Welcome
Welcome to the February edition of the Bugle and Trumpet! I was going to call it the Spring Edition, but given the white flakes outside our office window, that might be tempting fate!
So much seems to have changed since December, we have added a lot of new staff and almost as many new clients to our lists, so welcome to one and all. At time of press we are providing approximately 300 hours of support every week to 20 clients. The speed of growth has been incredible and even taken us by surprise! This has disadvantages as well as advantages! One thing we don't want the additional work load to do is reduce the quality of our support. If you notice this happening, please tell us!
In view of this we will be engaging someone in April to undertake interviews with some clients and their families to assess what you think of our services. This will help us find out what we are doing right, and carry on doing it, and also what we are doing wrong, and put that right! If you are willing to be involved (all replies will be confidential) then please let me know here at the office.
We really try to get it right, but inevitably we do sometimes get it wrong. Please remember that if there is something you are not happy with, let us know and if we can we will and remedy the situation.
The Christmas party
A merry time was had by all, and some were merrier
than others! And if you weren't there, hopefully we'll see you at
the next event. (Although I can't promise YMCA will be played ever
again!)?
Stop press ... Price increase
Unfortunately we are having to increase the hourly rate for Supported Lives services. The increase will take effect from April 1st this year. It is our sincere hope that these rises will not adversely affect the level of service offered to you. If you need any advice or support about funding, please contact us as soon as possible.
A detailed letter for carers as to what the increases are and why we are having to make them is attached to this month's B&T. But in brief these are:
- When we formed the company in August 2004, we set our charges to be as competitive as possible.
- Our stated aims were to provide high quality community based support, and that any profits were to be used to attract, develop and maintain a high quality staff team.
- We now realise that the quality of service we are offering is unrealistic at the present level of funding. Faced with a difficult choice, we are not willing to compromise the high quality service we currently provide by reducing the 'extra' things we do that make us unique in this work.
If you have any questions or queries about these rate rises, or want advice on what you need to do next, please contact either Jon Wright or John Drury at the office.
Staff training news
John Kirkham, our Senior Support Worker for Training has successfully supported 3 staff through the Learning Awards Framework and we are committed to sending another 4 on the next round of courses. We are also putting staff forward for NVQ 2, and continue to offer staff training opportunities around moving and handling, managing violence and aggression, first aid and health and safety.
We are increasing our annual budget for training in order to best meet the needs of the additional staff.
John was also successful in negotiating a grant from TOPSS to help with putting on 'in-house' training and awareness sessions on Adult Protection, Autism Awareness and Recording and Confidentiality amongst others.
Staff induction
We will be setting up another induction day for all new staff on Wednesday 23rd March (all day). Are there any clients or carers who would like to be involved in this session? We won't make you do anything scary or embarrassing, just be on hand to offer your opinions and tell your story if you feel you want to. Interested? Contact Jon, John or Sally at the office.
Staff pay rises
As a not-for-profit company we are committed to making the staff terms and conditions as reasonable as possible in order to attract (and keep) the best quality staff we can. We shall, therefore, be making a significant pay award (of approximately 7%) for staff who successfully progress through their probationary period (6 months after starting work).
Staff benefits: pensions
Did you know you are entitled be a part of the Supported Lives stakeholder pension? You can pay as little as £20 per month, and the fund is with the cooperative bank. See Jon Wright for details of entering the scheme.
We are also looking into setting up a specific staff pension scheme with company contributions. We expect this will be in place by the end of the year. All permanent staff would be eligible to become part of this scheme, and the scheme would be administered by professionals in consultation with Supported Lives staff. Therefore it would be your scheme ... working with your best interests in mind. Watch this space for further details.
Daily expenses for outings and sundries
A note for parents and other carers
We realise that families often give money to support workers to pay for expenses incurred while the worker and client are out together. This may be to pay for lunch, travel, admission to leisure facilities, etc. Just to clarify for everybody what the procedure should be:
- Together, the family should agree with the worker what the outing is going to be.
- Family gives enough money to the worker to cover the cost of the trip. This should include enough money for both client and worker to cover the cost of the trip, including fares, admissions etc. Staff can claim back from Supported Lives £1 per day up to £5 per week for tea & coffee etc., bought while out with clients.
- We suggest to families that it may be a good idea to give workers an envelope with the amount of money in it written on the envelope.
- Please make it clear to the worker if you would like them to spend as little as possible, or if the amount given is to have a good a time as you can for that amount!
- Workers should write on the envelope the costs incurred during the trip, and return it to the parents/carers at the end of the day.
Also... Did you know that card holding people with disabilities can travel for 30p per journey on bus and train services, and their carer travels for the same price within the West Yorkshire Metro area from 9:30am-3:00pm and 6:00pm to midnight.
Free mobile phones
In order to give staff direct access to senior managers and also for emergencies we are now able to provide staff with a mobile phone. If you already have your own mobile phone, we will provide some 'top up' for you to cover any emergency contacts. If you do not have a mobile phone, we will provide you with a mobile phone and a start up amount of top up. (Note: The mobile is provided by Supported Lives , you can't choose your own I'm afraid!)
Staff Appraisals
Staff Appraisals will be starting in March 2005. The purpose of the appraisal will be for the member of staff to reflect on the previous 6 months and look ahead to the next, identifying what they have achieved and what they hope to achieve, and identify what help they might need (e.g.: training) to achieve it. Each appraisal will include an action-planning element to identify what needs to be done, by whom and by when. Jon Wright and John Drury will be doing these, so expect to be contacted with a date in the near future!
"Who am I?"
This month.... Owen Jones, Senior Support Worker
I was born in Newport in Wales, and I am very
proud of my Welsh roots. I like rugby union and the recent victory
over England has encouraged me to wear my Welsh Rugby shirt to work
with pride!
I have been with Supported Lives since October 2004 and I currently work with 6 clients on a regular basis. I also have responsibility for setting up and organising contracts and am really enjoying the variety of experiences that Supported Lives is giving me.
Supported Lives staffing structure, February 2005
Directors
John Drury
Jon Wright
Team Leader
Sally Benn
Senior Support Worker
Owen Jones
Senior Support Worker (Training)
John Kirkham
Project Administrator
Eileen Nolan
Community Support Workers
Mandy Lund
Lynne McManus
John Moroney
Brett Scaife
Sessional Support Workers
Imi Shah
Jonny Shirley
Vicky Bird
Fabio Amato
Emi Okazaki
Debrah Robinson
June Spanyol
Dorothy Jabangwe
Vicky Brown
Dorothy Hindmarch
Imi Imtiaz
