Agenda item

SoletteSheppardson, Chief Executive Officer, gave a presentation in respect of the work of Voluntary Support North Surrey.

Voluntary Support North Surrey (VSNS) was a support service for voluntary organisations in the North Surrey local authority areas. The charity provided services and assistance to the third sector including:

·         Governance support; including training sessions for trustees.

·         Advice to the third sector on business development, including support in the creation of business plans.

·         Funding support: It was noted that VSNS provided charitable organisations with paid access to Idox Grant finder, which would otherwise cost local charities a significant license fee. The software allowed front-line service providers to search for local and national grants which were most suitable to their industry specific criteria.

·         Most notably the organisation fuelled the third-sector by undertaking the recruitment, training, management and development of volunteers for charitable front-line services. It was noted that currently one in five people volunteered at least once a month and VSNS worked to engage the public in volunteering by representing the third sector at community events and by working to recruit volunteers from the Corporate Sector.

VSNS worked with organisations such as Clinical Commissioning Groups in order to facilitate social prescribing, which enabled vulnerable members of society to access the most appropriate services run by the third sector. VSNS and the Surrey Heath CCG had jointly secured just under £200,000 from the National Health and Wellbeing Fund towards the expansion of social prescribing provision in Surrey Heath. VSNS planned to use part of these additional funds to employ a social prescribing specialist at the Citizens’ Advice Bureau – Camberley. It was acknowledged that, nationally, there had been a significant rise in demand for socially prescribed front-line services; exemplified by large volumes of referrals in the VSNS area. In particular demand had rocketed for socially prescribed provision for befriending services and services which dealt with dementia and long term illness support.

The Amigo project had been recently founded by VSNS and supported residents who were recovering from mental health problems. VSNS had worked with partners such as Catalyst to offer further recovery support, after initial the recovery had taken place. The project buddied up volunteers with clients, who acted as a 1-1 point of contact to discuss confidence levels and emotional wellbeing. It was acknowledged that out of 35 current volunteer buddies, 12 were based in Surrey Heath.

Arising from the Members’ comments and questions the following points were noted:

·         Efforts to encourage volunteering had led VSNS to concentrate resources on their website and social media channels. Furthermore static national levels of volunteers had forced VSNS to be more creative as per their digital content and had encouraged work with national partners such as Do-it.org.

·         Despite concentration of publicity efforts on social media, it was acknowledged that volunteers were often recruited because they were individually asked. In addition it was noted that volunteering’s value was often on a personal level and VSNS’s attendance at events such as the Surrey Heath Show had created awareness of volunteering opportunities within the otherwise unengaged public.

·         Surrey Heath GPs were proactive in referring their patients via social prescribing methods. GPs were advised of front-line services via VSNS liaison with the Surrey Heath CCG. Referrals from GPs were triaged by the Surrey Heath CCG via a single point of access. The process resulted in VSNS receiving and coordinating between 15-20 referrals per week.

·         Digital training had acted as a significant strand to which VSNS had aimed to support charities within Surrey. It was noted that 45% of charities which VSNS supported, failed to have a digital strategy and a significant number of organisations did not have a donate button on their websites.

·         VSNS had aimed to create strong relationships with corporate companies to nurture well-matched partnerships between charitable organisations and companies. This could facilitate one-off funding opportunities for frontline organisations and promote volunteering opportunities amongst corporate employees. It was also noted that VSNS worked to promote corporate social responsibility amongst the corporate sector. VSNS were also aiming to develop a training course for the charitable sector on how to effectively and efficiently apply to the corporate sector for sponsorship.

·         VSNS aimed to stay based in Surrey Heath, despite increased office space rental costs. In addition, as a result of the expansion of the organisation and its services VSNS required more office space; which was also currently shared with Surrey Age Concern and Camberley Care. Members and officers acknowledged they would aim to help in regard to finding potential office space for the organisation where possible.   

The Committee thanked Solette Sheppardson for her informative update.