Welfare Reform 2012: Incapacity Benefit

Welfare Reform 2012: Incapacity Benefit

Tuesday 17^th April, 12.30pm-5pm

Ø     Do you work with people who are unemployed because of health problems?

Ø     Are you confused by the journey from Incapacity Benefit (IB) onto Employment Support Allowance and the Work Programme?

Ø     Does your organisation provide support that could help people undergoing this process?

Ø     Do you want to explore possibly opportunities for partnership bids relating to health and work?

This EDN/HSCF event will:

·        Provide clear information about IB Reform

·        Create a visual map of the provision of support available

·         Feature roundtable discussions on the issues arising

·        Include a Q&A with Work Programme primes, Jobcentre Plus, VCS health and employment groups

The event will close with a commitment from each sector about concrete actions we can take to address the needs of IB claimants undergoing the Work Capability Assessment and beyond. Following the event we will create a directory of available provision in order to enable clearer referral pathways between services.

To book a place at this event please follow this link:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/SR7NRTS

A map of the journey from IB onto ESA is attached

This event is jointly hosted by Hackney’s Economic Development Network (EDN) and the Hackney Health and Social Care Forum (HSCF), which are both part of the Hackney Community Empowerment Network. For more information please see our websites:

HSCF: http://www.hscf.org.uk/

EDN: www.hackneycen.org.uk/edn 

Budget 2012: A fair deal for local economies? | CLES

Budget 2012: A fair deal for local economies? | CLES

Impact measurement

Social Impact Event

FREE EVENING EVENT

16th May 2012 at CCLA, London, EC1

LVSC is working with the Social Impact Analysts Association to host a free evening networking event to help voluntary and community sector organisations who want to konw more about how they improve the way they measure their social impacts. The Social Impact Analysts Association will provide advice and support and there will be opportunities to discuss issues and learn what other voluntary and community setor organisations are doing.

To learn more, book a place or tell us particular areas that you would like the event to cover, please e-mail policy@lvsc.org.uk.

Big Lottery Fund to offer an extra £50m to voluntary organisations

The Big Lottery Fund has announced that it is to award an extra £50m to voluntary organisations in the current financial year. The BLF, which is the voluntary sector's largest grant-maker, is increasing the annual budgets for its Reaching Communities and Awards for All programmes by £12m and £5m respectively

Dramatic increase predicted for child and working-age poverty

A new study undertaken by the Institute for Fiscal Studies – Child and working-age poverty from 2010 to 2020 – finds that, as a result of the Coalition's reforms:
• The number of children in relative poverty is forecast to rise from 2.6 million in 2009-2010 to 3.3 million by 2020-2021 (before housing costs), and the number of working-age adults in poverty from 5.7 million to 7.5 million by 2020-2021.
• Relative child poverty will rise from 20% to 24% by 2020-2021, the highest rate since 1999-2000 and considerably higher than the 10 per cent target in the Child Poverty Act.
• Absolute poverty will rise considerably in the next few years as earnings growth is forecast to be weak but inflation high.
Whilst Universal Credit is expected to reduce poverty, the effect of other government changes to personal taxes and state benefits will offset this.

How do current government polices impact on equalities issues?

Research commissioned by the North West Infrastructure Partnership, and carried out by the Centre of Local Economic Studies (CLES), has just been launched: it looks at the impact of current government policy on equalities and the specialist organisations that deliver to some of our most marginalised communities. The research concentrated on 15 issue-specific focus groups and involved over 250 VCS groups: the executive summary can be found here. The full report entitled "Open for All" will be available shortly from Voluntary Sector North West.

Government report published on the inquiry into regeneration

The government has published its report from the inquiry into regeneration calling for the Department for Communities and Local Government to produce a national strategy for regeneration, targeting the most deprived areas. Urban Forum submitted evidence to the Inquiry jointly with Voice4Change England.