Memorandum agreed by both Health and Wellbeing Boards

/by

The Health and Wellbeing Boards of both North and West Northamptonshire met respectively on the 6th and 8th of September 2022. Both Boards agreed and endorsed the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the Integrated Care System (the ICS) and the Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise Sector (collectively known as the VCSE).

The Memorandum of Understanding can be viewed here:

The MOU is a high-level document which sets out the relationship between the System (the ICS) and those organisations that provide health and wellbeing services.

We all know that the VCSE as a Sector provides a range of important services, and brokers engagement in communities. The latest NHS Guidance suggests that the VCSE will have an important role to play in any ICS, and that includes Northamptonshire. The MOU will also be an important reference document when services are devolved into Place (through Local Area Partnerships). VIN encourages VCSE organisations to read and understand the document. The Health and Wellbeing Boards will review progress against the MOU on an annual basis.

Watch this space for more information on the ICS and its development over the next 3 months.

 

Tesco Community Grants

/by

The Tesco funding continues.

We are accepting applications for the January – March 2023 voting period!

Groundwork UK administer the funding programme on behalf of Tesco, and Groundwork Northants is the local (independent) Groundwork company.

There are no themes for applications, any programme can apply for funding, demonstrating its Community Benefit. We are particularly low in applications in Daventry, Brackley, Corby and Kettering.

Follow the link for more information.

Tesco Community Grants

Liz Truss appoints her Secretaries of State

/by

Details on the Secretaries of State for the three main departments Charities interact with have now been confirmed.

Therese Coffey Secretary of State Department of Health and Social Care and Deputy Prime Minister:

 MP Suffolk Coastal since 2010, Coffey led the Truss leadership campaign. She is an avid Boris Johnson supporter and regular interacts with the Media.

Aged 51, with an extensive ministerial carer since 2010, Coffey has held positions in Defra, Business and Energy and as the Deputy Leader of the House. Most recently Coffey was the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions between 2019 and 2022. Her voting record suggests conservative views on reproductive and LGBTQI+ rights: Her first slogan on appointment was ABCD – Ambulances, Backlog, Care and Doctors and Dentists.

Simon Clarke Secretary of State for Levelling Up Housing and Communities:

 MP Middlesborough South and East Cleveland since 2017, and now aged 37. He was Minister of State for Housing in 2020-21 and was most recently Chief Secretary to the Treasury from 2021 until yesterday. He was one of the few ministers not to resign from Government in July.

Michelle Donelan Secretary of State for Culture Media and Sport:

 Donelan has been the MP for Chippenham in Wiltshire since 2015.  She has held various ministerial roles in the Department of Education since 2020, mostly at Minister of State Level with two days as Secretary of State in July OF 2022. Donelan worked in TV and magazines prior to election to the House. She has been a trustee [and may still be] of a domestic violence charity in Chippenham and has been a member of the steering group of Wiltshire carers. She has experience of the VCSE.

More Junior Appointments and the Appointments of Parliamentary Private Secretaries will follow later this week.

Local Area Partnerships – A Framework for Action in the ICS

/by

Whether its in North or West Northamptonshire, Local Area Partnerships (or LAPS) are going to be an important component part of the new Integrated Care System (ICS) which became a reality in Northamptonshire from the 1st of July 2022.

ICS Local Area Partnerships Identified | Voluntary Impact Northampton

There will be 17 LAPS in total across the County, geographical areas with population sizes ranging from 30 to 50,000.00. These LAPS will drive Placed Based Delivery and will focus on the Wider Determinants of Health – those factors such as poverty, housing , employment and education which all impact on a community’s ability to be healthy (both physically and psychologically).  Whilst the concept of LAPS is still being developed (beyond geographical size) what values they work to and how they will operate should be interesting. Early indications from both sovereign authorities (North and West) suggest the following:

  • Community voice and engagement should always be at the heart of any LAP operation.
  • Mobilising existing community assets (organisations, individuals, and buildings) will be crucial to their success.
  • Involvement of collectives, groups, networks, and residents and utilising their knowledge and experience will be an important deciding factor in how LAPS make decisions.
  • LAPS need to be flexible in their delivery whilst understanding the often-unique circumstances of their local area.
  • LAPS will evolve and develop over time and will be learning and sharing experiences.
  • Who sits where within LAPS and why is still a live and active discussion to be developed over the next 6 months.

Look out for further engagement on the LAP concept by visiting this news section regularly.

What are the most common mistakes when writing a business plan? 

/by

Watch our short video that explains how to avoid making common mistakes when writing your business plan.

With the right preparation, your business plan will be a powerful tool that enables you to make quick decisions, rapidly adjust your processes and decisions and optimise management of the team. 

Avoid making the following mistakes.

Using a single static plan 

Things constantly change within the VCSE environment. A good business plan is never truly finished. Undertake a lean plan and keep it focused. Revisit it regularly and be brave enough to alter or amend it if you think it’s right to do so. 

Losing the focus on income 

While income is not our prime reason for existing it is vitally important. A business plan that does not mention income and expenditure or set out your funding requirements for now and the future is not a solid and robust plan.

Skipping idea validation 

Never underestimate the importance of an idea. Ensure your plan sets out the idea, how you came to the conclusions you did and what you require to execute it. Give idea validation some critical thought. It may present your organisation with opportunities to generate income or enable you to deliver more to many. 

Making the planning process overwhelming 

Writing a business plan is not as hard as you might think. For example, a simple, lean plan contains a few pages of bullet-point lists, tables, and essential projections. Never get tempted to make the business plan process overwhelming. 

Vague goals or objectives 

Leave out vague and meaningless business phrases. Remember that the objective of a plan is its results, and for results, you need tracking and evaluation, as well as well-defined and robust objectives in the first place. If you cannot define these, then some development work is required before writing any business plan. 

Thinking that all business plans need to be the same 

Each plan should be unique to the circumstances of your organisation and tailored accordingly. 

Showing a distinct lack of care 

Funders will see through poorly thought out or careless business plans. If you start from the premise of a plan being a good thing to do for the organisation, rather than a burden on the organisation’s time, your finished business plan should be robust, well presented, and full of useful and informative content. 

Find out more at www.voluntaryimpact.org.uk/resources. 

Engagement Day – HMP 5 Wells

/by

HMP Five Wells are hosting an engagement day with food, games and engaging activities.  For more information, take a look at the poster below.

Engagement day poster

CENCA Trustee

/by

CENCA are looking for a new trustee.

Take a look at the job advert for more information.

Trustee advert

What is a business plan?

/by

Watch our short video that explains the concept of a business plan and what to include.

A business plan is a simple document that tells people about what type of organisation you are and what you are trying to achieve. It can be simple or complex, but having one is imperative in a competitive world. Some people refer to a business plan as a strategy. What’s important is not what you call it, but what you include. 

What should be included? 

Title and subtitle

Every great business plan starts with a captivating title and subtitle. You will want to make it clear that the document is, in fact, a business plan, but the subtitle can help tell the story of your organisation in just a short sentence.

Executive summary 

Although this is the last part of the business plan that you will write, it’s the first section that stakeholders will read, setting the stage for the rest of the document. It includes your organisation’s mission or vision statement, values, and goals. 

Organisational description 

This brief part of your business plan will detail your business name, years in operation, key offerings, and positioning statement. You might even add core values or a short history of the organisation. 

The opportunities you have 

The business opportunity should convince investors, funders, or members of the public that your organisation meets the needs of the market in a way that no other organisation can. 

The competitive analysis 

Understanding your competition is crucial to understanding how you can succeed, support more beneficiaries, and thrive. 

The target market 

You need to think about who you will support and how. In this section, you might need to think about geography, demographics, how customers access services or their behaviours. 

Marketing 

Marketing can be expensive, but you should have some basic and simple ideas about how you want to communicate with your beneficiaries and what type of messages you wish to send. 

The finances 

Outlining a financial summary of where your organisation is currently and where you would like to be in 12 months’ time will be useful in this section. 

The team 

Outline your team, its strengths, and the skills that you have at your disposal. 

Your funding requirements 

Remember that one of the goals of a business plan is to secure funding from investors, so you will need to include the funding requirements that you are seeking – the amount your business needs, for what reasons, and for how long. 

Types of business plan 

There is no one-size-fits-all when it comes to business plans. Choose one which suits your organisational needs and remember to update and review it regularly.

Find out more at www.voluntaryimpact.org.uk/resources. 

An Integrated Care Strategy for Northamptonshire

/by

As the Integrated Care System develops across Northamptonshire, the role of the Integrated Care Partnership (ICP) becomes clearer. One of the major outputs for the Partnership is the delivery on an Integrated Care Strategy.

The timelines to produce this Strategy (set by NHS England) are tight (by December 2022) and this document is likely to be a high-level set of operational aspirations which can be developed over time through the 17 Local Area Partnerships.

Guidance on what the Strategy should include can be viewed here

There will be some community engagement around the Strategy starting in September of 2022.

The Strategy will be used by the Integrated Care Board (ICB) to build a 5 year Resources Plan aimed at Health Inequalities and the wider determinants of those Inequalities across Northamptonshire.

 

Trustee for Community Law Service

/by

Community Law Service are looking for a new trustee, for more information, see the job advert below.

Community Law Service trustee job advert