Cost of Living Alliance Conference

Following our conferences and workshops, the Cost of Living Alliance Steering Group has worked to deliver a programme of support based on your ideas, feedback, and recommendations; your energy and commitment have shaped the work of the Group to create and deliver services for everyone and to help residents cope with the cost of living.  This has included reopening 145 King Street for face to face meetings, cash first grant support, creating warm welcome spaces, developing a digital website that lists various help and support services provided by organisations across the borough and delivering training.

We value your feedback, and we are keen to continue the work with you all, building on the amazing ideas and network of support, collaborating to develop innovative ways of doing things differently together as a compassionate borough. 

I hope you will join me at our Autumn Cost of Living Alliance Conference, where there will be an opportunity to take stock of the changes we have made, including growing our work on social value investment in the community, and financial inclusion work, as well as share further ideas and maximise support to as many residents as possible working together.  Together, we’ve shown what is possible when we unite around shared purpose and action – and I hope you will join me.

If you are unable to attend please do encourage someone from your organisation to come in your place, as I believe it is so important that everyone’s views and ideas are captured as we continue to build support as well as network and connect with others across the borough.

Conference Details:
Date: Wednesday, 19 November 2025
Time: 9:30am – 1:30pm (Registration from 9:30am, meeting starts at 9.45am)
Venue: Irish Centre, Hammersmith, London, W6 8DA
Lunch provided | Teas & coffee available

Register your attendance via Eventbrite: H&F Cost of Living Alliance Conference Tickets, Wed 19 Nov 2025 at 09:30 | Eventbrite

For accessibility or dietary requirements, please contact: bathsheba.mall@lbhf.gov.uk

 

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Seminar: Sports Clubs & Their Property Challenges

Sports clubs play a vital role at the heart of our communities and often own or rent land and buildings to support their activities. Whether you are a tenant or an owner-occupier, understanding how to manage property issues effectively is key to your club’s long-term success.

During this joint seminar between Russell-Cooke and the Ethical Property Foundation, the panel of speakers will share their knowledge on managing your club’s property issues, as well as guidance on legal structures and statuses available to sports clubs and the benefits of them.

This seminar will cover:

  • real life examples of problems encountered by sports clubs
  • charitable and CASC status and the legal structures available to sports clubs
  • tips on sharing your club’s property with others (including your own trading subsidiary)
  • common pitfalls and how to avoid them
  • best practice in managing the ownership of your property

We hope that you will join us on Wednesday 12 November 2025 for expert insights, an opportunity to ask questions and a chance to network with your peers.

Register via the event webpage , or by contacting the Ethical Property Foundation.

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Event: Building Bridges, Breaking Barriers – Peer Learning for Inclusive Volunteer Management

Thursday 18 September 2025 | Online

*Last chance to book*
Would you like some practical strategies for how to embed inclusion into everyday volunteer management?

This event will explore how we can create and develop peer learning opportunities that drive meaningful inclusion in the workplace.

Peer learning is a powerful, people-centred approach to change that invites us to learn from each other, and creates a space where insight and shared challenges become tools for growth. It also helps deepen inclusion and strengthen team dynamics, especially in diverse volunteer settings.

At this event we will address the challenges and offer solutions in fostering psychological safety, embedding allyship, broadening volunteer participation, and responding to lived experiences of exclusion.

Find out more

AVM Conference 2025
­Wednesday 15 & Thursday 16 October 2025 | Online
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The role of volunteer managers is ever evolving, so make sure you don’t miss out on the AVM Conference, providing you with the opportunity to delve into key aspects of our profession.

You’ll gain insights from leading voices and learn about best practices alongside peers from across the sector.

All of the sessions have been designed to inspire, educate and challenge you to think differently about what you do, and include informative keynote speakers and insightful panel discussions.

Plus, you can choose from twelve interactive workshops, all structured around the following themes:

  • The Volunteer Experience: From Recruitment to Retention
  • Building Your Volunteering Infrastructure
  • Inclusive Volunteering: Engaging Diverse Communities
  • Thriving as a Volunteer Manager: Wellbeing and Professional Development

Find out more

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Ending Child Food Poverty in the UK: Developing a Comprehensive Strategy to Tackle an Escalating Challenge

Webinar 23.10.25

Programme

  • Learn about and assess trends in and drivers of child food poverty across the UK, its impacts on children’s life outcomes, and the different approaches being taken to tackle it across the UK at local and national levels
  • Exchange views on the impact that scrapping the two-child benefit cap would have on levels of child food poverty
  • Develop comprehensive strategies for tackling child food poverty and improving children’s diets   
  • Design particular interventions for families with children under five
  • Evaluate the effectiveness of the Healthy Start scheme and how it could be improved
  • Understand the role that access to free school meals can play in tackling child food poverty and how access can be expanded
  • Exchange views on the role that local authorities, schools and colleges, charities, supermarkets and the wider food sector, the media and other stakeholders can play in improving children’s diets
  • Exchange views on the factors driving regional disparities in child food poverty and the interventions needed to address these and to improve outcomes for communities with particular challenges around food poverty and dietary health

To register for the briefing, please click here.

 

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Tackling Obesity in Adults: New Solutions to a Growing Problem – Webinar 12.08.25

Programme:

  • Learn about trends and drivers in obesity in adults globally and in the UK, the health, economic and societal consequences and impact on healthcare budgets and current UK, devolved and local government policy in this area
  • Understand the role of weight loss drugs in tackling obesity and how it is shaping government policy and the role of the NHS
  • Exchange views on the importance of prioritising prevention over cure and the dangers of weight loss drugs taking focus away from prevention
  • Develop long-term comprehensive national strategies for preventing obesity in adults  
  • Examine obesity in the UK in an international context and learn about best practice in preventing and tackling obesity in different countries
  • Promote public health measures for improving diet and preventing obesity, including through taxing unhealthy foods and subsidising healthy foods to make them cheaper
  • Implement plans to tackle the social determinants of obesity and reduce the gap in obesity levels between the richest and poorest regions of the UK
  • Consider the impact banning pre-9pm junk food TV adverts and online adverts of unhealthy food will have on obesity levels and whether much stricter regulatory interventions are needed to safeguard public health

To register for the briefing, please click here.

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Strengthening Child Protection Online: Webinar – 09.09.25

The Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) revealed in its 2025 annual report, published this April, that it received 245 reports of AI-generated child sexual abuse imagery that broke UK law in 2024 – an increase of 380% on the 51 seen in 2023, comprising 7,644 images and a small number of videos. The largest proportion of those images was “category A” material, meaning the most extreme type of child sexual abuse content that includes penetrative sexual activity or sadism, accounting for 39% of the actionable AI material seen by the IWF. The IWF also reported record levels of webpages hosting child sexual abuse imagery in 2024, with 291,273 reports of child sexual abuse imagery last year, an increase of 6% on 2023. Furthermore, according to data published by the NSPCC in November 2024, 19% of children aged 10-15-years-old exchanged messages with someone online who they had never met before in the last year; and over 9,000 child sexual abuse offences involved an online element in 2022/23.

In April 2025, Ofcom announced new rules for tech firms to keep children safe online. Social media and other internet platforms will be legally required to block children’s access to harmful content from 25th July or face large fines – and in extreme cases being shut down – under the UK’s Online Safety Act. Ofcom published over 40 measures covering sites and apps used by children, ranging from social media to search and gaming. Under the measures, the “riskiest” services must use “highly effective” age checks to identify under-18 users; algorithms, which recommend content to users, must filter out harmful material; all sites and apps must have procedures for taking down dangerous content quickly; and children must have a “straightforward” way to report content. Separately, the IWF has announced that it is making a new safety tool, called Image Intercept, available to smaller websites for free, to help them spot and prevent the spread of abuse material on their platforms.

Meanwhile, Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, Peter Kyle, has said he that he is considering a social media curfew for children after TikTok’s introduction of a feature that encourages under-16s to switch off the app after 10pm. Kyle has also insisted that the Online Safety Act will not be a bargaining chip in any negotiations with the Trump administration over the threat of tariffs being imposed on British exports to the US, following criticism of the act, on free speech grounds, by US Vice-President, JD Vance.

Mark Jones, a partner at the law firm Payne Hicks Beach, argues that the new Ofcom regulations mark a “considerable sea change” in dealing with illegal or harmful content as they require tech companies to be proactive in identifying and removing dangerous material. However, online safety campaigner, Ian Russell, has said that the codes were “overly cautious” and put tech company profit ahead of tackling harmful content, stating: “I am dismayed by the lack of ambition in today’s codes. Instead of moving fast to fix things, the painful reality is that Ofcom’s measures will fail to prevent more young deaths like my daughter Molly’s.” Russell’s Molly Rose Foundation charity argues the codes do not go far enough to moderate suicide and self-harm content as well as blocking dangerous online challenges. The Children’s Commissioner for England, Rachel de Souza, has also criticised the measures and accused Ofcom of prioritising tech companies’ business interests over children’s safety; while the NSPCC wants tougher measures on strongly encrypted messaging services such as WhatsApp, although it describes the measures as a “major step forward”.

This symposium will provide stakeholders, including children’s services, schools, police, central and local government agencies, with an invaluable opportunity to review regulations, legislation and government policy relating to online child safety and to discuss options for better protecting children and reducing risks online. It will also enable delegates to formulate collaborative measures to support victims of online abuse and raise levels of digital literacy to help children thrive online.

Programme

  • Learn about and assess Ofcom’s new safety measures for protecting children online and evaluate how they could be strengthened
  • Examine UK government policy relating to the protection of children online and develop a comprehensive national strategy for child online safety
  • Evaluate the robustness of the Online Safety Act in protecting children and explore avenues for improvement
  • Exchange views on whether rules placing restrictions on social media use by children should be introduced 
  • Promote the role that schools can play in teaching children how to stay safe online
  • Discuss the role that of multi-agency cooperation in enforcing the duty of care for online platforms and the role that technology companies can play in strengthening online protections, monitoring and reporting
  • Share best practice in promoting digital literacy and awareness of online risks, working collaboratively to protect children from online harms, and supporting young victims among parents and guardians, schools, children’s services, and the police
  • Propose measures to strengthen the ability of law enforcement agencies to tackle perpetrators of online harm against children, increase the reporting of online abuse and harmful content with the police, and better support victims

To register for the briefing, please click here.

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Forthcoming Events for Volunteer Management Professionals

The Association of Volunteer Managers (AVM) is an independent membership body that aims to support, represent and champion people in volunteer management in the UK regardless of field, discipline or sector.

We run a variety of events throughout the year which we thought may be of interest to you and your team, as well as other volunteer organisations that you work with.

Innovating Volunteer Recruitment – From Challenges to Solutions: Thursday 24 July 2025 | Online

*Last chance to book*
Explore what works in volunteer recruitment — and how to make it work for you.

In the first part of this session, you will discover some practical recruitment strategies, understand the current challenges when recruiting volunteers, and learn from a successful project where volunteer numbers were doubled.

The second part of the session will involve an interactive workshop where we’ll flip the traditional recruitment model and explore how to make your organization become truly “the volunteers” organisation, by putting volunteers at the heart of the experience. 

Find out more

Building Bridges, Breaking Barriers – Peer Learning for Inclusive Volunteer Management: Thursday 18 September 2025 | Online

What would it look like if inclusion wasn’t just a value, but something we practiced, and built together?

To mark National Inclusion Week we have invited some guest speakers to share insights on creating and developing peer learning opportunities that drive meaningful inclusion in workplaces and communities.

This session will explore how we can bring people together, share best practices, and drive real change including:

  • Creating inclusive volunteering spaces: a culture of inclusion and psychological safety
  • Addressing microaggressions and unconscious bias in volunteer teams
  • The role of peer learning in fostering connection
  • Managing diverse volunteer teams effectively.

Find out more

AVM Conference 2025: Wednesday 15 & Thursday 16 October 2025 | Online
­We’re thrilled to announce that tickets are now officially available for the annual Association of Volunteer Managers Conference.

The role of volunteer managers is ever evolving, and this year’s conference will provide you with the opportunity to delve into key aspects of our profession, providing you with the opportunity to gain insights from leading voices and learn about best practices alongside peers from across the sector.

Each day of this online event will feature:

  • An informative keynote
  • A selection of interactive workshops
  • An insightful panel discussion.

Find out more

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Addressing Cold Weather Planning & Fuel Poverty: How to Reduce Preventable Cold Weather-Related Deaths & Ill-Health

Webinar: Thursday, August 14th 2025 

Programme

  • Learn about fuel poverty trends and drivers and the impact of these on public health and the NHS
  • Evaluate the government’s Adverse Weather and Health Plan for 2025 and 2026 and exchange views on how this should be built upon and improved to further reduce preventable cold weather-related deaths and ill-health
  • Determine the impact of ending winter fuel payment pensioner universality, the adequacy of cold weather payments and assess wider government energy policy aimed at supporting households
  • Assess the merits and viability of introducing a social tariff to reduce energy bills for vulnerable households, paid for by energy companies  
  • Develop strategies to fully insulate the UK’s housing stock and exchange best practice on home insulation and energy efficiency measures among local authorities, housing providers and private developers
  • Formulate comprehensive plans to tackle affordability and discrimination in the energy market  
  • Consider the wider policy reforms required to reduce health inequalities and protect those most at risk from the impacts of adverse weather
  • Exchange views on how to improve multi-agency collaboration, integration of health and social care and use of digital technology in cold weather planning and protecting the most vulnerable and promote best practice

To register for the briefing, please click here.


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Tackling the Housing Crisis Webinar – 29.07.25

Programme

  • Understand the trends in and the drivers of the UK’s housing crisis and the impact on ordinary people
  • Learn about and assess the extent to which the government’s plans for building more homes and supporting renters will tackle the UK’s housing crisis
  • Exchange views on the role that rent controls, raising housing benefit and increasing the construction of Council housing could play in fixing the UK’s housing crisis
  • Evaluate how greater local authority devolution can help ensure housing needs are met locally  
  • Understand the reforms to planning policy and the housing sector required to build the homes needed to meet the needs of a growing population
  • Consider how empty homes could be brought back into use to increase access to housing
  • Develop a comprehensive plan for reforming the UK’s housing model in order to eliminate homelessness and rough sleeping and ensure good quality, affordable housing for all  
  • Promote the roll out of higher density, mixed use developments as a means of meeting the UK’s housing needs and creating vibrant, walkable, more affordable, and more sustainable communities

To register for the briefing, please click here.

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The Future of UK Charities: Fixing the Funding Crisis Facing the Charity Sector

Webinar 28.08.25

Programme

  • Understand the key trends, challenges, and opportunities that will define the UK charity sector in the coming years
  • Assess the impact of government policy relating to charities and promote avenues for improving government support for the sector  
  • Evaluate what an effective Civil Society Covenant should look like and how to improve the way government and charities work together
  • Prepare for the UK cuts to international development aid on charities and those they support and formulate plans for how the sector can meet this challenge
  • Promote a long-term vision for how to place UK charities in a position to help drive the government’s ambition for a decade of national renewal
  • Exchange best practice on recruitment and retention in the charity sector
  • Develop strategies designed to make charities more financially resilient and sustainable, individually and as a sector
  • Exchange views on how charities can take advantage of digital and AI to increase fundraising, drive efficiency and improve delivery, while mitigating any risks

To register for the briefing, please click here.

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