Dear Colleague,

Warm Regards,

Eithne

Eithne Rynne
CEO

Welcome  new LVSC trustees and members of staff to LVSC

We are delighted to introduce to you three new trustees who were elected to the board at our AGM in November:

Tessa Awe

Tessa has been Chief Executive of CVS Brent since 2012.  Her previous experience within the voluntary and community sector includes working with a wide range of organisations, such as Founding Director of Healthwatch Brent CIC and Interim Director of Hounslow Asian and African Youth Association.  
Tessa has 4 years' experience as a VCS consultant and also brings with her a wealth of international expertise from her employment in Canada.

Gregory Donovan

Gregory is a corporate banker at RBC Capital Markets and covers European Telecommunications, Media, Technology and Consumer corporates.

Gregory has held numerous volunteer leadership positions since 2003, including a board role on a United Way agency in Toronto, and two board roles introduced via the United Way Board Serve program in New York. Gregory brings a background in accounting and finance, in addition to international perspectives from his time spent working, volunteering and living overseas. Gregory is a qualified chartered accountant registered in Canada.

Ian Yates

Ian has worked for Costco for over 20 years since before the business first opened in the UK. He has spent the bulk of his Costco career working in the Operations side of the business, opening, developing and managing a variety of warehouses across the UK.

For the last 18 months, Ian has been based at Costco's UK central office, based in Watford and working on a wide variety of different projects. For the last six months, he has been heavily involved in introducing the United Way concept to Costco's UK employees.

Staff updates

We are delighted to welcome Andrea Farley-Moore, Policy & Project Manager (Crime & Justice) to take forward our work with Mayor's Office for Policing & Crime. Andrea started with us on the 1st December for a 4-month fixed term contract. Deirdre McGrath is now working full time with LVSC - dividing her time between  Employment & Skills and London for All project

Goodbyes

We are very sad to see Steve Kerr, Policy & Project Manager (Employment & Skills) leave  LVSC at the end of this month. Starting at LVSC in 2010, he set up our employment and skills network and has grown it to include over 500 providers. He has produced more bulletins, briefings, events, and workshops than he cares to remember, and brought in additional project funding to total over £1million to expand our work on employment and skills and ESF. We wish Steve every success for his new job at Trust for London as a Grants Manager.

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LVSC Annual Report and LVSC Annual Review online -  read more from this link.	LVSC's Trustees elected the AGM  L R  Ian Yates, Tessa Awe, Gregory Donovan	LVSC website has been refreshed to capture some of  the vibrancy of the capital and the groups we work with. Let us know what you think.

Pick of the Month

Lisa Greensill LVSC Head of Policy and Sector Support 's pick of the month new items.

Compact Awards

The winners of this year's Compact Awards were announced at a ceremony held by Compact Voice on 5 November.  The ceremony was hosted by Simon Blake OBE, Chair of Compact Voice, and attended by Rob Wilson MP, Minister for Civil Society.

The Compact Awards recognise those who are making a difference in their communities by working in partnership across different sectors. London's winners included the Sutton Compact Group who won the Compact Impact Award, Redbridge First Response Service for Innovation and Lola Barrett who won the Chris Frost Award for excellence in Compact Working.

Follow this link for details of all the nominated organisations.

The biggest survey of charities for 2014

All charities, voluntary organisations and community groups are invited to take part in a major survey being carried out by a coalition of sector networks and support bodies. It wants to find out more about the support that charities need, which will help it inform and lobby funders and key decision makers. The survey has 20 questions which should take 15 minutes, open until 31st December.

You can access the survey here

Making Good

Civil Exchange has published a collection of essays from sector leaders and thinkers entitled 'Making Good: the Future of the Voluntary Sector'. Section titles give an idea of the contents: A Turning Point, Modernising Mission, Valuing the Voluntary Sector, Strengthening Communities, An Independent Voice, Adding Value to Public Services and Funding Fit for Purpose.

The collection also includes a version of NCVO's recent overview of the sector 'The Road Ahead' which is blogged about here by one of its authors Karl Wilding.

Improving working between NHS and the third sector

ACEVO have published a report 'Working in Partnership' which aims to improve how the NHS works with third sector health and care providers through a new framework. It sets out seven principles to break down the perceived barriers to partnership working between health and social care commissioners and the voluntary sector.

The National Coalition for Independent Action - Workplace Reports

The National Coalition for Independent Action have published two new reports.

The first, '  The impact of contracting and Commissioning on Volunteers and Volunteering in Voluntary Services Groups'  charts the formalisation of volunteer management that "threatens the untamed and often maverick expression of free will that defines the authentic spirit of the volunteering impulse, whilst the second, 'More for Less' looks at the effects of outsourcing and cuts to funding on those who are paid to work.  It exposes issues including "…lowering pay at the bottom while increasing it significantly at the top, the casualization of contracts, the exploitation of weaker employment rights and heavy-handed management that frowns upon union activity, political activism of any kind and even, in some cases, on professionalism."

Southwark Early Action Commission

An independent Early Action Commission has been established in the London Borough of Southwark. The commission, the first of its kind, will be chaired by Margaret Hodge MP and will look at how the council, NHS, police and voluntary sector can work together to prevent problems that affect people's lives escalating and resulting in the need of expensive interventions that could have been avoided.

Community Action Southwark, which supports Southwark's voluntary sector, kick-started the process which led to the commission being established by Southwark's Health and Wellbeing Board. The commission is due to report in March 2015.

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Deirdre McGrath, Policy Officer, Phone 020 87832 5830 email deirdre@lvsc.org.uk	Andrea Farley Moore, Policy and Project Manager (Crime and Justice). Phone 020 87832 5816 email andrea@lvsc.org.uk	VCS Assist is a programme of free organisational support for London's VCS employment and skills providers.

Thousands of London children impacted by benefit sanctions

Figures released by the Department for Work and Pensions in response to a Freedom of Information Act request by LVSC show that at least 2,600 households (and possibly many more) with dependent children were affected by sanctions in just a seven month period in late 2012 and early 2013 (the most up to date data available).

This is the first data that we're aware of to give a snapshot of the scale of the impact of benefits sanctioning by JCP on London children. Read more on the VCS Assist website.

Feedback from London Councils Grants Committee (26/11/14)

The recent review of the current programme, which includes London for All, found that all commissions are performing well and are effective, economical and efficient.

Members agreed to recommend funding the programme at current levels for another two years, dependent on Leaders' Committee final agreement (9/12/14). There will be a review of priorities early in 2016

Members also agreed to rebrand the scheme to reflect the commissioning model and to build stronger relationships between the scheme, projects and boroughs.

Any further information 

Health Inequalities in London: Developing joint solutions to achieve better health outcomes for all - 29th October 2014

The presentations are now available on LVSC's website and the event report will be avaiable shortly.  The event report will become available soon.
The aims of the event were to:

• Look at the wider context of health inequalities in London.
• Explore mechanisms and levers to enable the VCS, policy makers and commissioners to more effectively work together to reduce health inequalities
• Achieve better health outcomes and ultimately effect change Feed into the Mayor of London's Health Inequalities Strategy Delivery Plan, which is currently being refreshed.

Thank you to all who attended, making this one of LVSC's busiest events to date.

Survey of VCS organisations - how surviving in health landscape

The Health and Care Voluntary Sector Strategic Partnership (of which Regional Voices is part and LVSC is a member of Regional Voices)) has launched the biggest survey of voluntary and community organisations of the year to find out more about the help charities need and how connections are being made with "new" health commissioners locally. The survey's findings will be used to lobby key decision makers and funders about prevalent issues and support requests.
Read more about Survey of VCS organisations - how surviving in health landscape
Please take part in this survey.   Closing date is 31st December

Introducing our new Crime and Justice Policy and Project Manager - Andrea Farley-Moore

I join the team at LVSC with a working knowledge of the Criminal Justice System; Policy and cross sector partnerships. Much of this has been gained from my work with Pecan in South East London, where I established a pan London programme for women offenders.  I have also been a teacher; a journalist for the BBC; and worked on the Corporation's Children in Need appeal.

As I start this post to continue the great work Julia Malambo has done with the SFC network, my feeling is that the CJS is facing a period of immense change. My ambition is to help the VSC make the most of opportunities this creates.

I look forward to meeting and working with you in the coming months - my contact details are:
Andrea Farley-Moore, Policy and Project Manager (Crime and Justice), Telephone 020 87832 email andrea@lvsc.org.uk

Vacancy - POLICY AND PROJECT MANAGER (EMPLOYMENT & SKILLS)

Full Time, 35 hours per week. Based at LVSC offices London.
Salary - £33,343 pa inclusive of Inner London weighting plus pension.

LVSC's vision is of a vibrant and sustainable city where the lives of Londoners are enhanced through voluntary and community action.

We are now looking for the right person to take forward our policy and campaigning work on employment and skills, which is carried out through the London Employment and Skills Policy Network.  The network provides a collective policy voice for voluntary and community sector groups carrying out employment and skills work in London. It also provides a forum for groups to share intelligence and best practice.  This post will also oversee the end of the current ESF funded VCS Assist programme, which provides support for VCS employment and skills providers in London and the involvement of the voluntary and community sector in the development and delivery of the Big Lottery Fund ESF programme in London.

If you feel you have the necessary experience, please request an application pack by e-mail cleo@lvsc.org.uk.

Closing date: Friday 2 January 2015, at 5 pm. Interviews: Wednesday 14 January 2015

London for All' is a London Councils' funded project designed to build  the capacity of London's voluntary and community sector. As a partnership project, led by LVSC, it offers: insight and learning from a collective 200 years' experience: and the practical applications of that knowledge.  London for All can strengthen your organisation's knowledge and skills, work more effectively and efficiently, deliver more accessible services to support service users better.

London For All - Online Resources

Events, training and opportunities as well as resources are available on the London for All website - see you in 2015 and thanks for your support in 2014.

London for All training opportunities
Other resources available on the website.

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Get the latest news and updates from LVSC. Follow us on  Twitter	Happy People have partnered with LVSC to offer 40+ exciting and informative soft skills courses at affordable prices	Keegan & Pennykid (Insurance Brokers) Ltd provide independent general insurance and financial services advice to voluntary organisations

VCS Assist workshop: Managing Cashflow - Esstential Tools for VCS finanace staff

Date: Friday 12 December, 10am-1pm (Registration from 9.30am)
Venue: St Paul's Church Queen Caroline St London W6 9PJ
This half-day workshop aims to provide participants with an overview of the purposes of developing and using cashflow analysis, the key stages in drafting a cashflow statement, and the basic interpretation of an organisation's or activity cashflow report. This event is FREE

Follow this link to read course outline and register

VCS Assist Workshop: Supporting Low Paid Workers to Progress In Work

Date: Monday 19 Jan 2015 10.00am - 1.00pm (registration from 9.30am)
Venue: Amnesty International Human Rights Action Centre, 25 New Inn Yard, London EC2A 3EA

In work progression for low paid workers  is a key new challenge for policy makers concerned with in-work poverty, and will soon become a new delivery challenge for providers under the ESF 2014-2020 programme, and Universal Credit.

This workshop will show you how to engage, motivate and support low-paid workers to achieve in work progression. It looks at issues facing participants working part-time as well as those currently in or thinking about full-time work.

Follow this link to read course outline and register on Supporting Low Paid Workers to Progress in Work

​Managing Poor Performance Through Capability

Date: Wednesday 21 January 2015,10 AM to 1 PM
Venue: 200a Pentonville Road, Kings Cross, London, N1 9JP

This session will focus on managing employees who are underperforming due to lack of capability.
This workshop,run by Shirley Briggs,will help you:

• Understand the meaning of capability and when it may apply
• Deal with poor performance through capability and give you some options

Follow this link to register for Managing Poor Performance Through Capability.

LVSC Management and Personal Development Courses  - December 2014

Happy People - the personal development division of Happy delivers LVSC's management and personal development courses.  To make any bookings, you can call the team at Happy on 020 7375 7300.  Below is the list of training for November.

*Prices denote the lowest rate (for charities with 15 staff or under). For larger charities please visit the website for a correct rate

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Crisis around Christmas

We have begun compiling a list of crisis centre help lines and services  for domestic violence, homelessness, lonliness over the holiday period.

LVSC will be adding to the list and sharing this information with our networks as the season approaches.  Please email michelle@lvsc.org.uk, if you have any information to add to the list.

• Mind - Bexley - opening times
• Samaritans - national advice service
• Quaker Christmas Shelter - further details
• Crisis - helpline services
• National Domestic Helpline - helpline information

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