- Area:
- South West England
- Programme:
- Supporting Change and Impact
- Release date:
- 20 3 2012
SEVENTEEN charities that provide vital support services to people and communities across the South West, and who are experiencing firsthand the effects of reduced public funding, have been given a Lottery lifeline today.
Big Lottery Fund (BIG) has awarded 17 of its Lottery grant-holders in the South West an extra year’s worth of funding to enable them to continue their work through the tough economic environment. Grants of up to £10,000 have also been awarded to a further 51 projects to help them review their work and better plan for the future.
Many of the South West projects sharing in the funding – totalling over £1.9m - face an uncertain future as their Lottery funding comes to an end, compounded by increasing demand from beneficiaries as other services are forced to scale back or close down, and welfare reforms begin to take effect.
In Cornwall, St Austell based charity Sensory Trust has received £93,709 to continue and develop its project, Creative Spaces, which works in partnership with care homes across mid-Cornwall to support people with dementia.
For the last three years, the project has been working to improve the well-being and quality of life of people with dementia through a programme of outdoor and community-based activities including gardening, creative and art-based activities, and intergenerational horticultural sessions with local young people.
They have experienced increased need for their project as the number of people with dementia is increasing at the same time as reduced funding for the care sector has lessened the degree of support available at home and for wider community initiatives. Jane Stoneham, Director of the Sensory Trust, explains that this can lead to people with dementia becoming socially isolated, which in turn can exacerbate negative symptoms of the disease.
She said: “The need to improve the quality of life of people with dementia is widely recognised as a significant issue. But reduced funding available in the sector means we are seeing less support available to help people with dementia living at home to remain connected and engaged with their local communities. This can lead to many people with dementia becoming isolated and disengaged, and their symptoms – such as tension, frustration and anxiety - made worse.
“Positive interaction, such as being able to get out into the community, socialise with people and take part in creative activities is hugely important to the treatment of the symptoms of dementia and has a significant impact on health and well-being of people with the condition. It also helps with how they are perceived by the community, who can be unsure how to interact with them. This funding means that we can really develop that side of our project, reconnect people with dementia with the community, and continue to share learning from our work with care providers across Cornwall and beyond.”
Also receiving funding today, Somerset Advice Network – a partnership of ten advice providers – led by Taunton & District Citizen’s Advice Bureau, receives £83,780 to continue and develop their work providing an effective referral system for people in need of advice and support across the county. The Network has seen demand for advice services increase in recent months, particularly debt and employment advice, and anticipate demand to further intensify as changes to welfare and other reforms begin to take effect.
Somerset Advice Network provide training to staff working in community settings, such as Children’s Centres, job centres and other public services, so that they can better signpost people to the advice and information services they need. It also gives organisations training and access to its ‘Common Referral System’ which joins up the work of existing services so that people in need of help receive support in a holistic way and don’t get overlooked.
The Network’s Liz Fothergill explains: “Historically making a referral in the advice sector has been complicated, time-consuming and a bit of a lottery. The great advantage of our referral system is its speed, simplicity and security. Referrals often fail when they are not followed up and consequently clients fall through the cracks of the system. Our Referral System doesn’t allow for cracks and organisations are automatically informed when a referral has been accepted and processed. It also frees up staff to concentrate on more important matters than the administrative tasks involved in trying to track and trace a referral.
“We are thrilled to be awarded this funding – we have achieved such significant work in Somerset and yet we are on the cusp of so much more. This funding allows us to use the current momentum to make the impact even greater.”
Today’s funding is part of a Big Lottery Fund initiative called Supporting Change & Impact, which totals over £70m and is designed to help Lottery-funded good causes in England cope with the developing impact of public funding cuts. The National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO) estimates that voluntary and community groups will experience a reduction in public funding of up to £3.3 billion by 2015.
Mark Cotton, Big Lottery Fund Head of Region for the South West, said: “As a major funder of charities and community groups Big Lottery Fund is acutely aware of what a difficult time they are facing, with a ‘perfect storm’ created by less funding available and increased demand for their services. The funding today is going to ensure that the extremely valuable work of many South West projects can continue over the coming months when it’s needed most. It will also give organisations some much needed time and space to examine what they’re doing and find a way forward that is more sustainable.”
As part of the £70m support package, BIG also added over £25m to its two main open grants programme in England, Reaching Communities and Awards for All, to fund an additional 1,200 charitable and community projects, and has awarded almost £20 million to partner organisations that distribute or manage funding on its behalf to further support their grant holders. These include MIND, Groundwork, and Age UK, who deliver funding as part of BIG’s Well-being and Changing Spaces grants programmes.
A full list of projects awarded an extra year’s funding
A list of projects receiving up to £10,000 to review and plan for the future
Further Information
Big Lottery Fund Press Office: 020 7211 1888
Out of hours media contact: 07867 500 572
Full details of the Big Lottery Fund programmes and grant awards are available on the website: www.biglotteryfund.org.uk
Ask BIG a question here: https://ask.biglotteryfund.org.uk
Follow BIG on Twitter: www.twitter.com/BigLotteryFund #BIGlf
Find BIG on facebook: www.facebook.com/BigLotteryFund
Notes to Editors
- The Big Lottery Fund (BIG), the largest distributor of National Lottery good cause funding, is responsible for giving out 46% of the money raised for good causes by the National Lottery.
- BIG is committed to bringing real improvements to communities and the lives of people most in need and has been rolling out grants to health, education, environment and charitable causes across the UK. Since June 2004 BIG has awarded over £4.4bn.
- The Fund was formally established by Parliament on 1 December 2006.
- Since the National Lottery began in 1994, 28p from every pound spent by the public has gone to good causes. As a result, over £27 billion has now been raised and more than 370,000 grants awarded across arts, sport, heritage, charities, health, education and the environment
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