July.

For a summary of the latest situation and information on checks that are still in place, see Sandy Adirondack’s legal update for the voluntary sector.