“As part of our operational response to COVID-19, our board of trustees agreed that full-time DSC staff would change to working their hours over four days, rather than five, giving everybody a three-day weekend every week…” Find out more about our move to a 3-day weekend.
“Former charities minister Stuart Andrew has been appointed shadow culture secretary, a move that has been welcomed by the charity sector. Andrew was the minister for civil society as part of the previous Conservative government for two years before the general election in July…” Read more here.
The chancellor’s autumn budget statement announced changes that will potentially have a devastating impact on the charity and voluntary sector. It is estimated that the sector’s total increased cost of employer National Insurance Contributions will be £1.4bn per year.
Charities are already in a dire situation, struggling to juggle the soaring demand for their services, while their own costs escalate and funding declines. The decision to increase employer NICs across the charity sector- and not to create an exemption – will be another major strain on their limited resources.
NCVO and ACEVO have issued a joint letter to the chancellor to outline their concerns for the sector. You can make your voice heard too.
Co-sign the open letter to the chancellor and join NCVO and ACEVO in calling for a commitment to safeguard charities from increased employer NICs.
Celebrate Trustees’ Week by empowering your Board with our best-selling governance book, It’s a Battle on the Board. Authored by Debra Allcock Tyler, this essential guide blends leadership theory with practical insights and real-life examples.
Key topics include:
- Understanding your role as a trustee
- Collaborating effectively with fellow trustees and the CEO
- Navigating information and financial challenges
- The psychology behind decision-making
- Managing risk and handling crises
This book is a must-read for all charity trustees. Order all of your Board a copy here and equip them with the tools they need to succeed!
The Fulham 10km, organised by RunThrough Events, taking place on Sunday 17th November 2024. The race has a start time of 9am and an expected race finish time of 11am. We are expecting there to be around 2,000 runners participating in the event this year.
In light of this event, there will be traffic management procedures in place on the morning of Sunday 17th November. Harwood Road and New Kings Road will be closed 6am-12pm, with all other affected roads closed 8:30am-11am.
Please see all detailed road closure timings on the link below:
https://www.fulham10k.com/road-closure/
These procedures have been designed to offer minimal disruption and will be managed by an expert Traffic Management company that will reopen roads as soon as is safe to do so, and provide appropriate diversions during disrupted times. The race has been designed as a single lap course so that roads can be reopened as the last runners pass by (please see map on link below for details of the race route).
https://www.fulham10k.com/course/
If you will be expecting any deliveries/access on the morning of Sunday 17th November then please get in contact with us by emailing info@runthrough.co.uk so we are able to create access contingency plans for you.
We are happy to offer all businesses located on the race route a free entry to the race as a token of our appreciation of your understanding of the disruptions caused by this event. If you are interested in claiming your free entry, please email info@runthrough.co.uk. Thank you in advance for your cooperation and for your support of the Fulham 10km.
Missed out on this year’s Engage conference? In our new article, Jay Kennedy, DSC’s Director of Policy and Research, has put together a round-up of the highlights from the event. Take a look here.
Carers Rights Day 2024 will take place in Ealing on Thursday 21 November 2024. The event is for the boroughs unpaid carers supporting family members and the theme this year is “recognising Your Rights.”
Carers Rights Day is an annual event in the UK that raises awareness of the challenges and rights of unpaid family carers. The day aims to help carers understand their rights and access the support they are entitled to.
There will be a range of local voluntary and staturory services stalls sharing information and advice about their services. The NHS will be providing blood pressure checks and providing valuable advice about health and healthy living.
The event takes place at 10am – 3pm on 21 November 2024. It takes place at Elm Lodge, in Greenford, Ealing.
NHS North West London, supported by Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust, ran a consultation from October 2023 to February 2024, on the future of acute mental health services in Westminster and Kensington & Chelsea following the temporary closure of the inpatient wards at the Gordon Hospital. There was significant engagement in the consultation with over 700 individual responses.
The responses from the consultation period helped identify a number of areas where further work was needed that would help continue to develop the case and proposed model of care to ensure it is meeting the needs of the local population. This work has all informed the Decision Making Business Case (DMBC) which will be presented to NHS North West London Board for a final decision.
To ensure all information has been sufficiently considered there has been a decision that the DMBC will be taken to NHS North West London Board on Wednesday 22 January 2025 where a final decision will be made. This is a public meeting and interested parties are invited to watch the meeting to see the discussion, a link will be available here closer to the time.
We also anticipate at least two more public meetings of the North West London Joint Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee to discuss the case before any changes are implemented. One will discuss the DMBC before it goes to NHS North West London for decision and the second will review the decision made at the meeting in January 2025. These meetings are both open to the public and more information about dates and how to join can be found here.
Thank you to everyone who has been involved in this engagement process and for your patience while a fully considered decision is reached to best meet the needs of the local community.
Charity Sector ‘Stuck in a Fear Loop’ on Anti-racism, Says Mind CEO
“The charity sector is “stuck in a fear loop” when it comes to anti-racism, mental health charity Mind’s chief executive Sarah Hughes said at a recent online event…” Read more here.
Trustees say their boards are performing worse at EDI than anything else
“Charity trustees have rated equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) as the governance area in which their boards are most struggling to achieve positive outcomes…” Read more here.
A new white paper by a group of UK safety industry bodies calls for a national workplace mental health strategy to tackle rising levels of poor mental health.
Prioritising mental health in the workplace, which is joint-published by the The Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Stakeholder Alliance, calls on the UK government and policy-makers to take action.
sobus
20 Dawes Road, London, SW6 7EN
Telephone 020 7952 1230
Email info@sobus.org.uk
Registered Charity No.1071089
and Company Limited by Guarantee. Registered in England No.03471416
Sobus is a new Community Development Agency for Hammersmith & Fulham. It has been created through the merger of the Community and Voluntary Sector Association Hammersmith & Fulham (CaVSA) and the Fulham Community Partnership Trust (FCPT). Building on the strengths of both organisations, sobus aims to provide a wider range of support services for local charities, community groups, social enterprises and start up businesses.