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Social Care experts fear more people will be denied state-funded services over the next few years as councils are squeezed. http://bit.ly/10nSnBd
Adult Social Care services 2014-2017 commissioning prospectus published
Brighton and Hove City Council have today published the commissioning prospectus for some adult social care services.
You can find the full briefing paper at the bottom of this page.
The prospectus covers the following four areas:
- Specialist advocacy services
- Activities for older people in localities across the city
- A city –wide co-ordination function to facilitate connections between organisations working with vulnerable adults across the city
- Psychosocial support in the Black and Minority Ethnic community
To view the full documentation on the south east business portal, including the application form, visit: http://bit.ly/18cbdSf
Briefing Meetings are planned for organisations interested in bidding for funding. This will provide an opportunity for prospective bidders to meet with Commissioners, to clarify the services they are seeking and to make sure they understand the process and timescales for submitting bids. These dates are as follows:
- Locality Based Activities for Older People, and City Wide Coordination: Tuesday 7th May 2013, 2.30-4.30pm, Committee Room 2, Brighton Town Hall
- Specialist Advocacy Services: Monday 13th May, 2013. 10-12 am, Committee Room 3, Brighton Town Hall
- BME Psychosocial Support: Tuesday 14th May, 2013, 2.30-4.30pm,Committee Room 2, Brighton Town Hall
Bids must be submitted by 14:00 on the 28 June 2013. There will then follow a process of evaluation of bids, clarification and negotiation meetings, culminating in award of contracts in the Autumn, to commence 1st April 2014.
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| ASC Prospectus briefing.pdf | 28.48 KB |
CVSF Housing Network presents a half day event to look at the impact of Welfare Reforms
The CVSF Housing Network is putting on a half day event to look at the impact of welfare reforms for housing and homelessness in the city.
It is running between 9.30-12.30 on Tuesday 14th May.
To read more, and to book, visit our event listing
Training for the Community and Voluntary Sector
Find out more about needs-led training opportunities for community groups and charities in Brighton and Hove as part of the joint training programme brought to you by CVSF and the Trust for Developing Communities, as well as links to other sector training providers.
Big Lottery Funding: Ageing Better deadline 23 April
Big Lottery Funding: Announcement of Ageing Better: supporting older people to get involved in their communities and tackle social isolation
The Big Lottery have announced that they will fund around 20 areas across England to tackle social isolation, improving older people’s ability to deal with change and giving them greater power to make choices. They are giving a commitment of at least £70 million.
The Big Lottery have confirmed that Brighton and Hove City Council has been selected to bid for a share of this funding.
The first stage of the bid has to be submitted by the Local Authority by 17th May. 100 areas have been approached to express a bid, and 30 will be shortlisted. We will know the decision by end July. The 30 shortlisted areas will be required to formally develop partnerships and identify a lead VCS organisation to develop a vision and strategy document outlining how each area will seek to address social isolation experienced by older people in their communities.
After a second round of bidding – 20 shortlisted LA’s could receive funding of between £2m – £6m over 3-6 years.
Next Steps:
Please see the briefing below to voluntary and community organisations in the city. At this stage, if you would like to be involved, the council only require a brief expression of interest from you by 23rd April 2013.
If you are interested, please contact:
Anne Hagan
Lead Commissioner
Adult Social Care
Brighton & Hove City Council
Room G23, Kings House
Grand Avenue
Hove
BN3 2LS
Tel 01273 295048
Email: anne.hagan@brighton-hove.gov.uk
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| Fulfilling Lives BRIEFING to VCS 9Apr13.doc | 41 KB |
New Council Structure
New Shape (as of 1st April 2013)
The new shape of the council management is now in place and features the Executive Leadership team (ELT) and the Corporate Management team (CMT).
The key changes are the appointment of a new assistant chief executive Paula Murray who is now in post and the appointment of the new executive director of Children’s Services Pinaki Ghoshal. This new shape also incorporates Public Health, headed by Tom Scanlon, director of Public Health, which moves over from the NHS.
The structure chart shows the full CMT which includes the ELT members.
Executive Leadership Team (ELT)
Penny Thompson Chief Executive
Catherine Vaughan Executive Director Finances & Resources
Denise D'Souza Executive Director Adult Services
Pinaki Ghoshal Executive Director Children's Services
Tom Scanlon Director of Public Health
Geoff Raw Executive Director Environment, Development & Housing
Corporate Management Team (CMT)
Paula Murray Assistant Chief Executive - responsible for Communications, Communities, Culture Leisure & Tourism, and Policy & Performance
Abraham Ghebre-Ghiorghis Head of Law - responsible for Legal Services and Democratic Services
Adam Bates - Culture Leisure & Tourism
Angela Dymott - Property
Brian Doughty - Adults Assessment
Gillian Marston - City Infrastructure
James Dougan - Children & Families
Jo Lyons - Learning & Partnership
Jugal Sharma - Housing
Karin Divall - Adult Services
Mark Prior - Transport
Martin Randall - Planning & Public Protection
Nick Hibberd - City Regeneration
Nigel Manvell - Finance, ICT, and Programme Management
Peter Wilkinson - Public Health
Richard Butcher-Tuset - Policy & Performance
Steve Barton - Stronger Families and Stronger Communities
Sue Moorman - HR & OD
Valerie Pearce - City Services
CLOSED: Recruiting staff for Healthwatch Brighton and Hove
Building on the success of hosting Brighton and Hove’s Local Involvement Network (LINk) over the last 5 years, CVSF is delighted to be developing Healthwatch Brighton and Hove, a new independent organisation which will be an influential and effective voice for the public around health and social care services.
We are looking for a highly skilled, knowledgeable and experienced individual to work with local residents to set up and manage Healthwatch Brighton and Hove.
You will have senior management experience, be competent in managing staff and volunteers, contracting and budget responsibilities, have an ability to inspire and motivate others and a track record of working in community engagement and involvement.
Healthwatch Manager
Salary: NJC Scale points 35-39, £29,236-£32,800 dependent on experience, + 5% employer’s pension contribution
Hours: Full-time (35 hours per week) with occasional evening and weekends
Annual Leave entitlement: 28 days per year + bank holidays
Status: Maternity cover up to 1 year
Closing date for applications: midday, Monday 22nd April 2013
Interviews: w/c 29th April 2013, TBC
For further information: download an application below or email info@cvsectorforum.org.uk or telephone 01273 810230
CVSF is an equal opportunities employer.
CVSF is a registered charity (1087481) and a company limited by guarantee (3895635).
Brighton and Hove Impetus is setting up and running the new local NHS Independent Complaints Advocacy Service (ICAS) in Brighton and Hove. The ICAS service is part of Healthwatch Brighton and Hove, and will offer support to Brighton and Hove residents who need to resolve a complaint about healthcare commissioned or provided by NHS England. Our partner organisation Impetus, is recruiting for an ICAS Manager and an ICAS Senior Advocate. Visit their website for more information by clicking here.
| Attachment | Size |
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| HW Manager (maternity cover) March 13 Final.pdf | 117.07 KB |
| CVSF application and eq opps form.doc | 50 KB |
| Press release Healtwatch March 2013.pdf | 56.26 KB |
Changes to benefits for Council Tax - briefing sessions available
Briefing for community workers, volunteers, people running groups, community activists and anyone else who works with communities
NB this briefing is not for people who formally give advice as part of their role
The government is undertaking the widest review of benefits for 70 years. Council Tax Benefit is being changed to a local scheme and the government is reducing funding by £2.5 million in Brighton & Hove. Pensioners will be entitled to the same level of benefits as under the national scheme but working people will see a reduction in the amount of help they get.
There are 3 briefing sessions available to explain the changes that are coming and it is an opportunity to meet council officers to discuss the details of these changes and what support is in place to support people affected by these changes.
Hangleton and Knoll
Wednesday 27th February @ St Richards Community Centre 12.30-2.30
Whitehawk
Thursday 28th February @ Whitehawk Hub (the library meeting room) 10-12
Central
Wednesday 6th March @ the Friends Meeting House, Ship Street 6-8pm
The sessions will cover:
- Presentation of the new Council Tax Reduction Scheme
- The problems people might face and how to overcome these
- The Discretionary Fund
- Information from the Council Tax Payments Team
- The best way to raise awareness and circulate information about the changes
- Questions and Answers
Booking is essential: please contact Lisa Mytton Tel: 01273 810242 email: lisa@cvsectorforum.org.uk.
We will do our very best to meet any specific requirements that you have: please call us in advance to discuss your specific needs.
The key changes for working people are:
- benefits will be based on 91.5% of what they pay, not 100%. This means most working age people will need to pay 8.5% of their Council Tax
- the amount of earned income single people can earn before it is counted will be doubled from £5 to £10
- for people already on benefit there will be transitional protection in place so they do not have to pay more than £3 a week extra as a result of these changes
- there will be an extra discretionary fund in place to help people with their Council Tax if they are in exceptionally difficult circumstances
- the benefit will now be call Council Tax Reduction
CVSF Conference and AGM 2012
We would like to say a big thank you to everyone who took part in the CVSF Annual Conference and AGM on the 17th October 2012! 120 people from the Community and Voluntary Sector came together to discuss how the sector is fairing in these tough economic times and explore our call to action: how can we be Stronger Together?
We celebrated the best parts of the sector and inspired each other with the inaugural Sector Star Awards and the Sector Question Time Panel, and our four themed workshops were really productive. A member organisation stepped up to make the opening address and attendees used voting hand-sets throughout the day so CVSF could gauge how people in the room were feeling. We also heard about progress on the Transforming Local Infrastructure Project and their efforts to develop support services for the sector in the coming year.
The main message from the sector is that they are resilient and creative. The majority of people in the room were feeling the pressure but are getting on with things and are up for the challenge. It was a hugely positive day with a varied agenda; attendees reported that they benefitted most from sharing ideas and information with peers and 43% of people felt stronger together at the end of the day.
Working through CVSF, organisations are part of something special in our city; a collective movement for social justice. The sector actively looked forward and 85% of organisations who completed our State of the Sector Survey plan to collaborate more with other organisations over the next 12 months….it’s official, we are Stronger Together!
There are many resources available from the conference, please see the following downloads:
From the day:
Presentations and Question and Answer Sessions write up:
- Stronger Together and State of the Sector Presentation (including voting results)
- CVSF AGM Presentation
- TLI Presentation (including voting results)
- TLI Question and Answer notes
- Afternoon Presentation (including Sector Question Time Panel and closing speech)
- Written Summary of the Sector Question Time Panel and question and answers
- Written Summary of the speech from Councillor Phelim MacCafferty and question and answer session
Workshop Presentations:
- Avenues to Influence - workshop write up
- Avenues to Influence and Skills for Representation Handbook
- Collide or Collaborate? - presentation
- Collide or Collaborate? Handout - benefits, challenges and risk (WORK IN PROGRESS!)
- Collaboration resource pack - to follow
- Measuring What Matters - presentation
- Social Finance - presentation
Reports from the day:
- Nominees and Winners of the Sector Star Awards
- Photos of Award Winners and Nominees
- State of the Sector Report
- CVSF Annual Report 2011-12
- CVSF Annual Accounts 2011-12
- Draft Minutes from the CVSF AGM 2012 (to follow)
There are lots of people we would like to say thank you to who made the day possible:
The caterers MERNET, Trailer Trashed and the Oromo Community group provided a tasty lunch that kept us going. The Sector Stars judges Bill Randall, Dave Wolff, Giles Ings, Barry Hulyer and Simon Lewis spent time deliberating our award winners. Our expert panellists Aaron Evans, Ben Glazebrook, Jo Martindale and Jo Ivens gave such fantastic on the ground contributions. Thank you to Councillor Phelim MacCafferty for stepping in at the last minute to give us the Council’s perspective on how they can support the work of the sector. Sing For Better Health inspired us with a sing-a-long at the end of a long day. Metamorphosis Art Group also created the Small Groups Roll of Honour which showed the range of small community groups that are out there. Our volunteer Gisele Waterfall worked really hard to make the event happen. Finally thank you to Val Cane who bravely stepped up to make the conference’s opening address.
Upcoming Budget Scrutiny Process
Over the next few years the council is faced with a tough economic choice: protect front line services to the city’s most vulnerable people whilst having to find significant and far reaching savings. The magnitude of these savings is not yet fully known but it will be in the region of £50 million over the next three years.
There remains a large degree of uncertainty about the impact of the cuts on the community and voluntary sector. One thing is certain however, there will be real and significant cuts to budgets in 2012/13 and 2013/14. As a sector we cannot expect to rely on the same levels of funding and support from Brighton and Hove City Council.
CVSF will be taking part in the budget scrutiny process for 2012-13 and you can find out more about how we are going about this process by reading our Budget Scrutiny Process document available here.
