A year ago, we faced significant reductions to our offer in Tameside because of the disinvestment in the Community Wellbeing contract by NHS Tameside and Glossop Integrated Care Foundation Trust. In order to maintain our core offer in Tameside and protect jobs in our team we filled this funding gap ourselves, along with some short-term funding from the Greater Manchester Integrated Commissioning Board. We cannot sustain the ongoing cost to deliver the this ourselves, and despite attempting to secure enough external funding to meet this ongoing shortfall we have not received the financial support we need to maintain our full core offer in Tameside.
This means we are making two redundancies in our Tameside Volunteering and Partnerships teams.
Be True is one of Action Together’s core values, so we wanted to be honest with our members and partners about this change and what it means for the ongoing support we’ll provide. This is not a decision we wanted to make, and we know this will be felt by the wider voluntary and community sector in Tameside.
Our Community Development Officers will still be there to support you and your organisation. Our projects such as HealthWatch Tameside and Miles of Smiles are fully funded and will not be part of this restructure. This change does not affect Action Together’s wider support or services across our other boroughs of Oldham and Rochdale.
What this means for Volunteering in Tameside
From April, we will no longer offer one-to-one support for volunteering or volunteer drop-in services. Instead, we will provide all volunteer brokerage in Tameside via the Action Together website.
Our Community Development Officers will provide your group with limited support around volunteering, and will continue to host drop-ins at community venues across Tameside.
Our Tameside Volunteer Fair on 27 February at Portland Basin Museum will go ahead.
We will seek to support volunteering projects that raise the profile of volunteers and volunteering in Tameside as and when these are available through external project funding.
What this means for Partnerships and Systems Change in Tameside
From April, we will no longer host thematic networks in Tameside. Instead, we will extend opportunities for networking around key projects and programmes as these arise seeking to increase influence and create Systems Change with these projects. Examples such as the Live Well accelerator programme will provide a space for groups to network around wellbeing, while hopefully presenting an opportunity for the public sector to better understand the role the voluntary and community sector plays in creating happy, health places to live.
We will continue to deliver Community Explorer Forums, our Children and Young People partnership work, and the recently-launched Tameside Social Economy Network.
What this means for Tameside and our team
We have been working in Tameside for many years and remain committed to providing the support the borough needs.
We know we aren’t alone in facing challenges with funding, but we will continue to support your organisations, work together with you as partners, and shout about the essential contribution you all make to Tameside.
We want to thank the staff affected, who have been dedicated to and passionate about Tameside for a number of years helping countless people and organisations make Tameside a better place to live, work and volunteer.
If you would like to speak to us about this or the support we can provide your organisation, please contact us:
- Tel: 0161 339 2345
- Email: info@actiontogether.org.uk