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Charity and Voluntary Sector
HMRC: From 22 April 2013, charities & Community Amateur Sports Clubs (CASCs) can sign up to make repayment claims electronically. The new service, Charities Online, is being introduced in response to customer feedback. It will make repayment claims faster & easier by filing online. The current R68(i) print & post repayment form will be replaced by 3 options for making claims.
DWP: New government funding will boost training for blind people to use a ‘guide dog’ smart phone app, Minister for Disabled People Esther McVey announced last week. The award-winning ‘Georgie’ app has a voice-assisted touch screen & features to help blind people with everyday activities such as catching the bus, reading printed text and finding unfamiliar locations. It is available for any Android smart phone.
The Department for Work and Pensions is providing the charity, Communication for Blind and Disabled People, with £14,240 to help train 200 people to use the new app. Professional trainers will work full time with blind people to enable them to learn how the Georgie navigation tool can support them. The proposed training project will take place at local blind societies throughout England and the training recipients will be representative of blind & disabled people in the local area.
CO: New figures released last week show a sharp rise in volunteering and that people are actively coming together to drive improvements in their communities, Minister for Civil Society, Nick Hurd claimed recently.
BIG: A voluntary organisation supporting people with disabilities has received a major grant from the Big Lottery Fund to make its Belfast training & resource Centre more energy efficient. The Cedar Foundation is one of 26 groups in Northern Ireland to be awarded grants totalling over £1.1m from the Big Lottery Fund’s Energy Efficient Venues programme.
CO: More than 20 fledgling mutuals have each received thousands of pounds, from the Mutuals Support Programme, to support their ambition of successfully spinning out from the public sector. Cabinet Office Minister Francis Maude has recently announced that government has procured £1m worth of professional advice & support for 21 live & developing mutuals.
BIG: Vital green spaces across England that are at risk of decline due to significant funding cuts are to be supported through a Lottery backed ‘Love Parks’ project announced last week. Big Lottery Fund (BIG) is awarding £416,450 to GreenSpace’s ‘Love Parks’ project which will see a nationwide network of trained volunteers created to help conserve parks & green spaces up & down the country.
ScotGov: Communities in the Outer Hebrides are being helped to tackle coastal erosion thanks to funding from the Scottish Government’s Climate Challenge Fund (CCF). Minister for Environment & Climate Change, Paul Wheelhouse, has announced that Lochboisdale Amenity Trust supported by Oxfam is 1 of 4 community projects selected to undertake work as part of the Climate Change Adaption Pilots.
