Director of Public Health Report – West Northamptonshire

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This year’s report focuses on the importance of healthy ageing and the collaborative work taking place across West Northamptonshire to ensure that older adults have the opportunities and support they need to age well. The Local Authority is working towards a shared vision of ageing that promotes good health, mobility, and dignity enabling more of our residents to live independently in their own homes for longer.

 

With the number of residents aged 65 and over projected to rise by nearly 24% over the next decade, this report outlines a system-wide approach to supporting older people, with a clear aim to reduce health inequalities and improve quality of life.

 

Key highlights from the report include:

  • A strong focus on prevention and early intervention, supported by a Council-wide strategy to help residents before health issues develop or escalate.
  • Community-led initiatives, such as the “Get Up and Go” strength and balance classes, falls prevention programmes, and local wellbeing groups, which are helping hundreds of older adults stay active, connected, and purposeful.
  • Partnerships with voluntary, community, faith, and social enterprise (VCFSE) organisations, including innovative work in Brackley and Northampton to reduce social isolation and improve mental health.
  • A commitment to joining the World Health Organisation’s Age-Friendly Communities network in 2025, reinforcing our ambition to create inclusive and supportive environments for all older residents.

The report states:

This progress is only possible thanks to the tremendous partnership efforts across our organisations. We are proud of what has been achieved so far and look forward to continuing this journey together to make a lasting difference in our communities.

 

You can read the full report here: full report 

Small Charities Week 2025

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June the 23rd to June 30th is widely recognised as Small Charities Week in the UK. It’s an opportunity to celebrate the great work that small charities undertake, often unseen, which benefits our local communities. Whilst the definition of a small charity is probably up for debate, most people view it as organisations with a turnover of less than 250K. It’s widely recognised that of the 164,000 charities which operate in the UK, 97% are deemed small. In Northamptonshire, 96% of our charities are seen as small or even micro. Life can be tough as a small charity, so if you’ve survived or even thrived up to this point take a deep breath and give yourself a huge round of applause. That’s not an easy task, especially given the complex nature of our operating environment.

The Cranfield Trust have just issued a report calling on more support for small charities. Its called Championing our national asset and it can be viewed here:

Call for action to safeguard the future of small charities | Cranfield Trust

One of the headline themes is this: They quote:

The report highlights the need for investment in leadership and management ensuring charity managers have the skills and support to strengthen governance, strategic planning, and operational resilience. Additionally, it stresses the importance of strengthening governance through diverse and strategically recruited boards and calls on policymakers to simplify funding applications and reporting requirements.

 They also state:

 Crucially, in line with the Voluntary Sector Covenant, the report urges the government to recognise small charities as a key partner and national asset and to use their knowledge more strategically. Small charities need urgent investment through multi-year commitments, as, without meaningful change, many organisations may struggle to survive, leaving vulnerable communities without essential support.

 However, and like so many things in life, its only missed when its gone. The answers are where they always been:

 

  • Good Leadership.
  • Strong Governance.
  • Robust Business Planning.
  • Funder understanding.
  • Financial resilience.
  • Collaboration.

The last point is critical. Many argue that there are too many charities within our marketplace, competing for too few resources and fighting over territory. Its an old chestnut but probably true. The only way that some charities will survive is by working together and skill pooling.

I hope to see many more Small Charities Weeks in the years ahead, but every CEO or leader now must think about the best way to achieve that. We know for certain that our funding landscape is changing inextricably and possibly forever. Small charities like any other business must change what they do to meet new aspirations or funder preferences.

NCVO have compiled some resources for Small Charities Week which can be viewed here: Downloadable assets | Small Charity Week

Use Small Charities Week as an opportunity to raise your profile and begin conversations with others. You never know where it might take you…..

Charity Digital Code of Practice 2025

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Charities throughout the UK use Digital media to influence, campaign, and fundraise more than ever before.

Charity Digital have just issued their Digital Code of Practice for 2025 which can be viewed here

Like most Codes of Practice, it’s not a mandatory requirement, but a way of improving a charity’s relationship with digital platforms and inform best practice.

They State:

We hope that charities will use the Code as a practical tool to identify what they are doing well in digital, as well as any gaps they need to address. Digital is rapidly evolving. Organisations who deploy digital successfully will constantly test, learn from, and improve strategies, tactics, and the technologies they use. It is envisaged that organisations will review their progress against the Code at consistent intervals, ensuring it is part of their continuous improvement. The Code is ambitious and offers a positive challenge to charities, but it also provides best-practice principles you can adopt with limited resources

Calling all CEO’s

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SAWN (Social Action West Northamptonshire) and the Doddridge Centre want to hear from CEOs about a CEO Network: We need to know what you want and when you want it.

 

Complete the simple survey here

 

Our intention is to run 4 each year, but this needs to be informed through your views. We need as many CEO’s or principal decision makers to complete the survey which should take no longer than 5 minutes.

 

With resources being constrained, we need to ensure the best value for money whilst delivering the right support mechanism to CEOs across West Northamptonshire.

 

SAWN is a partnership of Voluntary Impact Northamptonshire, South Northants Volunteer Bureau, and Daventry Volunteers.

West Northamptonshire Place Board Presentations

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The West Northamptonshire Place Board continues to meet every 2 weeks and VIN keeps a watching brief over Discussions and Presentations.

 

Recently tabled were the Police Plan for 2025 – 2028 which can be viewed here.

 

The West Northamptonshire Active Lives Strategy can be seen here.

 

An update on the NSport Sport England Fund for designated Neighbourhoods can be viewed here.

Council pledges ongoing support for community activities

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West Northamptonshire Council (WNC) remains committed to supporting community-led events and activities across the area.

The Council, which has a new political administration led by the majority party Reform UK following last month’s elections, continues to give its backing to a busy  and varied local community events calendar for the year ahead, providing resource and support to community organisers.

Community-led events and activities that will be supported by WNC in the year ahead include activities for Pride, Windrush and Diwali, as well as Remembering Srebrenica Day, Ukrainian Independence Day, Hate Crime Awareness Week, Black History Month, International Women’s and Men’s Days, Emergency Services Day, Holocaust Memorial Day and Stephen Lawrence Day. The Council will also continue to show its support to key events in the military calendar beginning with Armed Forces Week later this month, alongside Armistice Day and Remembrance Sunday, Merchant Navy Day and VJ Day 80th Anniversary commemorations.

For more information view the full article here 

Volunteers Week 2025

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Volunteers Week 2025 began on the 2nd of June. It’s an important week where the value of volunteers can be truly recognised. We all know the powerful impact that volunteers provide: Without them many VCSE organisations would be unable to deliver the innovative and creative services they do. Whether it’s as a volunteer Trustee, or an individual working within a service, the role they perform is immense.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank every volunteer that assists and helps across West Northamptonshire.

I would also like to provide a further special thanks to my volunteer Trustees for their support, and for those volunteers that work closely with VIN.

Volunteering is not easy: It requires time, commitment, and empathy. With a cost-of-living crisis well and truly embedded into UK society and people working longer hours than ever before, it takes a special kind of person to go above and beyond.

We must also remember that volunteering is not free: It requires organisations to think about how and why they involve volunteers and spend time working with them as they uncover their own personal journey. It can be resource heavy on occasions, but the benefits far outweigh the negatives.

So, let’s celebrate this week and the volunteers that support us.

Consultation on changes to charity accounting rules

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The Charity Commission and its sister bodies in Scotland and Northern Ireland have launched a public consultation on the next version of the charities accounting and reporting framework.

This framework, known as the charities’ Statement of Recommended Practice (SORP) is the sector standard for accounting and reporting for charities that are companies or have an income over £250,000.

It ensures consistency and transparency across the sector, making charity accounts comparable, understandable, and useful for donors, beneficiaries, and the public alike.

It has been updated following an extensive development process informed by the views of partners and a sector specific SORP Committee.

The regulators are now inviting comments on the draft and the feedback will help shape the final version, which is expected to be published in autumn 2025.

We recommend that those charities who prepare accounts using the SORP start to get ready for the changes, which are expected to come into force for financial years starting from 1 January 2026.

https://www.charitysorp.org/

Health Inequalities & Community Cohesion Conference 31 March

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Connect Northamptonshire co-funded the North Northamptonshire Health Inequalities Conference this week that was attended by over 100 delegates.  For those of you that missed it, here’s the Slide Deck from all the speakers that gives a great oversight from the day’s fruitful conversations.  It was really lovely to see the Service User Friendly Forum developing from the Support North Northants Project with some inspirational talks from the Service Users.

 

Changes in the NHS

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Last week, the Government announced the abolition of NHS England within the next 2 years: At the same time, new NHS Guidance was developed around Neighbourhood Health. Whilst both changes could be seismic, it will undoubtedly create a complex and confusing picture for many.

 

NHS England will be absorbed into the Department of Health and Social Care over the next 24 months. The main driver behind this is to reduce duplication between the two, and to deal with the increasing levels of bureaucracy which has plagued NHS England since its inception. Whilst this may mean that local ICB and NHS Leaders may have more autonomy, the extent of decentralisation is far from clear. It is reported that any financial savings made because of this change will be redirected to front- line services.

 

There will be an element of reduction with this: The NHS inherited a 6.6b financial gap and must make significant savings. ICB’s and the NHS must reduce their workforce by 50%. This equates to 12,500 job losses and a saving of 400M annually. The Government insists that these job losses will focus on administration rather than in front line delivery, but clearly its an uncertain time for those who work within the NHS.

 

The Government has an aspiration to devolve more power to local NHS Leaders. ICB’s will have a more autonomous role apparently, but the extent of this autonomy is uncertain.

 

So, with all this, what are the implications for the VCSE?

 

  • For those VCSE organisations that rely on Health-related income streams the future will be uncertain.
  • These changes could mean a loss of engagement, or at the very least new NHS Leaders to engage with (if for example the Northamptonshire ICB merges with others).
  • Conversely, it could mean increased engagement if the prevention agenda continues to gain momentum and ICB’s must find new ways of providing commissioned services.

 

At the same time last week, new NHS guidelines were introduced regarding the concept of Neighbourhood Health. The guidelines reiterate the following themes which have been present within their Long-Term Plan: These are:

 

  • Hospital to Community.
  • Reaction to Prevention.
  • Analogue to digitisation.

 

These guidelines were discussed briefly at the West Northamptonshire Health and Wellbeing Board, with most NHS Leaders commenting that it was a productive move and something that ICB’s could get behind. The truth is though that ICBs do not generally operate on a Neighbourhood Footprint, and General Practice won’t recognise the concept of Neighbourhoods as the Local Authorities envision it. We will have to see how this plays out, but West Northamptonshire are keen to keep the current Local Area Partnerships and introduce some Neighbourhoods as a tier above them.

 

So, what will this mean for the VCSE?

 

  • It could be beneficial, as the VCSE more than any other sector understand the concept of Neighbourhood as a Place where they live, work, and invest.
  • As Local Authority Teams follow this footprint, closer cultural working between all sectors will be required, and that will necessitate a more granular understanding of who does what and where.
  • New types of engagement will need to be found that work effectively at a level which touches local communities, and more than ever communities will need a say in the healthcare they receive.

 

As the debate continues, VIN will be providing more updates: Simply visit: News | Voluntary Impact Northampton or subscribe to our Friday Bulletin by contacting Sophie.negus@voluntaryimpact.org.uk