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Author: Lynne Haigh

29th June 2023 is National Work From Home Day

Posted on by Lynne Haigh

National Work From Home Day offers a chance for us to recognise the technological and cultural evolutions that have changed our work culture and has allowed for many roles that were once considered ‘office based’ to now be carried out just as effectively from home as in the office. 

At YCC, we are proud to have perfected a positive hybrid working culture for our charity’s administrators, coordinators, officers, managers and beyond, who were once ‘office-based’ and have seen plenty of benefits stem from this. We were able to do this by listening to employees’ suggestions, and ensuring that our hardware and software was current and secure, to allow individuals to pick up work from home (and beyond!).

We believe that a positive hybrid working culture allows for more efficient use of time, boosts morale, reduces sick days and parental leave days, promotes well-being and has enhanced productivity, amongst many other things.

Of course, hybrid working means time in our Fresh Futures buildings too. And we also have many staff at the charity who don’t have the opportunity to work from home (such as our incredible cohort of alternative provision teachers and mentors, and building services team members). So, for the times when staff are on-site – we have also developed our working spaces to ensure they remain comfortable, secure, and pleasant. This includes work with our Employee Forum representatives, a recent office refurbishment, and a new staff room for down time.

Not only does our commitment to hybrid working show the trust we have in our employees, but it allows people to take charge of their own work loads and work environments, be flexible whenever they need to be, and facilitates a positive work-life balance.

And if that wasn’t enough… it also has great sustainability benefits! For instance, moving from 5 to 4 days in the office per week can reduce that individual’s carbon emissions (and travel costs!) by a significant 20% – and that’s just ONE day of home working!

So tomorrow (and every other day!) Fresh Futures will continue to support a hybrid working culture as much as possible.

Find out about job opportunities at YCC, at https://freshfutures.org.uk/work-with-us/

News Update: £444,252 loss to low-income families in Kirklees via Healthy Start scheme

Posted on by Lynne Haigh

Within the Kirklees area there is an estimated loss of £444,252 to low-income families toward free fruit, vegetables, and milk via the Healthy Start scheme.

Analysis released in April 2023 by food charity Sustain shows that families across England, Wales and Northern Ireland will miss out on £68 million in payments this year if uptake rates don’t improve.

The Healthy Start scheme provides fruit, vegetables, vitamins, and milk for young families on low incomes, and could help now more than ever due to the current cost of living crisis.

Many families are not claiming, either because of complications in the application process, or simply because they are unaware they are eligible. Local authorities and food partnerships across the country have stepped up efforts to promote the Scheme but are facing difficulties associated with squeezed public health budgets and changing demographics. The Government had hoped to reach 75% of eligible families by the end of March, but only reached 366,000, or 64%.

Research shows that the number of households where children are experiencing food insecurity has nearly doubled in the past year and according to Food Foundation data, families with babies and young children are especially at risk, with 27.3% of households with children under 4 struggling to afford food.

Yorkshire Children’s Centre, a local charity based in Huddersfield that supports disadvantaged children, young people and their families in Kirklees and surrounding areas promotes the Healthy Start Scheme and are keen to encourage individuals and families that are eligible to sign up to the scheme.

Katie Lockwood, Fresh Futures Service Manager said “Thriving Kirklees are working hard to reach as many eligible people as possible through a targeted partnership approach, anti-natal fayres and Fresh Futures Community Champions. Although we have seen a slight increase in uptake there is still a long way to go, and we know that now more than ever, this additional help is needed.”  

Here’s more about the scheme:

The Healthy Start scheme is open to children under the age of 4, and women who are at least 10 weeks pregnant. In order to qualify, you must be receiving any of the following:

  • You, your partner, or your carer get Working Tax Credit run-on only after you have reported you’re working 16 hours or less per week
  • Child Tax Credit (only if your family’s annual income is £16,190 or less)
  • Income Support
  • Income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance
  • Pension Credit (which includes the child addition)
  • Universal Credit (only if your family’s take-home pay is £408 or less per month from employment)

You will also be eligible for Healthy Start if:

  • You’re under 18 and pregnant, even if you are not claiming any benefits
  • You claim income-related Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) and are over 10 weeks pregnant

You can find more information and get advice on how to apply on Fresh Futures website https://freshfutures.org.uk/national-healthy-start/

Meet The Team: Brig Barrowclough

Posted on by Lynne Haigh

Name: Brig Barrowclough

Job Title: Deputy Head Teacher at Brian Jackson College

Date joined YCC: July 2014

Tell us a little about yourself: When I was 18 years old, I went to work in Dubai

Your role in a nutshell: I am responsible for the daily operations within the Huddersfield Provision           

Why do you like working for YCC? I work with colleagues who are a little bit nuts, like me, have the same passion as me for trying to make a difference within our community

What’s one of your favourite work memories? I have so many, our school trip to build water rafts in Chester ranks highly though

And finally, what advice would you give to people considering working at YCC? Be prepared to work hard and be flexible/adaptable

If you would like to learn more about YCC, click HERE.

Service Spotlight: Healthy Start

Posted on by Lynne Haigh

If you’re more than 10 weeks pregnant or have a child under 4, you may be entitled to get help to buy healthy food and milk. If you’re eligible, you’ll be sent a Healthy Start card with money on it that you can use in UK shops and your benefit will be added onto this card every 4 weeks.

You can use your card to buy:

  • plain liquid cow’s milk
  • infant formula milk
  • fresh, frozen, and tinned fruit and vegetables and
  • fresh, dried, and tinned pulses

You can also use your card to collect Healthy Start Maternal vitamins (these support you during pregnancy and breastfeeding) and Healthy Start vitamin drops for babies and young children (these are suitable from birth to 4 years old).

Who can access the service?

The Healthy Start scheme is open to children under the age of 4, and women who are at least 10 weeks pregnant. In order to qualify, you must be receiving any of the following:

  • You, your partner, or your carer get Working Tax Credit run-on only after you have reported you’re working 16 hours or less per week
  • Child Tax Credit (only if your family’s annual income is £16,190 or less)
  • Income Support
  • Income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance
  • Pension Credit (which includes the child addition)
  • Universal Credit (only if your family’s take-home pay is £408 or less per month from employment)

You will also be eligible for Healthy Start vouchers if:

  • You’re under 18 and pregnant, even if you are not claiming any benefits
  • You claim income-related Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) and are over 10 weeks pregnant

Please apply online by clicking the following link https://services.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/apply-for-healthy-start/where-you-live 

If you have any questions about this service, please feel free to check out our FAQ page

Thank You So Much: Kirklees Family Fair

Posted on by Lynne Haigh

In March, Fresh Futures and Kirklees Family Together, hosted the Kirklees Family Fair in Batley. This was a free event for children and families with refreshments, entertainment, information and advice. On the day there was face painting, balloon animals, parenting and early childhood support, child safety support and much more.

Samantha Latchayya, Leadership Team Coordinator at YCC, who helped organise the event said “We are delighted with the turnouts to our Family Fair events, with hundreds of families reached across our communities receiving advice, support and a really fun day out for all! We would like to thank all of the local groups for their participation. Following the success of the partnership, Fresh Futures are planning to continue the Batley & Spen, and Dewsbury & Mirfield partnerships for the next 12 months.”

The event took place during Ramadan so we ensured we supported the holiday by not having food or drink on display, no having any pork or alcohol on site and quiet spaces were available for reflection and prayer.

Maryam Kazi, a member of the local community said “I loved todays event it was really good, my little one has really enjoyed it as well. There was quite a lot of information that I didn’t know was offered in Kirklees, the home start activities were especially useful for a healthy start, and I’ve taken all the leaflets.”

Jo Cove, Community plus said “It’s a lovely event, a brilliant setting, its quite central in town and its been a really good turnout for this area, because it’s not always easy to engage people in Batley I find. I’ve got three people here pebble painting and one person doing stickers. It’s just coming together and doing an activity and having a chat about the services we provide helping people connect with what’s going on within their own communities. After COVID I think people are a little bit more reluctant to go out and about, there’s a lot of people struggling with anxiety and depression, so we can help people with that.”

News Update: Quality For Health Award

Posted on by Lynne Haigh

Fresh Futures has recently been re-awarded the Quality for Health and Wellbeing award – the accreditation for groups and organisations delivering health and wellbeing services.

The accreditation confirms that Fresh Futures has attained the highest service delivery standards possible and continuously seeks opportunities for service improvement.

It was a gruelling application process, with an evidence-based application stage, plus an interview stage, including formal conversations with 18 members of Fresh Futures – from staff and trustees to service users and volunteers.

Samantha Latchayya, Leadership Team Coordinator, told us, “It was a rigorous process, so we were extremely pleased to hear that our application was successful. We are really proud to be able to carry the Quality 4 Health and Wellbeing (Level 2) logo for a further two years, and it goes to show that our hard work to implement Health and Wellbeing procedures for staff, volunteers and service users has really paid off!”

Within the report, Fresh Futures was particularly commended for:

  • The use of forums (sustainability, safety, and employee) to ensure needs are identified and views are heard.
  • A robust HR system
  • An excellent position for the charity to deliver on local and national health campaigns and to meet local and national needs and priorities
  • Fresh Futures clear vision to Improve Lives and Inspire Change.
  • Successfully operating within a range of formal and informal partnerships which have a significant impact upon service user outcomes (including third sector groups, health and social care, and education provisions).

On behalf of YCC, we would like to send a big thank you to everyone who participated in the application process, from collating evidence and responses, to participating in the live interviews.

And of course, a big congratulations to everyone who was involved in the application process.

Meet The Team: Colin Dixon

Posted on by Lynne Haigh

Name: Colin Dixon

Job Title: DAPP Facilitator

Date joined YCC: December 2019

Tell us a little about yourself: Dog walking, socialising and playing chess.

Your role in a nutshell: Running domestic abuse classes for men.

Why do you like working for YCC? Good relationship with colleagues and enjoy attempting to change behaviours of men in order to change others lives linked to them, children etc, for the better

What’s one of your favourite work memories? Recently finishing work after a long day and walked towards what I thought was my wife’s car, only to find out it was the husbands car of the facilitator I had been working with! Her husband was a little startled and said “IM NOT A TAXI”. Once we realised what had happened we had a good giggle.

And finally, what advice would you give to people considering working at YCC? Give it a go otherwise who knows? 

If you would like to learn more about YCC, click HERE.

Thank You So Much: Safety Rangers

Posted on by Lynne Haigh

For over a decade Fresh Futures has been leading Safety Rangers which is a multi-agency, interactive, accident prevention scheme aiming to reduce and prevent childhood accidents, increase awareness, and improve child health and wellbeing through a variety of fun teaching methods and scenarios.

Since 2017 when we partnered with Thriving Kirklees, we are so proud to have supported 4390 Year 5 pupils from 91 local schools, during 157 sessions.

We recently held a lovely celebration event at Huddersfield Fire Station to thank all our long-term partners that have worked with us to deliver Safety Rangers throughout the years:

  • West Yorkshire Police
  • West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service
  • Northorpe Hall
  • Safer Kirklees
  • Kirklees Road Safety
  • South & West Yorkshire Partnership Foundation Trust and
  • Huddersfield Town Foundation

We have received amazing feedback from those that have taken part in Safety Rangers over the years:

“Many thanks for organising Safety Rangers for us again this year. The children learnt lots and have taken away some really important information and messages” Teacher

“I liked learning about all the different things and I thought it was fun” Year 5 Pupil

“Talking to all the different services helped me learn how to keep myself safer. We talked about trusted adults with the police and this is really important” Year 5 Pupil

Katie Lockwood, Service Manager at Fresh Futures said “Without the continued support and time our partners have dedicated to the initiative, Safety Rangers wouldn’t have been as successful as it has been. All our partners have been invaluable, and without a doubt enhanced service delivery to ensure each session is as informative and enjoyable as the last.”

Meet The Team: Lucy Martin

Posted on by Lynne Haigh

Name: Lucy Martin

Job Title: Volunteering Development Officer

Date joined YCC: October 2021

Tell us a little about yourself: I love travelling and previously lived and worked in Indonesia and Spain before moving to Huddersfield. When I’m not working, you’ll probably either find me with a good book, watching super Leeds United or jumping in some cold water!

Your role in a nutshell: All things volunteering! I have the lovely job of recruiting and working with our wonderful volunteering community across all Fresh Futures services.

Why do you like working for YCC? I love creating opportunities for people and helping them work towards their goals. It’s amazing to work with people who are donating their time to improve the lives of others.

What’s one of your favourite work memories? There’s a few! I absolutely love our annual Summer & Winter events for volunteers and service users, and it’s been really lovely to work with some of our volunteers to transform the garden space at the Brian Jackson House in time for Summer. It’s also been great to watch volunteers progress and become members of staff with Fresh Futures and smash their goals!

And finally, what advice would you give to people considering working at YCC? Give it a go… If you’d like to work with people who try and improve lives & inspire change within the community, Fresh Futures might be for you!

If you would like to learn more about YCC, click HERE.

Volunteer of the Month: April

Posted on by Lynne Haigh

We love this time of the month: when we get to shout about our amazing volunteers and the, quite literally, life changing work they do to help Fresh Futures run smoothly and effectively.

This month we are giving a very special THANK YOU to Abbie Simpson who has been volunteering as a befriender at Fresh Futures for 8 months.

We caught up with Abbie to hear about her Fresh Futures Volunteering journey so far…

  1. Name: Abbie Simpson
  2. Tell us a little about yourself? I am a mum of 4 and live in the Holme Valley. I have worked most of my life in the education system, working with hearing impaired children. Then 3 years ago I decided to retrain as a counsellor, which I am still in the process of doing. Once qualified, I would like to specialise in working with children again and possibly train as a play therapist. Outside of work, and training, I love to be outside – I love to hike, wild swim and be with my family.  I love to explore new places and collect a fridge magnet from every new place I visit, from Florida to Bath! 
  3. How long have you been volunteering for the charity? I have been volunteering with Fresh Futures for 8 months and have loved every minute. 
  4. Please explain your volunteering role in a nutshell: My role is to visit with my community friend and make him feel less lonely, to bring part of the outside world (which he doesn’t venture into) into his home. To listen to his amazing life and stories.
  5. What made you want to start volunteering with YCC? I wanted to give back to the community I live in. I don’t have grandparents and felt I was missing out. I wanted to be able to provide a listening ear, an empathic heart and unconditional friendship.
  6. Tell us a bit about your role: I see Walker every Monday morning; we both feel it is a lovely start to the week and we catch up on what has been happening over the weekend. Walker will tell me about his life and ask me about mine. I sometimes do little jobs for Walker, such as filling up his bird feeders and helping him with his mail. He has asked me in the past to visit his parents grave, who are buried next door to my grandparents. I have taken a photo as he has not been to the graveyard for 40 years. 
  7. And finally, what advice would you give to people considering volunteering with YCC? DO IT. It will be the most rewarding thing you ever do. So far, I have managed to get my mum to sign up and I’m working on the rest of my family. Age knows no bounds and a wonderful friendship can flourish. 

If you feel inspired to become a volunteer like Abbie, or if you would like to volunteer in any way for our charity, please contact Lucy on 01484 519988 or email [email protected]