CVSU ANNUAL REVIEW 2013/14

Annual Review 2013/14

www.cvsu.org.uk

who we ARe

stAFF Kirsty Monk Jacqueline Davies Janice Yates

Business Manager Funding and Information Manager Business Administrator

BoARd oF diRectoRs Eric Hicks Chairman Chris Barrett Director with Financial Responsibility Prof Peter Fentem Doug Mason Mari Hinton Carol James pResident oF cvsu Rt. Hon. Sir Alan Haselhurst MP volunteeRs – with speciAl thAnKs Chris Noakes Di Tubby Pamela Sharp Chris, Di and Pamela

chAiRmAns RepoRt Chairman Cllr Eric Hicks

I started my last annual report for 2012/13 by describing it as a year of change. I am pleased to report that the changes to which I referred have continued in a very positive manner during 2013/14.

Our efforts to acquire the Old Police Station in Dunmow as a permanent home for the voluntary sector have been successful thanks to the inuence and resources of our partners West Essex Mind. The purchase of the building was made possible through a community funding grant from the SIB group, made to West Essex Mind, who are now the owners of the building.

The level of funding obtained was sufficient to put in hand a major refurbishment of the building which should be completed very soon.

Our management team of Kirsty Monk and Jacqueline Davies have been incredibly active during the year, resulting in a marked improvement in our finances. A third member, Janice Yates has been added to our paid staff, with a further recruit, yet to be appointed and we have been greatly helped by the skill and enthusiasm of our volunteers.

Additional funding has enabled us to obtain the assistance of a professional consultant to provide an objective overview of our activities and to help us develop our business plan.

According to our Rules, my time as Chairman of CVSU has come to an end and I must stand down but I am confident that after the AGM a successor will have been appointed who will take CVSU forward into a successful future.

A Few woRds Kirsty Monk and Jacqueline Davies

This year has been an exciting one for us. At the end of 2013 we worked in partnership with West Essex Mind to apply for funding for the purchase and renovation of our building. After much effort by many people including Trustees from both organisations and with the goodwill of the Police Authority, WE Mind successfully obtained this funding.

We quickly entered a phase of renovation and refurbishment which is nearly complete as we write. We are now looking forward to the re-opening of the centre. As part of the process we moved to a new office upstairs and we have recently upgraded our very old computers to new speedy models. So after what has been a disruptive few months we feel pleased to be back to normal operations.

We have also received funding from the NVCO Big Assist programme which has allowed us to purchase the expertise of a consultant to help us examine and shape our business strategy and produce a new business plan. Although we are still in the midst of this process, we feel confident that this important piece of work will help to ensure that CVSU is able

continue its main activities supporting and advising the voluntary sector in Uttlesford and to shape and to guide our plans for future services and activities which seek to meet unserved needs in our communities.

Our two new projects Frontline and Time Bank have been successfully launched and we are now looking at increasing capacity in the office both to support these projects and to develop them further.

We continue to represent CVSU and the sector more widely at forums and consultation events. This can be very time consuming but we feel it is essential to ensure the voice of the sector is heard and is also engaged in the planning and development of new services.

We would like to thank our Business Administrator, Janice and our volunteers Di, Chris and Pam whose hard work and commitment helps us with all we do. Last but not least we would like to thank all our Board members and especially our chairman Eric Hicks, whose support and encouragement continues to be very much appreciated.

What we do

Key District Statistics

56 Council for Voluntary Service Uttlesford (CVSU) is a charitable company with over 27 years experience of supporting the voluntary sector.

CVSU’s primary purpose is to support, advise, develop and strengthen the voluntary and community sector in Uttlesford, as well as providing representation at strategic level.

We are very proud of the contribution the voluntary sector makes to the lives of people in Uttlesford and we work in partnership with local organisations to ensure that we have an inclusive and successful voluntary sector with a positive future.

We work with a wide range of groups, providing professional specialist services and advising on a range of issues, including funding, governance and set up and we also have an important role in disseminating information throughout the sector.

CVSU also provides a signposting service to local people through hosting and managing the online searchable directory Essex Connects. www.essexconnects.org.uk In addition to our main services we are delighted to be working in partnership with Uttlesford CAB to help deliver the exciting new project working with partners in the Uttlesford Advice Network. This project incorporates an innovative new online referral system called Uttlesford Frontline which is to be rolled out to GPs and key frontline health and social care professionals. www.uttlesfordfrontline.org.uk

Uttlesford is a predominantly rural district in North West Essex and comprises 56 parishes.

Uttlesford is geographically the largest district in Essex.

21%

21% of Uttlesford population is over 65 years (census 2011)

10%

10% of Uttlesford residents are unpaid carers. ✱ 5826 people provide 1–19 hours of unpaid care per week. ✱ 789 people provide 20–49 hours of unpaid care per week. ✱ 1324 people provide 50 hours or more unpaid care per week.

Financial Director Report Chris Barrett

Financially 2013/14 was a successful year for CVSU. Total incoming resources grew by 30% from £71,674 to £93,356.

As a result our net income was £13,066 compared with a loss of £750 in the previous year.

Unrestricted funds at the end of the year stood at £32,588, an increase of 63% over the prior year.

We have successfully diversified our sources of revenue. Project income and fees for management of the Community Hub now represent 29% of all incoming resources.

At the same time we continue to exercise tight control over all expenditure. Total costs increased by 11% to £82,964 with most of the increase relating to new projects.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank our funders Uttlesford District Council and Essex County Council for their continued support.

CVSU Income 2013/14

Grant funding income % 65.9% Project income 19.4% Management income 9.3% Membership income 0.4% other 5%

Our work this year

FUNDING ADVICE

CVSU Statistics 2013/14

167

Number of groups receiving support in line with key services.

658 Having successfully secured funding to purchase the building

Our funding support service continues to be very popular. We provide funding advice to any organisation that asks for our help.

The circulation of our monthly funding bulletin has increased to 115 organisations and individuals. We also send out targeted emails as new funding opportunities arise.

We had a particularly good year helping 27 organisations to raise a total of ÂŁ480,000. This money was raised for a range of purposes including purchase of a community building and honey extraction equipment.

We continue to have enquiries from groups who are planning large building projects. Finding funding for these types of projects continues to be a challenge.

If you would like to receive our monthly Funding Bulletin please contact us. Alternately you can find all the latest funding information on our website at www.cvsu.org.uk

Number of individuals signposted to local services.

27

Number of groups provided with personalised funding advice.

115

Number of individuals receiving CVSU monthly funding bulletin.

ÂŁ480k Amount of funding secured in this period.

519

Number of organisations on Essex Connects.

Our work this year

Time Bank Uttlesford

UTTLESFORD

ARCHANT

Time Bank Volunteers

CVSU managed to secure funding for the pilot project Time Bank Uttlesford which is being delivered in partnership with Uttlesford Volunteer Centre.

Time Bank is a new way to volunteer, allowing individuals and organisations to exchange skills and services between each other. Everyone’s time is valued equally and for every hour of help you give, you can request an hour of help in return.

Time Bank recognises that everyone has something to offer and builds community resilience by mobilising local people to help

each other through volunteering and exchanging skills and time.

We believe Time Bank responds to the needs of our local communities.

If individuals feel they are unable to exchange due to ill health or frailty, they can still receive help if they become a Time Bank member.

We are now recruiting members to Time Bank and many of these are people who may not have previously considered any form of volunteering.

Organisations and groups can become mini time banks too!

Our work this year

FRONTLINE

In 2013 a number of advice service voluntary sector organisations and statutory partners (Age UK, Sept Macmillan, RAD, CVSU, Uttlesford District Council) came together with the lead project partner Uttlesford CAB and successfully won a project bid from the Big lottery Advice Services Transition Fund.

The projects main aim is to bring together organisations providing advice services, to improve partnership working, improve advice delivery locally and develop new services. The aim is to improve local peoples access to advice and quality of advice.

As part of the project, CVSU have been working with Uttlesford CAB (UCAB) to develop, test and launch a new online referral service called Uttlesford Frontline which allows GP’s and other front line health & social care workers to refer quickly and easily to the voluntary sector. Voluntary sector services can also use the service to refer to each other.

All referrals are tracked and easy to follow up, with a reporting function to

Janice Yates

allow users to monitor who is referring and/or signposting to their services.

Uttlesford Frontline now has a growing online library of locally delivered health & social care services. CVSU and UCAB have been busy advertising the service, signing up service providers and referral providers. We are now rolling out the service to local GPs across Uttlesford and have already set up the community nursing team and Housing Associations as referral providers.

We hope that this service will generate a greater number of appropriate referrals to the voluntary sector and also help service users access these services more efficiently without being passed around to a number of agencies.

For further information: www.uttlesfordfrontline.org.uk email: info@uttlefordfrontline.org.uk

Our work this year

Partnership Working

As well as exciting new projects with our partners, we have been involved in local partnership working with our fellow voluntary sector organisations and statutory partners.

We have moved to greater involvement in the Local Strategic Partnership in Uttlesford which is driving forward a partnership approach to community needs.

CVSU has also been working with Uttlesford District Council to host the Voluntary Sector Board (VSB) which brings together voluntary sector organisations in Uttlesford to look at issues of concern to the sector and explore ways in which groups can work together to achieve positive results for the residents of the district.

One of the actions drawn from the VSB and in response to the HughesHallett ‘Who Will Care’ Report, we produced a document which outlined the scope and depth of voluntary activity in Uttlesford. We hope to update this information annually to monitor the state of the sector locally.

Changes to health and social care have meant lots of consultation and CVSU have been working with

West Essex Clinical Commissioning Group to ensure that the voluntary sector is fully engaged.

How we spend our time As ever we work with a wide variety of voluntary sector groups both large and small.

Here are some of the groups we have worked with this year: ✱ Uttlesford Carers ✱ Uttlesford Citizens Advice Bureau ✱ Volunteer Centre Uttlesford ✱ West Essex Mind ✱ Voluntary Sector Training ✱ Care Network ✱ Support 4 Sight ✱ Takeley Buzz Bee Club ✱ Laughter Specialists ✱ Gardens of Easton Lodge ✱ Uttlesford Community Travel ✱ Hundred Parishes Society ✱ Dunmow Rhodes Football Club ✱ Little Canfield Village Hall ✱ Dunmow Disabled Club ✱ Buffy Playbus ✱ One Minet Skate Park ✱ 999 Dunmow & District Sqn ✱ Air Training Corps ✱ Elsenham Bowls Club ✱ Stansted Hall & Elsenham Cricket Club ✱ Thaxted Society ✱ XL Mentoring ✱ Age UK Essex ✱ Crossroads Care East Anglia ✱ Young Carers Project ✱ Saffron Walden Talking Newspaper

Uttlesford Community Hub

CVSU worked in partnership with West Essex Mind (WEM), on a successful bid which resulted in WEM being awarded funding worth ÂŁ338,000 to purchase and extensively renovate the Old Police Station in Great Dunmow.

The newly refurbished building will be rebranded as Community Hub and will be a resource for the whole community.

Uttlesford Community Hub

Works have included a new roof, new heating system, new reception area with disabled access and creation of more office space.

CVSU manages this Hub, which not only provides accommodation for several charities but will have meeting rooms, a cafĂŠ and a drop-in information service for members of the public to use.

We will also be hosting drop in sessions for other organisations not located at the centre.

Purchasing the property not only gives additional security to the charities who work here but together we are building a true community asset for the future and keeping this historical building for public benefit.

The charities located in the Hub with CVSU include: West Essex Mind, Uttlesford Carers, Voluntary Sector Training, Crossroads Care East Anglia and Essex Council for Voluntary Youth Services.

We would like to thank the very many people who helped secure the funding and everyone involved in managing and carrying out the building work.

We would like to thank our funders ✱ Uttlesford District Council ✱ Essex County Council

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T: 01371 878400 E: infocvs@btconnect.com @CVS_uttlesford

www.cvsu.org.uk Cover photo: Doctor’s Pond in Dunmow, Mark Seton

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Council for Voluntary Services Uttlesford, The Old Police Station, 45 Stortford Road, Great Dunmow, Essex CM6 1DQ