DD2439 Reward and Recognition - Sector Support

Team London is the Mayor of London’s volunteering programme for London. The unit also supports the resilience of the voluntary and community sector. The overarching objectives are to support and promote active citizenship and ensure that the unit contributes to London being a City for All Londoners.

Over the last few years Team London have been investing in and exploring methods to enhance reward and recognition of volunteering in the capital. Reward and recognition of volunteering is vital to ensuring that volunteering is valued and therefore that individuals are able to gain the positive wellbeing and social integration benefits that volunteering brings as well as being able to make a positive contribution to their communities.

In 2018 we carried out preliminary research with the intelligence team to gain qualitative insights into current volunteering practices and attitudes in London (approved under cover of ADD2182). The findings of this research influenced activities that we have undertaken in 2019, namely: commissioning research into diversity in volunteering (ADD2381); and, approved under cover of DD2265, funding three pilot projects to test approaches to reward and recognition; grants for groups to recognise volunteers during volunteers’ week and funding research into family volunteering with NCVO (the National Council of Voluntary Organisations).

MD2426 (Team London work programme 2019-20) approved the delegated approval of expenditure of up to £219,000, to support the Team London reward and recognition workstream, to the Executive Director. Subsequent to this (with the difference used for staffing) MD2546 approved expenditure of up to £30,000 for specialist civil society infrastructure support, ADD2381 approved up to £25,000 for diversity in volunteering research and ADD2411 approved expenditure of up to £15,000 for social prescribing grants. Further to this, approval is being sought within this decision to spend £131,000 in 2019-20 (£121,000 from Reward and Recognition Programme, £10,000 from the microgrants) Team London and Community Sport Unit budget, as laid out below.

Third Sector Support: Team London has a role in supporting a thriving sector. Using the knowledge we have gained this year we would like to work with organisations that have expertise in the third sector to identify the best methods of sharing good practice in volunteer recruitment with civil society organisations. Our Third Sector Support Programme will provide funding to Volunteer Involving Organisations (VIO’s) to work in collaboration and develop innovative approaches to capacity building in the volunteering sector. We will develop a Request for Proposals (RFP) to identify and select the organisations that have the right expertise and resources to lead on this work.

We wish to fund an organisation in a local area with a high level of volunteering need and low levels of infrastructure support, who wishes to address the challenge of how to embed good volunteer recruitment practice that ensures volunteering is open to all. The lead partner will work to coordinate partners in a defined geographical area to design a solution and then use grant funding to pilot the solution. The process for selecting the right organisation is set out in 2.2 below.

Grants for Volunteer’s Week 2020 (£30,000): Grants of up to £1000 for Civil society organisations to recognise their volunteers in the run up to and during volunteers’ week 2020. Funding may be used for volunteer recognition events, awards and activities to promote volunteering to a wider audience during Volunteers’ Week. Proposals for how these grants will be used will be reviewed and these numbers may be varied slightly if after reviewing applications it is determined that certain projects would benefit from more/less funding.

Grant Funding to Sport England for Family volunteering pilot (£41,000): We will work with the Community Sports team and Sport England to develop a fund to pilot programmes to support Family volunteering. This follows on from the research we invested in with NCVO in 2019. The grant funding will be for organisations to develop pilots to test different models of involving families as volunteers, or of evaluating the impact of volunteering on Families, particularly within the community sports sector. We will grant funding to Sport England to work in partnership with them on developing the fund as this matches their priority of tackling inactivity and supporting volunteering.

Research and Learning Event (£5,000): To hold an event in February 2020 to bring together sector representatives to share learning from the reward and recognition pilots that have taken place in 2019, explore and find out about research that Team London have invested in around family volunteering and diversity in volunteering this year and co-develop ideas for follow-on projects.

Employer Supported Volunteering (ESV) (£30,000): This expenditure will be used for a number of activities that will review ESV, including revitalising our commitment to activating our internal ESV programme to encourage staff to utilise the 3 day volunteering leave offered by the GLA. There is a need for more encouragement and awareness, as offering ESV is a component of the recently launched Good Work Standard. Activities will include follow-up external research on barriers to volunteering, business and staff activation events and activities, promotion and recognition materials and potentially excellence accreditation via Investing in Volunteers (IiV) for Employers. We will follow the GLA Funding and Procurement Code when appointing these suppliers.

Volunteering and social action is a key ingredient in multiple Mayoral Strategies. It is a key building block for social integration and contributes to the culture, skills and health inequalities strategies. To deliver against strategic objectives a more sophisticated understanding of current practice and potential innovation is required. The objective of this work is to move us towards this improved understanding and pilot new ways of working. The desired outcome is to increase volunteering and social action in general across London and increase in particular from groups who are not currently engaged. The objectives and expected outcomes for this group of projects are as below.

Third Sector Support programme:

An RFP will be released in January 2020 with a closing date of mid-February. The partner will be commissioned by the end of February 2020.

We will enter into a funding agreement to the value of £20,000 with a delivery partner who matches our priorities to:

• coordinate a group of third sector organisations to participate in a design lab; and
• deliver a pilot programme based on the solutions identified through the design process. This will have the aims of: 1) Supporting Volunteer involving organisations (VIOs) to improve recruitment practice to recruit more diverse volunteers. 2) develop a model of diverse recruitment that can be replicated in other parts of London in the future.

Outcomes:

• innovative approaches to volunteer recruitment are tested. The learning will be shared via Team London to the sector to improve practice; and
• an increase in capacity building support for organisations on the theme of improving diversity in volunteering in an area of London that has less availability of infrastructure support, which can then be used as a good practice and potentially replicable example.

A further £5,000 will be used by Team London to commission capacity building workshops for the delivery partner and design lab participants. Workshops will be delivered by industry specialist or expert organisations and will be on themes including diversity in volunteering, and innovation.

Volunteers’ week grants 2020

London Plus lead the coordination of the Volunteer Centre Network in London and have the widest reach to VIOs. Their aims are to support a thriving Civil Society in London and their support for volunteering aligns with Team London’s objectives to help make volunteering open to all. In order to achieve this, they wish to grant funding to organisations as part of Volunteers Week 2020. We will enter into a funding agreement with them to the value of £30,000, with £25,000 being passed on to small organisations by way of grant funding.

Outputs:

• the delivery partner will manage a small grants process to award grants in time for Volunteers’ Week 2020;
• 25 grants of up to £1,000 will be awarded for organisations to recognise volunteers; and
• an evaluation will be collated of the impact of the grants.

Outcomes:

• an increase in the number of volunteers recognised during Volunteers’ Week; and
• raised profile of volunteering at a local level as a result of Volunteers’ Week 2020.

Research and Learning Event

We will deliver a learning event in the London Living Room in February 2020 with presentations from all research and pilot partners commissioned in 2019. There will be up to 60 attendees comprised of voluntary sector stakeholders and partners (e.g. Volunteer centres, VIOs, funders, local authority engagement leads and research partners) at the event.

The outcomes will be:

• effective dissemination of learning from activities in 2019;
• GLA playing the role of a thought leader in the volunteering space in London; and
• civil society organisations will have the opportunity to consider how to apply learning in practice and co-develop the future focus of Team London’s work.

Family Volunteering Pilot

We will work with the Sports Team and Sport England to design a programme that can fund a number of Pilot projects to test effective approaches to family volunteering. Our aim of ensuring volunteering is open to all aligns with Sport England’s priorities of supporting volunteering in the sports sector. We will gift funding to them so that we can work in partnership to develop a grant programme for Third sector organisations to enable family volunteering.

This will:

• increase the range of volunteering opportunities for families in London;
• provide an opportunity to work with a partner funder to address shared priorities – strengthening the GLA’s role as a thought leader in volunteering in London;
• test novel approaches to removing barriers to volunteering for families; and
• provide learning that can influence wider voluntary sector practice.

ESV Programme

Expected outcomes include

• increase the numbers of GLA staff volunteering using all/ or part of the 3 days volunteer leave allocated annually to all staff;
• greater prominence and promotion of ESV within the GLA and a clear pathway for staff to access opportunities through collaborative working with VIOs;
• a reshaped GLA staff volunteering programme co-created with staff with the aim to positively impact London’s communities and groups; and
• commencing the journey toward attainment of the Investing in Volunteers (IiV) for Employers Quality accreditation in 2020/21

Under s149 of the Equality Act 2010 (the Equality Act), as a public authority the Mayor must have due regard to the need to eliminate discrimination, harassment and victimisation, and any conduct that is prohibited by or under the Equality Act; and to advance equality of opportunity and foster good relations between people who share a protected characteristic and those who do not.

The survey of Londoners in 2019 showed that civic participation, formal and informal volunteering is associated with having more diverse relationships, therefore fostering good relations between people who share a protected characteristic and those who do not.

Equal opportunities are enshrined within Team London and Sport’s programmes. Our volunteering projects aim to ensure that all Londoners can access volunteering opportunities and indeed by doing so support other Londoners equally throughout the city.

Our Third Sector support offer is specifically aimed at helping organisations to improve their practice in recruiting more diverse volunteers. Our aim is that this programme will provide more organisations with support to improve the inclusivity of their volunteering programmes and contribute to making volunteering open to all in London, advancing equality of opportunity and fostering good relations between people who share a protected characteristic and those who do not.

The Family Volunteering pilot programme aims to remove barriers to volunteering for people from all communities by increasing the availability of family volunteering opportunities in London.

Our work also embraces London’s diversity by connecting Londoners from a variety of demographical and geographical backgrounds together in support of commons causes.

Key risks and issues

Links to Mayoral strategies and priorities

The proposed activities support a number of Mayoral strategies and priorities.

• The Third Sector Support programme and Family Volunteering Pilots will have the impact of encouraging more Londoners to get involved in volunteering for, and connecting with, others in their community. This supports the aims and objectives of the Social integration strategy and the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion strategy.
• In addition to this, the Third Sector Support Programme and Family volunteering pilot programme will support Londoners of all ages to take action and improve our city. This links to recommendations in the Culture strategy and Sport and Physical Activity strategy.
• The activities proposed in this decision will contribute toward promoting and championing volunteering, encouraging more people to participate in civic life. This supports the Team London aim of valuing volunteering and making volunteering open to all, as well as Mayoral aims around community engagement.
• The Family volunteering programme will meet objectives in the Sport and Physical Activity Strategy around creating more physically active and healthy Londoners and enabling Londoners to mix with those from different backgrounds and feel less lonely.

Consultations and impact assessments

We have consulted with volunteer centres on priorities for the development of the Third Sector Support programme. This informed the focus on best practice in recruitment and increasing diversity of volunteers.

• The Sport England work on family volunteering will be informed by research that we funded in partnership with the Pears Foundation, Sport England and the Scouts in 2019. We will consult with partners on the development of the funding stream to ensure that it is best meeting the needs of the sector.
• We first tested the volunteer reward and recognition grants in response to suggestions from voluntary sector groups attending a learning event that we ran in January 2019. London Plus will use evaluation from the previous iteration of these grants to inform the next grant round they are delivering.

Approval is being sought for expenditure of up to £131,000 towards grant funding and support for the reward and recognition of volunteering activity in London. The expenditure will be applied as set out in section 1.

This is to be funded within 2019-20 as follows; £121,000 from the Reward and Recognition programme and £10,000 from the Microgrants programme. All funding is contained within the Team London and Community Sport Unit.

The decisions requested of the Director (in accordance with the GLA’s Contracts and Funding Code) concern the exercise of the GLA’s general powers, falling within the GLA’s statutory powers to do such things considered to further or which are facilitative of, conducive or incidental to the promotion of economic development and wealth creation, social development or the promotion of the improvement of the environment in Greater London; and in formulating the proposals in respect of which a decision is sought officers have complied with the Authority’s related statutory duties to:

• pay due regard to the principle that there should be equality of opportunity for all people;
• consider how the proposals will promote the improvement of health of persons, health inequalities between persons and to contribute towards the achievement of sustainable development in the United Kingdom; and
• consult with appropriate bodies.

In taking the decisions requested, the Director must have due regard to the Public Sector Equality Duty; namely the need to eliminate discrimination, harassment, victimisation and any other conduct prohibited by the Equality Act 2010 and to advance equality of opportunity and foster good relations between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic (race, disability, gender, age, sexual orientation, religion or belief, pregnancy and maternity and gender reassignment) and persons who do not share it (section 149 of the Equality Act 2010). To this end, the Director should have particular regard to section 3 (above) of this report.

Paragraph 1.7 – 1.9 above indicates that the contribution of £91,000 to Third Sector, Civil Society and Sports England amounts to the provision of grant funding and not payment for works or services. Officers must ensure that the funding is distributed fairly, transparently, in accordance with the GLA’s equalities and in manner which affords value for money in accordance with the Contracts and Funding Code.

Officers must ensure that an appropriate funding agreement is put in place between and executed by the GLA and recipient before any commitment to fund is made.

Officers should ensure that the services be procured by Transport for London Procurement who will determine the detail of the procurement strategy to be adopted in accordance with the GLA’s Contracts and Funding Code. Officers must ensure that appropriate contract documentation is put in place and executed by the successful bidder(s) and the GLA before the commencement of the services.