Introducing the New Toolkit, Strategy and Charter from Volunteers for Health, Northamptonshire

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Good Practice Volunteer Management Toolkit
We are pleased to share our new Toolkit, created to help local organisations strengthen their volunteering and increase their impact.
The Toolkit is free to access and designed for organisations of all sizes across Northamptonshire.
Access it here.
 
Volunteers for Health Strategy Launch
The new Volunteers for Health Strategy for Northamptonshire sets out a shared approach to strengthening volunteering across the county. It focuses on improving access, inclusion and volunteer experience, based on feedback from partners and volunteers. Read the full strategy and download the summary here.
Volunteers for Health Charter
Volunteer Charter developed by the Volunteering for Health (VfH) Northants Steering Group, sets out a shared framework for volunteer engagement across our system, supporting consistency, inclusivity, and strategic alignment with ICS ambitions.
The Charter outlines our collective values, commitments, and expectations for volunteers and organisations, and alongside the VfH Strategy Document, and the Good Practice Volunteer Management Toolkit, it will support the VFH’s delivery of its strategy.
We invite you to look at the attached summary and full Charter, and to consider how it can support your organisation’s volunteer practices. Your endorsement and engagement are key to building a unified and impactful volunteering system across Northamptonshire. View it here.
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For more information please contact Project Lead, John Soto – john.soto@voluntaryimpact.org.uk

Volunteers for Health – Year 2 Conference

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Sign up via eventbrite – here 

State of the Sector Survey 2025 – What’s happening in your World

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In the Autumn of 2025, SAWN (the Infrastructure Partnership of VIN and SNVB) surveyed the West Northamptonshire VCFSE and has produced a report entitled What’s happening in your World.

The Report can be seen here: Sawn-State-of-the-Sector_Final V4 February 2026

It is clear to SAWN that our VCFSE is fragile and struggling with the triple bottom line of increased demand, extra costs, and reduced funding. It is also clear that many of our VCFSE realise the changing times and landscape we are involved with, and are looking to partner differently, work differently, and organise themselves differently.

SAWN asked a series of questions – What do you want to do more of, what do you want to do less of, and what do you want to do differently.

The answers reveal the complex nature of the sector and the transformation programmes taking place within West Northamptonshire.

What is clear is that more infrastructure support will be required, and that will be difficult on a limited Local Authority budget. Likje most other VCFSE Partnerships, SAWN will have to examine the landscape and supplement its infrastructure offer where it can.

 

Alcohol and Drug Services in Northamptonshire

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West and North Northamptonshire alcohol and drug services will be disaggregating on 1 April 2026, which means there will be some changes for residents of Northamptonshire.

From this date, Turning Point will deliver the new service in West Northamptonshire, called Inspire, working alongside key partners including Bridge, Family Support Link, Double Impact, and Framework.

Inspire will operate from two central hubs in Northampton with satellite sites including Daventry, Towcester, Brackley and Brixworth.

Turning Point will also deliver Inspire Young People, the new alcohol and drug service for young people in West Northamptonshire.

Change Grow Live will be continuing to provide services in North Northamptonshire from their current bases in Corby, Kettering and Wellingborough and are partnering with Forward Trust, Family Support Link and Release to deliver the new service.

Young People’s services in North Northamptonshire will continue to be NGAGE with Aquarius.

Some Changes coming from 01.04.2026:

Over the next few months, CGL and Turning Point will be working closely to handover the existing service in West Northamptonshire, to ensure a smooth and seamless transfer.

There will be further communication nearer the time of the launch providing information about the new contact details for Inspire including new telephone numbers and website and details about how to refer.

Change Grow Live will be working with their new partners to transition to the new North Northamptonshire Service. The current CGL contact details will remain the same post April this includes referral routes via the website and main contact number. From 1st April 2026 this will be only for residents of North Northamptonshire.

Up to and including 31st March 2026, the services, contact details and referral routes will continue as they are.

Partner communication and engagement events are as follows:

Tues 3rd March 2026 between1pm-2:30pm: All partners and online.

Weds 11th March 2026 between 9:30am-11Am: All partners and online.

You can book your space here: https://forms.office.com/e/mdyDBKypKN

Maintaining continuity for the people who use these services is a key priority for involved organisations during this time. They are working hard to ensure that users are informed about the upcoming changes and what this means for them and their care.

If service users would like a contact, please direct them to the service user involvement lead: Russell.Kennedy@cgl.org.uk

NHFT meets the VCFSE 28th January 2026

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On the 28th  January 2026, Northamptonshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust (NHFT) Executive and Operational Directors met with the VCFSE to begin a discussion on how closer connections can be forged around the issue of Neighbourhood health.

The event was organised by SAWN (the Infrastructure Partnership of West Northamptonshire) and chaired by the VCSE Assembly; it set out how  NHFT currently works and where the touchpoints with the VCFSE could be now and in the future.

Our Aspire colleagues from North Northamptonshire were also in attendance.

The Presentations from the session can be downloaded below:

  • NHFT presentation explaining the NHS 10-year plan.
  • Exploring the NHS 10-year plan – this presentation places the VCFSE and NHFT in a county context and explains what “Place” and “Neighbourhood” mean.
  • Mental Health Northants Collaboration (MHNC) presentation – referring to an example of how a collaboration between the VCFSE and NHFT developed.

Table discussions focussed in on how NHFT and the VCFSE could work in a more streamlined, focussed, and effective manner, and what the key priorities for Neighbourhood working should be.

The event was held at Kings Park Conference or Action Centre and was attended by over 60 Individuals.

The table notes for this event will be compiled by VIN in due course and circulated to all attending delegates.

SAWN will be looking to build upon this event with a further West Northamptonshire gathering in Spring 2026.

Russell Rolph, the CEO of VIN, states:

It was great to see NHFT come out in force at Director level to showcase their work. There was a real willingness from NHFT to work with the VCFSE and value them as true partners. I hope we can build upon the momentum we have created and look forward to a further gathering, hopefully around April of 2026. This will be West Northamptonshire-centric as our Infrastructure Partnership (VIN and SNVB) supports over 1660 community organisations across this geographical area. I would like to personally thank all NHFT who made the effort to communicate, engage, and understand in a refreshing inciteful manner.

Neighbourhood Health

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It seems to us that Neighbourhood health is the new Kid on the block, and its all that people within systems across the UK are talking about. It’s a prime mover of the new and revised NHS Plan, and of course its heavily linked to the Preventative Agenda and within that Community Involvement.

The National Association of Community and Voluntary Associations (NAVCA) have just finalised their report on Neighbourhood Health, a report which sought the views of many Infrastructure organisations across the UK which included VIN as part of the SAWN Partnership.

VIN has worked within Infrastructure for 30 years and never has the landscape been tougher.

Neighbourhood health offers opportunities for the VCSE, but it also has its challenges. We know the deficit that our system has in Northamptonshire, so a new and refreshed way of delivering Health in Place is important.

SAWN has produced its blueprint for how it could best work.

The SAWN advantage can be viewed here 

There are 8 key ingredients. Some are underway, some are being examined and some are yet to be considered.

Local Infrastructure Organisations hold a conduit place within the VCSE. The VCSE operate best at Place where they Live, Work and Invest. A greater role for the VCSE is an imperative in this new world of combined delivery strategies and effective management of funds. The role of Local Authorities and Health is in seeing and activating that knowledge, skill and understanding.

The VCSE is at its best unlocking community potential and changing behaviours.

SAWN is calling on the Northamptonshire system to realise that potential and work in a spirit of enabling and empowering.

VIN AGM and Signed Accounts

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VINs Annual General Meeting took place on the 13th of November 2025.

The AGM Presentation can be found here, and VIN would like to thank all the speakers for their contributions:

The AGM Minutes can be found here

VINs Signed Accounts can be found here

 

Consultation on Draft Active Travel Strategy, Draft Mobility Hub Action Plan and Draft Rail Action Plan

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Over the past few months West Northamptonshire Council have been developing a series of supporting strategies following the adoption of the Local Transport Plan in March 2025. These draft documents set the policy and actions for the Council to take over the coming years to implement the infrastructure detailed in the Local Transport Plan. West Northamptonshire Council have brought forward the first three of these draft strategies for public consultation, which have now been published for an 8-week consultation period. The draft documents are:

  1. Draft Active Travel Strategy.
  2. Draft Mobility Hub Action Plan.
  3. Draft Rail Action Plan.

The consultation will be open for responses from the 3rd of December 2025 until the 27th of January 2026, and the documents and consultation forms can be accessed via the Council’s dedicated consultation portal. The link to the consultation is here:

 

https://westnorthants.citizenspace.com/place/transport-strategy-and-action-plans-consultation/

The Council greatly appreciates the contributions already made by our stakeholders at the in-person events, and through written feedback. Should you have any questions or feedback that you’d like to send to the team, please contact us with our dedicated email address:

LocalTransportPlan@westnorthants.gov.uk

Members of the Highways and Transport Planning Team will be hosting virtual events in early January 2026 for any stakeholders who wish to discuss these supporting strategies directly with the team. Further information on these events will be shared closer to the time.

Asset Based Community Development

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West Northamptonshire have commissioned VIN with a piece of work aligning strongly to the principles of Asset Based Community Development or ABCD.

VIN is now looking for 20 individuals from 20 different organisations who might be interested in joining the programme.

The programme consists of:

  • A 2-day classroom course delivered by Forever Manchester at a Northampton venue. This is an accredited ABCD course.
  • A Community of Practice Meeting with VIN to digest the learning from the course.
  • A bursary of 1K to run a small project which distils the learning and shows trace elements of ABCD.
  • A reflective Community of Practice at Project end.

To be eligible VCSE organisations must be based in West Northamptonshire and must commit to all elements of the programme. Nonattendance will mean removal from the programme. In addition, eligible VCSE organisations must have 1 of the following 3 components:

  • Be undertaking some form of Outreach or Development work.
  • Have a hub which beneficiaries visit.
  • Be working with a specific health inclusion group.

Organisations can submit their interest by E-mailing russell.rolph@voluntaryimpact.org.uk

When E-mailing organisations must identify which LAP area they work in or more if that’s the case.

A list of interested parties will then be forwarded to West Northamptonshire Council for their final decision.

It is envisaged that this programme will commence in late January 2026. All selected organisations will be contacted directly by the VIN CEO.

VIN signs to the International Ethical Recruitment Charter

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The International Ethical Recruitment Charter for West Northamptonshire has been launched.

This is a significant achievement which VIN took part in and plays a pivotal role in creating a document that upholds the highest principles of ethical and respectful recruitment for international care workers.

The Charter is now live and available for sign-up on the West Northamptonshire Council website, where care providers can formally commit to its principles.

Explore and share the Charter: https://www.westnorthants.gov.uk/irec