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Third sector learning disability groups were given the chance to explore personalisation and its impact at a north east event in February 2010 hosted by VONNE. An overall comment from them was that: "We want to see some movement in real personalisation – choice and control" The main issues that third sector providers were concerned with were around managing the transition and handling the fears for providers and users, ensuring a quality service and ways to monitor and regulate this, safeguarding for individuals and how best to tackle this, the legalities of personalisation for the sector and individuals, and ways in which the sector can provide the best advice to people in all areas.

Work is also going on at a reigonal level through the Policy and Partnership project in the north east and reports will be available on the VONNE website soon. www.vonne.org.uk/policy/partnership/policytopics/

The North East Meta Plan, a strategic plan for infrastructure, suggests that support organisations need help to become more sustainable and deliver their services to the frontline. In a region wide survey VONNE gathered views from a range of organisations who told us that they are struggling to make ends meet and cover core costs. The funding world is changing and support services (infrastructure) need to be able to help the sector navigate those changes. The north east is predicted to be one of the worst affected regions by public sector cuts which will hit the third sector hard, in particular the support services which are traditionally more reliant on grants to deliver core services. On a list of 4 priority areas, Funding and how to cope with the reduction of public spending, Evolving Sector, Planning ahead, and Promoting the value of the sector came up on top. As part of the consultation on the plan we asked frontline organisations whether they would be prepared to purchase services from their local support provider, with cash or a voucher scheme. There was uncertainty in the response as to whether frontline groups would buy in help as and when they need it. This of course could threaten the continuity of the services on offer from infrastructure making an on going service an unviable business model. The Meta plan provides more background on the analysis in the region and suggests practical ways to work positively with funders and strategic planners, which we will be working on over the year as infrastructure consortia face an uncertain future post March 2011.

A regular bi-annual survey carried out by VONNE has been capturing the effects of the recession on third sector organisations in the north east.

Findings revealed that over a third of the organisations which responded to the autumn survey reported a significant increase in the number of volunteers, this rose to 59% for large organisations. For organisations working with homeless individuals and those working with offenders and ex-offenders this figure was 46% and 43% respectively, which are both significantly higher than the survey average.

85% of organisations with volunteering as a key work focus area reported an increase in demand for their services, while just under half (44%) have increased the number of services they provide to cope with this demand.

Organisations supporting volunteering were asked to predict the trends in the next twelve months 58% expected to expand the number of services they provide and 61% expected to increase the number and type of beneficiaries they support.

Anecdotal data suggests that volunteering is being seen as a step into employment, and organisations are receiving CVs from potential volunteers as a way to gain work experience. And other comments back up the suggestion that organisations are relying on volunteers to cope with the demand on services, particularly around advice giving organisations.

Contrary to data on volunteering, our survey suggested that numbers of trustees had stabilised.

We are carrying out the third survey now and all north east organisations are invited to respond by the 14th May. Further details can be found on the VONNE website www.vonne.org.uk

In line with the national picture the north east region is growing and getting older. Numbers of those over retirement age has risen to nearly 20% of the total population, particularly in the coastal and rural parts of the north east. Data captured from regional research shows that the older age group in the north east have some growing concerns. Compared to the national figures the region’s data shows that older people are facing discrimination in the workplace at a higher rate than average. Fewer numbers are still employed after pension age in the north east than the UK average.

Older people are also expressing greater concerns than average over crime and health worries. Households experiencing crime in the region came to 19.4% nearly 2% higher than national. The region has more winter deaths reported in the over 85 year’s age group. Over 18% of pensioners were living below the poverty line. In addition to these facts the North East has higher unemployment rates and lower average incomes than the national average which means that the older age group are statistically facing more financial hardship. Figures taken from Help The Aged “Facts and Figures” for the North East.