Suffolk ACRE

Good Neighbour Scheme

Suffolk ACRE launched its Good Neighbour Scheme in July 2003 as a way of tackling social exclusion and rural isolation by creating a network of sustainable, individual Good Neighbour Schemes around the county, with the help of local volunteers.
The level of demand for a Good Neighbour Scheme had been established from the Parish Appraisal (subsequently the Parish Plan) process, and funding for the Co-ordinator post was initially sourced from East of England Development Association (EEDA), the European Social Fund (ESF), Suffolk County Council and PCTs in Suffolk. Subsequent funders have included the Suffolk Rural Transport Partnership, Lloyds TSB, Mid Suffolk District Council and Local Strategic Partnership (LSP), West Suffolk LSP and Babergh LSP.
                                      Toolkit 

Gavin Hodge was appointed Good Neighbour Scheme Co-ordinator and has been responsible for developing the 20 schemes that are now up and running around the county. He developed a Good Neighbour Scheme Information and Infrastructure pack to serve as a toolkit that would help communities launch their own scheme, and provide guidelines for volunteers. This toolkit has since been supplied to a number of RCCs outside the county including Kent, Essex, Bedford, Oxford and Pembroke. 

For each scheme a team of volunteers is raised to offer a variety of help, principally to the elderly and vulnerable, although any resident can use the scheme. The services offered include befriending the elderly and the lonely; giving lifts especially to doctors’ surgeries and hospital appointments; minor domestic repairs especially checking smoke alarms and changing light bulbs; help with filling forms and advocacy; help with pets especially during a resident’s stay in hospital, and possibly a one-off tidy up of a garden that had become an embarrassment to its owner. 

All the services are offered free with the exception of giving lifts for which the driver is compensated for his/her running costs by the client, usually at 35 pence per mile. 

                                Mobile Phone 

Each scheme revolves around a mobile phone, which is held in turn by a core group of volunteers who match the need of a caller to a volunteer who has offered to help in that particular way. It is a system which spreads the load and does not put pressure on any volunteer to do everything on the list.
Gavin helps each community to raise a team of volunteers and develop a steering group for each individual scheme. He sits in at meetings of each steering group, advising on matters such as insurance, criminal record checks on volunteers, identity cards, and sourcing a start-up grant.

“Every community has good-hearted people who automatically help their neighbours, but the aim of the Good Neighbour Scheme is to fill any gaps in this network of care in a community and to put help within reach of every resident of a community,� said Gavin.

“We also aim to provide structured volunteering with support from Suffolk ACRE. All volunteers are subject to CRB checks so that we can quickly build confidence in the scheme locally. We hold regular network forums at Suffolk ACRE’s HQ in Ipswich, inviting two members from each scheme to come and share good practice and talk through any problems that have arisen,â€� he said. 

“We live in a litigious age and it is no bad thing for volunteers to have insurance, although no-one has yet had to make a claim in the three plus years the scheme has been running
We do also encourage partnership working, such as referring a client to another agency if their needs go beyond the scope of the scheme: this might be Age Concern, Social Services, Meals on Wheels, a Carers organisation , or any of a number of other agencies.â€� 

A start-up grant of at least £500 is sourced for each scheme, which pays for a mobile phone; Public Liability and Group Personal Accident Insurance; criminal record (CRB) checks on volunteers @ £7.50 each via the Suffolk Association of Voluntary Organisations (SAVO) identity cards for volunteers, publicity and stationery. 

Most start-up grants have been sourced from county councillors’ Locality Budgets, but also from the Suffolk Community Safety office, Suffolk Coastal Community Safety Office, Mid Suffolk District Council, Forest Heath Community Safety Co-ordinator; Forest Heath Crime Reduction Partnership; The Adnams Charity and Community Champions. Once it is up and running each scheme needs to be self sustaining through fund-raising and donations. 

                                Vulnerable 

As a result of his work with the Good Neighbour Scheme Gavin was invited to join the Safe & Sound Group, a police-led multi-agency panel which combats distraction burglaries. Consequently, individual Good Neighbour Schemes have signed up to an initiative called Nominated Neighbour which helps safeguard elderly and vulnerable people from bogus doorstep callers.
Gavin is also a member of the Suffolk Older People’s Strategic Partnership Board which advises on policy for older people in the county.
He has also become a trustee of the Rural Coffee Caravan Information Project. This is a unique service comprising a mobile resource which visits Suffolk villages, providing a focal point for villages that lack basic facilities and acting as a source of information on local services, training, courses, and self-help. The manager and volunteer staff can signpost visitors to the caravan to a wide variety of help available in the county, such as resources for carers. Free coffee, tea and cakes are provided and donations requested.
Gavin is also a member of the Mid Suffolk Action Partnership (MAP) the Local Infrastructure Partnership for Mid Suffolk.

Good Neighbour Scheme Co-ordinator Gavin Hodge can be contacted at Suffolk ACRE on 01473 242538 or by email to gavin.hodge@suffolkacre.org.uk