Annual County/District Operations Report Date: 17/01/2016
County [Hertfordshire] Author: Mark Collins, SE Midlands Area Manager
1. Introduction
It has been a very busy year for the Legion in the South East Midlands area. I am delighted to present this annual report to you, outlining the key achievements for the year, how we have performed against delivering our plans and most importantly how we have served the Armed Forces Community in the Area. I would like to thank every member from across the County for your hard work and support throughout the year, without which, we would not have delivered our plans or achieved so much.. 2. Highlights and progress against last years plan
There have been a number of highlights during 2014/15.
The Executive summary area plan 2015 set out a number of key priorities and plans for the year. I am pleased to report that good progress has been made against delivering these plans including; • We established a town centre Advice and Information Centre and Area Office in Aylesbury. The premises were handed over to TRBL on 14 November and we had the official launch on 8 December 2015. Since then we have worked hard to establish the area office and more importantly the Pop-In, in terms of manning and making the Membership, other service charities and organisations and the town centre community aware of our aims and intent. • We have continued to work closely with SSAFA across much of the area, attending the majority of their AGMs. We have supported bids for external grants from SureStart in Oxfordshire, Amicus Housing Trust in Bedfordshire, and relationships are being developed with organisations keen to assist the Armed Forces community, these include horticultural therapy, motorsport and journalism. • Establish secondary locations in the East and West of the area to complement those in Northampton and Arborfield to the South. I am pleased to report that we now Secondary offices established in the Bedford CAB; open Tuesdays and Thursdays, and in the Edward Brookes Barracks in Abingdon Garrison, Oxfordshire, both manned primarily by the respective MSOs. • Recruit and train Volunteer Case Workers and Advice and Information volunteers, primarily for the Pop-In, as we have had to manage AIO vacancies this year, with one still remaining in Bedfordshire/Hertfordshire, which we will recruit for very soon, along with a Case Officer for Oxfordshire. • 33 new caseworker volunteers have been recruited and trained and are now actively managing cases, working closely with the area team.
Area Office No. of New Volunteers 2015. Total No. of Volunteers. SE Mids 33 80 Caseworker Volunteer Information Volunteer Vol Coord 43 36 1
• The Area Manager and Membership Support Officers have worked closely with the County Chairmen and Membership to increase opportunities for the Royal British Legion across the four pillars. Good examples of the Area Team working with membership to raise the profile of the Legion in the Area include by supporting the County Committees and Recruiting Team at their events. Specifically, the Royal Berkshire Show, Thame Show, Armed Forces Day Bucks and Bedford, the Mobbs Memorial match at the Bedford Blues ground, and towards the end of the year the International Defence Rugby Competition, with a rugby pool hosted at RAF Halton, a Plate final at Maidenhead and the final, won by the Fijians, playing the British Army at the Stoop, Twickenham, as the London team needed assistance due to the final coinciding with the London Poppy Day. I must say that at all of these events the team have enthusiastically engaged with my desire to remain involved with the Shop In a Box concept. It adds variety to the County stands, increases footfall and an opportunity to speak to members of the public about many aspects of the fantastic work undertaken across the Counties, Area and TRBL as a whole.
• We have continued our partnership working and links with the Local Authorities with a TRBL presence at the majority of the Covenant meetings across the Area. My thanks go to the Chairmen for their attendance as a ’double-act’ or to ensure TRBL input when we are unable to send a representative.
• We continue to strengthen our working relationships with the military bases containing and we continue our engagement activities by holding regular outreach surgeries, supporting Unit Welfare Officers and attending deployment briefings where requested. We have attended Families Days at RAF Benson and Brize Norton and the MSO attended a fundraising presentation at RAF Henlow.
• We have, as an office supported the CFRs at events and indeed we have also raised funds, via the Pop-In over the Poppy appeal we raised in excess of £7627.33, with over 3300 visitors in the period 24 Oct – 11 Nov 15. I must also thank those Branches and individuals who supported me in my successful completion of Pedal 2 Paris, resulting in a final total raised for the Poppy Appeal of almost £2750. A team from the office who competed in the Oct 2013 Tough Mudder event at Swanbourne, Buckinghamshire raised over £2000 and a further £5000 was donated to the Legion by the organisers of that event. Understandably, we took part again in October 2014 and thank you to the members who came and supported us, a great, but very muddy day!
3. Case Study Whilst one of the case officers was working in the Aylesbury Pop-in, Seamus, a 51 year old veteran of the Royal Signals Regiment was helped out of a crises. He walked into the Pop-in very tentatively, looking petrified and visibly shaking. He said he was very nervous and felt ashamed, but did not know where else he could go. Seamus had been homeless and living on the streets for 8 days, he did not know where to turn. He explained that he was hungry, had no money, no friends who could help, no family and his mobile phone was not working, a felt like a totally isolated person. He had seen the pop-in and walked past it several times, seeing the doors were open, he gritted his teeth and stepped inside. He was just about to turnaround and walk out again, when he saw the staff smiling and was invited in for a cup of tea. Seamus said that if he had not seen the Pop-in, he probably would have not sought any help and assistance from anyone. What followed was a measured conversation where everyone was careful not too promise too much, let's face it the RBL are very good at what we do, but we do not have magic wands. The CO needn’t have worried, as the whole team at Aylesbury, staff and volunteers, pulled together and brought hope to Seamus’s life. He was provided with a small crises grant, some food and to my surprise accommodation, we had him in safe accommodation in less than 3 hours. The accommodation was provided after a very short phone call to the Amicus Trust. Seamus left the pop-in chatting away with two Advice and Information Volunteers who had agreed to drive him to Bedford. We had no doubt that if it was not for the Pop-in Seamus would have been trying to sleep in a doorway that night. Seamus has settled in well at the accommodation provided by Amicus and is engaging well with Matt and with Stepping Stone who are assisting Seamus in his path way back to work ., and ~Seamus has a meeting set up with Steeping Stones for next week . Matt says that work is Seamus’s Priority at the moment as he has always worked since leaving the Services ; he has had a variety of roles and his last role was working as a chef in a pub . The accommodation he had was tied to the role hence why Seamus simultaneously found himself without work and a home at the same time. The support team at Amicus has subsequently assisted Seamus with applying for benefits and supported him through the benefit maze as Seamus has never applied for benefits in the past ; in the weeks since we saw him Seamus has used the crisis vouchers that we supplied to him as well as Emergency payments from the DWP to enable him to meet his basic needs . Amicus trust staff are currently encouraging Seamus to attend a local gym to promote his overall well being but says that Seamus is now able to view the situation that brought him to us as a temporary blip , is optimistic as to the future , interacting well with the support worker and demonstrating a good sense of humour . 4. Statistics and Beneficiaries
Legion Grants 1 Oct 14 – 30 Sep 15
Category Awards Value (£) Age*
Crisis 17 2,701 50
Browns 20 6,207 50
Debt 21 13,347 52
Funeral 4 5,885 61
Housing 21 15,639 60
MAGs 2 260 77
Misc 3 589 55
Mobility 34 24,427 76
Whites 25 7,564 53
YTD Total 147 76,619 59
* = average
Right Now Reporting
This report shows the number of Incidents, by the County of the Individual Contact based on the Postcode details supplied by the Contact.
Hertfordshire Total Incidents (County) Percentage of Incidents (County) Incidents raised (Total)1,544;
Comradeship 483 31.3%;
Fundraising 164 10.6%;
Other 494 32.0%;
Volunteering 10 0.6%;
Welfare 393 25.5%.
Incidents raised that were resolved at first point of contact (Total) 1,163 75.3%
Comradeship 365 23.6%;
Fundraising 162 10.5%;
Other 447 29.0%;
Volunteering 4 0.3%;
Welfare 185 12.0%
NOTE: TRBL - The Royal British Legion NOTE: Data correct at time of producing report (01/12/2015)
Last year the Royal British Legion dealt with over 136,000 incidents across all areas of our service delivery. This table shows the number of those incidents opened for each county between 1st October 2014 and 30th September 2015. The incidents are for beneficiaries located within the county and who have made contact either through our contact centre or who have contacted an area office directly. The table shows the number and percentage of incidents raised, and also breaks them down into the following categories: Comradeship The incidents raised for comradeship would include membership enquiries such as new membership or payment queries or issues raised by the membership support officers.
Fundraising
These may be incidents relating to new or existing supporters, local or national events, including the fundraising aspects of Poppy Day, or even the Poppy shop. Other This will include all incidents not incorporated within the other categories such as incidents relating to remembrance, representation, procurement or general enquiries. Volunteering This category will include any incidents relating to voluntary roles within the Royal British Legion. Welfare This covers all aspects of welfare delivery for example, financial support and advice, Poppy Breaks, War Pensions and our care homes and outreach services. The table also shows how many incidents were resolved at the first point contact. This illustrates the number of incidents where the beneficiary only had to deal with one person, either at the contact centre or in the area office.
5. Looking Forward We have recently completed our plans and have identified the key priorities for our work during 2016. I am pleased to enclose the Executive Summary Area Plan for 201, which details what those plans and priorities are.
