Annual Review 2014/2015 This year Sutton Centre for the Voluntary Sector (SCVS) celebrates 50 years of
supporting voluntary organisations in Sutton.
However, our core purpose remains the same this year as in 1965 – enabling the community to respond to local
need, developing voluntary organisations, communicating with the sector, bringing people together, and
championing the work of our 278 member organisations.
The voluntary sector continues to experience some of its most challenging times, facing ongoing reductions in funding
from all sources combined with an increased demand for services. SCVS has prioritised support in the key areas that make
organisations more robust and sustainable – governance, fundraising, quality standards, partnership and demonstrating
impact.
In 2014/15 we provided 305 one to one advice sessions to organisations (with funding as ever the most pressing
issue); delivered 18 training sessions on a number of topics and represented the sector on at least 22 strategic partnerships
or groups. We also continue to administer the Sutton Community Fund and distributed 27 grants totalling £155,644 to
enable organisations to deliver work beneficial to the local community.
Partnerships have been a major focus of our work during the year, demonstrating the value and importance of
organisations working together to respond to challenging times. We have supported Sutton Together (the voluntary sector
consortium) to win 3 major contracts and develop proposals for a Care Delivery Partnership. We also enabled the
development of new partnerships - Arts Network Sutton, Sutton Theatres Trust and Sutton Esteem. We have also prioritised
building the good relationships between the voluntary and public sectors in Sutton, with ongoing Compact meetings and
key areas of work around commissioning and the Developmental Assets Framework. The strength of our partnership was
confirmed once again by the winning of a second national Compact Award in 2014 for innovation.
Our plans to develop The Grove (Carshalton) into a Voluntary Sector Hub were given a boost in December 2014 when
we learnt that our first stage bid to the Heritage Lottery Fund had been successful. This was a real achievement and gives us
the funding and time to develop full proposals for a second stage bid in 2016 (fingers crossed!).
SCVS has also achieved significant successes in other areas. In partnership with the Volunteer Centre and five other
voluntary organisations we won the Infrastructure Support and Capacity Building Fund contract which secures our core
funding for the next 2 – 4 years and in 2014/15 we developed a new membership offer to increase our income generation
potential. We were delighted to achieve PQASSO Level 2 early in 2015 which, along with the NAVCA Quality Award, verifies
that we are a well-run organisation delivering high-quality services.
As ever, my thanks to the staff of SCVS, my fellow trustees and all our partners and supporters for all their hard work
and commitment that has made these achievements possible and I look forward to another successful year with SCVS.
Denise Crone, Chair of SCVS Board of Trustees
1965 - 2015
1965 In 1965 the inaugural
meeting was held of the
Sutton and Cheam Council
of Social Services… later
to become SCVS. From
then we have gone from
strength to strength...
1967 In July 1967 a
Voluntary Service
Bureau was set up at
West Street, opening
initially on Mondays
and Wednesdays
only.
1974 1st April 1974 – The Sutton
Council of Social Service
becomes the Sutton Council
for Voluntary Service (SCVS)
1971 In 1971 the new Priory
Crescent Bureau (Cheam
and Worcester Park) was
established and a Bureau
organiser Mrs Frances
Watt was appointed
1978 Carshalton
Voluntary Services Bureau
was established at ‘The
Lodge, Honeywood Walk,
Carshalton, Surrey
1981 Assorted fundraising events
took place to raise money
for the International Year of
Disabled People. Total
amount raised - £10,000
1976 Stringent economic
measures affecting the
Statutory Services inevitably
meant that the services
offered by the voluntary
sector came into their own.
1966 June 30th 1966 –
First AGM of the
Council of Social
Service, with 80
people attending.
1982 Gordon Lambert retired as
Chairman of Sutton Council
for Voluntary Service after
ten years. Sutton
Bereavement Service set
up.
1985 The Voluntary Sitting In
Service was established
by SCVS and Victim
Support Scheme was set
up.
1990 SCVS celebrated 25
years of supporting
Sutton’s voluntary
sector.
1987 Entering the world of
technology—the first
computer was installed at
West Street.
1995 SCVS moved to
Unilink House.
1984 A pilot scheme for
Homestart was started in
Sutton by Marion Moss.
1998 Sutton Community
Transport was
established.
1997 SCVS became a
Company Limited
by Guarantee.
1993 £50,000 was
received from LBS
to purchase three
vehicles for use by
the community
sector.
2003 SCVS launched its first
website.
Sutton Compact
principles agreed.
2000 Sutton Community
Fund launched.
2015 SCVS celebrates 50
years of supporting
the voluntary sector in
Sutton.
2004 Granfers Community
Centre officially
opened.
2013 The first Sutton
Trustee of the Year
Award was awarded to
Muriel McIntosh.
2005 SCVS celebrated 40 years
with a ‘Movers and Shakers’
event. South London
Voluntary Sector Learning
Consortium was
launched in
September.
2007 SCVS attracted funding for
the Sutton Multi Agency
Refugee Alliance public
exhibition.
2006 The first birthday of the
highly successful Play
Network was celebrated
with its 85 members.
2009 By 2009 Sutton LINk,
set up by SCVS, had a
membership of 250
voluntary
organisations and 290
individuals.
2011 CPS Payroll a
successful trading arm
with over 100 clients
by 2011.
Developing Our main area of work is providing
support to voluntary organisations
covering every aspect of running a
charity or small community group.
Supporting Joint Working During 2014/15 SCVS supported a number of
significant projects, encouraging voluntary
organisations to work together to establish new
services in response to local need, or to secure public
sector contracts.
We worked on a focussed
piece of work to develop
Sutton Arts Council into a
strong and well governed
charity, now known as Arts
Network Sutton.
We supported the
development of Esteem
Sutton, a partnership of 7
VCOs working with children
and young people, to
develop and promote
emotional wellbeing in
schools.
SCVS led on a significant
piece of work for Sutton
Together to develop a Care
Delivery Partnership in
response to the Care Act.
SCVS worked with Sutton
Together Partners to enable
them to win three contracts
with a combined annual
value of £872,000.
We supported arts
organisations to form a
Theatres Trust to bid to run
London Borough of Sutton
theatres in Sutton.
Training
In 2014/15 we provided 18 training
sessions for 123 staff, volunteers and
trustees of voluntary organisations.
These ranged from a crowdfunding
workshop to safeguarding, emergency
first aid and developing a fundraising
strategy.
Quality Standards
SCVS supports organisations to work towards the PQASSO
quality standard, which is the most appropriate quality mark
for small organisations and is recognised by the Charity
Commission.
In 2014/15 we supported two organisations (Refugee and
Migrant Network, and Jigsaw4U) to successfully obtain level
one PQASSO accreditation; one organisation to successfully
prepare for their assessment and a further six organisations
to work towards PQASSO.
Helping organisations
generate income
SCVS supports voluntary organisations (through one-to
-one advice, training and brokerage/group support to
achieve greater financial stability.
In 2014/15 bespoke support for business planning was
provided to 6 organisations; fundraising strategy and
business planning was discussed at our forums, and
SCVS involved the sector in various commissioning
activities.
Connecting
One of SCVS’s core functions is to make sure that voluntary and
community sector organisations in Sutton are well informed about
national and local policies and developments, funding
opportunities, consultations and relevant training and events. We
do this by providing information through our website
(www.suttoncvs.org.uk), bi-monthly newsletter the Networker, e-
bulletins and social media, as well as through one to one advice
sessions, emails and through our forums and events.
The Networker
During 2014/15 five
editions of our newsletter
The Networker were
produced.
Networking One of the ways SCVS promotes join working is
through our forum/network meetings. These
also offer an important opportunity for sharing
information, receiving updates from the public
and voluntary sector, and a chance for
organisations to comment on and influence
local strategies.
In 2014/15 there were:
2 Voluntary Sector Forums
4 Health, Wellbeing and Social Care Networks
4 Children, Young People and Families
Forums
2 Social Enterprise Networks
2 Small Groups Forums
Which altogether were attended by around
300 people.
Trustees’ Week 2014 In November 2014 we held our second annual event especially
for trustees as part of Trustees’ Week 2014. The networking event
was attended by more than 50 trustees from across Sutton.
During the evening the second ’Sutton Trustee of the Year
Award’ was presented to Mavis Peart, Chair of Sutton Mencap, for
her excellent work as a Sutton trustee.
“ feel deeply honoured by it because I know that there are
hundreds of trustees who are just as effective as I am and I think
that’s why I feel very touched by this particular honour and I think
we are very fortunate in Sutton as there are so many people who
are willing to work in charities not for what they can get out of it
but because they want to be useful and do some helpful work in
the community.
I particularly think the effectiveness of the trustees in Sutton
is because we are all involved with SCVS and their amount of
knowledge and advice helps us to be effective when we run our
charities.”
Mavis Peart, Nov 2014
Influencing SCVS makes sure that Sutton’s voluntary and community sector
organisations have their say on key developments and decisions made
that affect them, both at a local and a national level, so that their views
have real influence.
SCVS currently represents the sector on 22 strategic groups
including the Health and Wellbeing Board, One Sutton Commissioning
Collaborative, Safeguarding Adults Board, Safer Sutton Partnership,
Children’s Trust and Local Safeguarding Children Board. For all of these
groups SCVS sought input from the voluntary sector beforehand and
fed back afterwards.
July 2014 saw the launch of Sutton’s voluntary sector consortium — set
up so that voluntary organisations in Sutton would have formal
arrangements and agreements in place to work together more efficiently
and effectively.
By March 2015 Sutton Together had grown to 14 full members and
9 associate members.
Since its launch the Consortium has won three contracts (annual
value of the three contracts is £872,000), developed a Care Delivery
Partnership in response to the Care Act and developed a response to four
other opportunities including the Information and Advice Contract and
the Health and Social Care Volunteering Fund.
Sutton Compact Much of the work promoting and championing the
voluntary sector takes place through the Compact—
the agreement that underpins the relationship
between the voluntary and public sector.
In 2014 , for the second year running, the Sutton
Compact won a Compact Award, the national awards
from Compact Voice, highlighting Sutton as one of the
best examples of local Compact work in the country.
We were nominated in two categories;
Innovation and Impact, and we took home the Impact
Award for our work on infrastructure support and the
capacity building fund.
Funding Sutton Community Fund
SCVS administers the Sutton Community Fund which since 2000 has allocated small
grants to the VCS to deliver work of benefit to the local community.
During 2014/15 three funding rounds were held and 26 grants were awarded
totalling £155,643. A wide range of projects received grants in the last financial year, including Sutton
Community Farm who received funding to construct an improved compost toilet, that is
fully accessible hygienic and comfortable for all visitors to the farm.
SCVS delivered free workshops to support VCOs applying to the fund and helped 12
individual organisations to complete their applications, and all these bids were successful.
ASSHH grants
In 2014/15 SCVS also administered a small grants scheme (amounts of up to £500)
on behalf of the Adult Social Services. During the year 14 grants were awarded
totalling £6,647 mainly to support small community groups working with
vulnerable adults eg. Sutton Seniors Forum.
Pro Active Sutton Physical Activity and Sports
Development Fund
The Pro Active Sutton Physical Activity and Sports Development Fund was a grants
funding programme, financed by Sutton Council and Public Health and
administered by SCVS. It supported projects that improve the take up and
maintenance of physical activity and sport by Sutton residents.
The Programme awarded 16 grants totalling £15,280. The successful
projects included Nordic walking sessions, the upskilling of staff to deliver sports
activities, yoga classes, exercise classes for people with cardiovascular disease, chair
based exercises and running club sessions.
Creative Payroll Solution (CPS) Ltd
The trading arm of the Charity, CPS Ltd provides
bespoke payroll services to voluntary organisations in
Sutton and beyond. The company continues to grow
despite the challenging economic circumstances and
in 2014/15 ran payroll for 122 organisations.
Since 2013 SCVS has been the
support organisation for
Healthwatch Sutton, Sutton’s
consumer champion for health and
social care., working in partnership
with SCILL who deliver the
information and advice service, and
Sutton CAB who deliver the
independent complaints advocacy
service.
A sustainable future In 2014/15 significant progress was achieved in developing SCVS
as a highly effective, sustainable infrastructure organisation.
A new membership offer was researched and developed, and
launched in April 2015. Meanwhile the community accountancy
service was revised and a new model developed to increase the
income generation potential.
We have also continued to generate income from running
training sessions and offering some admin services, and from our
community accountancy and payroll services
Accountancy services
During 2014/15 we generated
income by delivering accountancy
services to 22 organisations, as
well as providing free
management advice for small
voluntary and community
organisations.
Over the last year Sutton Centre for the Voluntary Sector (SCVS), in partnership
with Volunteer Centre Sutton and the Friends of the Grove, has continued to
work with our partners on exciting plans to transform Grove House, Carshalton
into a heritage and voluntary sector hub for the local community.
Grove House is a Victorian mansion situated at the heart of the Carshalton
Conservation Area. Built around 1840, the house is an important feature of the
local landscape and is one of the only surviving Victorian country houses in the
area. In recent years it has been occupied by Sutton Council, but in the past it
was home to generous local philanthropists who positively contributed to the
development and wellbeing of the community by supporting local charities and
other organisations.
We plan to:
Restore the house – open up approximately one third of the ground floor
for community and heritage activities and use the rest of the building as a
base for voluntary organisations and volunteering.
Open the house to the community to access its heritage and use its
facilities.
Keep the house in community ownership as a local asset.
Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF Bid)
The partnership has been successful with a first stage bid to the HLF which
provides funding and support to carry out further planning and preparation to
develop detailed plans and costs for the building and activities.
These will enable us to submit a second stage application in the Spring/
Summer of 2016 in order to secure funding to carry out all the work. This will
again be a competitive process and we are not guaranteed success, but Sutton
has a good track record with HLF bids and we will do everything we can to
produce the best possible application!
Grove House project
The next 50 years…. SCVS has played a key role in Sutton over the last 50 years. We have supported and
developed the voluntary sector, started new organisations to meet local need, ensured that
community voices are heard in the places where local decisions are made, and campaigned
for voluntary organisations and the people they support. So what challenges will we face
over the next 50 years? What will life be like for the people of Sutton in 2065 when SCVS celebrates 100 years? And how will SCVS adapt
and thrive to achieve our vision of ‘A strong and pro-active voluntary and community sector improving the lives of
people in Sutton’?
Whether you believe we are heading for a disaster caused by massive population growth and climate change, a
better world through rapidly developing technological solutions and advances in healthcare (or somewhere in between),
we know for certain that the voluntary and community sector will continue to play an essential role in our society. In any
future scenario local people will come together to meet the needs of their community, and some of these groups will
become voluntary organisations and charities. We can be sure of this because there will always be ‘need’, and because
throughout history people have always come together to improve their communities and the lives of others by taking
action or donating time or resources.
We know that the need will change because the population of Sutton is already changing – it is increasing and becoming
more diverse ethnically; the number of older people (65+) is predicted to rise by almost 21% by 2022; and by the same date
the number of younger people (0-19) is set to grow by 17.5%. The current priorities of reducing health inequalities, building
strong communities, developing the economy and environmental sustainability look likely to remain. However, the way society
responds will be challenged over the next 50 years by changes to political systems, the development and increasing use of
technology, how the economy develops and what happens in the public sector.
As a result voluntary organisations will change, as they have done over the last 50 years, some will no longer be relevant
by 2065 and will have closed, but new charities will emerge to meet the needs and challenges of the 2060s. These
organisations will need to be supported to survive and thrive by a charity like SCVS that understands their challenges and
aspirations, just like the organisations that were emerging in the 1960s. In a more complex world the need for an organisation
that can bring the voluntary sector together to develop partnership solutions and speak with one voice, and to advocate on
their behalf, will be even more critical.
So, we may be replaced by robots, operating from a floating building above Grove Park and be called the South London
Centre for the Voluntary Sector, but I predict that SCVS will still be relevant and needed and celebrating 100 years in 2065.
Susanna Bennett, Chief Executive, SCVS
Our Accounts
Unrestricted
funds (£)
Designated
funds (£)
Restricted
funds (£)
Total
funds (£) 2013 (£)
Total incoming resources 303,330 - 325,678 629,008 640,272
Total resources expended 303,105 23,277 270,001 596,383 695,798
Net incoming (outgoing)
resources before transfers 225 (23,277) 55,677 32,625 (55,526)
Gross transfers between
funds (10,000) 10,000 - - -
Net movement in funds (9,775) (13,277) 55,677 32,625 55,526
Total funds bought forward 96,946 368,421 84,139 549,506 605,032
Total funds carried
forward 87,171 355,144 139,816 582,131 549,506
Statement of financial activities for the year ended 31st March 2015
The financial statements have been produced in a format to comply with both
Company and Charity Law and the full document is available on request.
SCVS Chief Executive – Susanna Bennett
Development Team Manager – Toni Walsh
(to March 2015)
Development Officers – Tom Strannix (to
Nov 2014), Razia Sattar, Hilary Chisnall (from
Dec 2014)
Finance Manager – Glory Sivaraja
Community Accountants – Helen Varley (to
May 2015), Laura Corney (from June 2015)
Communications & Marketing Co-ordinator
– Claire Avery
Office and Grants Manager – Jackie Parr
CPS Ltd (Payroll Services) Payroll Officer – Karen Adorjan
Payroll Assistant – Melanie Brannan
Healthwatch Sutton Manager – Pete Flavell
Outreach & Engagement Officer – Pam
Howe
Admin, Comms & Marketing Assistant –
Sara Thomas
Trustees
Jeffrey Cashier
Denise Crone (Chair)
Neil Frater (Vice-Chair)
Candida Goulden (from Nov 2013)
Paul Harper
David Jones (to Nov 2014)
Jenny Sims
Nick Walsh (from Nov 2014)
Sutton Centre for the Voluntary Sector Granfers Community Centre, 73-79 Oakhill Road, Sutton, Surrey, SM1 3AA
Tel: 020 8644 2867
Email: [email protected]
@SuttonCVS
www.suttoncvs.org.uk Company Limited by Guarantee registration No. 3336660 Registered Charity No. 1063129 (registered in England and Wales)
The team
SuttonCVS