Services
Partnership and Strategy
One of the key functions of HAVS is to provide information about the various partnerships that take place in the Borough.
HAVS has been instrumental in setting up the Voluntary and Community Sector Forum which meets quarterly to discuss issues of interest to the sector. One of the key Partnerships is the Harrow Strategic Partnership (HSP) which has four voluntary community sector representatives at Board level. The bi-annual election is organised by HAVS. Julia Smith is also a vice Chair of the HSP Executive. The HSP is co-ordinating the work of the Local Area Agreement.
HAVS also co-ordinates the local Change Up work. If you would like to become involved in this, or find out more information, please click here.
If you need information about the Local Area Agreement, which Partnership is relevant to your area of work or how you can become involved in various initiatives, please contact Julia who will be able to point you in the right direction.
Key statutory agencies such as Harrow Council and Harrow Primary Care Trust will use HAVS to consult on new policies and strategies. HAVS disseminates this information through its mailouts and on occasion will hold public meetings to inform the sector of these developments.
Service type: Ongoing
Location: The Lodge
Timetable: Monday to Friday 8.30 a.m. - 4.30 p.m.
Note: meetings are attended outside these hours.
Contact details:
Julia Smith, Chief Executive
Telephone: 020 8863 6707, Fax: 020 8863 8401, Email: julia.smith@harrowcvs.org.uk
Advice and Information
HAVS through its various staff members is able to offer advice and information on a variety of issues of interest to voluntary and community groups.
We have a number of specialist staff including Gurpreet Ahuja and Mike Coker who are able to give funding advice to affiliated organisations and we are also able to offer advice on the development of policies, partnership working and constitutional issues. In addition, to help you with the development of your policies, we can provide a number of templates for you to customise to your own requirements. Please contact us as detailed below.
HAVS has a monthly mailout which has information about events, new sources of funding and key policy changes. Affiliated members are able to send information to over 220 organisations through this mailout for a small charge. Please contact Olga for more details.
Service type: Ongoing
Location: The Lodge
Contact times: Monday to Friday 8.30 a.m. to 4.30 p.m.
Note: meetings are attended outside these hours.
Contact details:
Julia Smith, Chief Executive
Telephone: 020 8863 6707, Fax: 020 8863 8401, Email: julia.smith@harrowcvs.org.uk
Olga Sidorenko, Financial Manager & Administrator
Telephone: 020 8863 6707, Fax: 020 8863 8401, Email: olga.sidorenko@harrowcvs.org.uk
Volunteering
Harrow Volunteer Centre managed by Indrani Rajendra has gained the Investing in Volunteers Award (IiV). This accreditation primarily examines how the centre treats its own volunteers. Given that the Harrow Volunteer Centre deals with nearly 1000 volunteers each year, this is obviously important as we need to be able to show good practice in our own organisation.
Congratulations to Indrani and her team for this award !
The Volunteer Centre Harrow has also been officially recognised as having undertaken the relevant training to be able to work in partnership with Volunteering Development England. Indrani can establish a relationship with registering organisations and provide them with a level of service, free of charge, which will support them to achieve their Investing in Volunteers award.
Julia Smith
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Harrow Volunteer Centre operates as a placement agency for adults and young people living and working in Harrow who wish to undertake voluntary work. Its aims are to:
- provide opportunities for volunteering and promote the value of volunteers to key partners.
- deliver training for potential volunteers, volunteer managers and for the volunteering infrastructure.
- offer opportunities to all sections of the community. We can advise you if you are interested in either becoming a volunteer or if your group needs volunteers.
Service type: Ongoing activity.
Opening times: Monday to Friday 8.30 a.m. to 4.30 p.m.
For more information about the Harrow Volunteer Centre, click here.
Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) Checks
If your organisation works with children or vulnerable adults it is important that you consider their safety when recruiting staff and volunteers. Staff and volunteers who regularly work with children and/or vulnerable adults such as teachers, care workers, scout & guide leaders, registered childminders, sports coach, youth club workers, foster carers or adoptive parents, should obtain a CRB Disclosure certificate.
Disclosures do not carry a pre-determined period of validity because a conviction or other matter could be recorded against the subject of the Disclosure at any time after it is issued. You should therefore consider renewing them periodically.
Since the Government's launch of the Disclosure service in March 2003, there has been a growing requirement for an 'Umbrella Body' in Harrow to deal with Disclosure applications from many small voluntary organisations for the recruitment of their staff and volunteers. For this reason, HAVS has set up a Disclosure service on behalf of the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB), in order to help local organisations make the right recruitment decisions to protect their clients.
The project is currently supported by the Harrow Local Safeguarding Children Board.
As an Umbrella Body for the CRB Disclosure service, HAVS is responsible for managing and administering the process of all Disclosure applications and the receipt of information from the CRB in the form of a disclosure certificate. We will also provide and give advice on policies necessary to satisfy the requirements of the CRB and to help you comply with the law.
Disclosures are only available for those professions, offices, employments, work and occupations listed in the Exception Order to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974. They are not available to individuals. There are two different levels of checks. Standard Level checks are primarily for posts that involve working with children or vulnerable adults. Enhanced Level checks are available for posts involving a far greater degree of contact with children or vulnerable adults ie regular caring for, supervising, training or being in sole charge of such people. The cost of providing the service to client organisations includes an administration fee and is shown in the table below.
 |
| Applicant Position |
Level of Check |
HAVS Affiliated |
Other Organisations |
|
|
| Volunteer |
Standard |
£9.95 |
£14.95 |
|
| |
Enhanced |
£9.95 |
£14.95 |
|
| Staff |
Standard |
£40.95 |
£45.95 |
|
| |
Enhanced |
£45.95 |
£50.95 |
|
|
| |
To visit the Criminal Records Bureau website click here.
Service type: Ongoing
Location: The Lodge
Contact details:
Berenese Horgan, CRB Officer
Telephone: 020 8427 4111
Opening times: 10.00 a.m. - 2 p.m. on Thursday or email Bere for any enquiries or further information about the service.
Funding Advice
HAVS currently has 2 specialist funding advisers. Mike and Gurpreet have, between them, many years experience raising funds for a number of different organisations. In addition, they can make use of a specialised national database of funders to help you find the very best options for your particular requirements.
We run a number of funding workshops and also offer one to one advice and support for organisations working in Harrow. We can also obtain funding information on your behalf. If you would like us to search for possible suitable funders on national databases please complete and return the attached form (free service for HAVS affiliated groups). Grant Finder Application
For more information please contact us detailed below.
Service type: Ongoing and one-off
Location: The Lodge
Contact times: Mike on Wednesday mornings, Gupreet Monday to Friday 8.00a.m. to 4.00p.m.
Contact details:
Mike Coker, Gurpreet Ahuja
Telephone: 020 8863 6707, Fax: 020 8863 8401, Email: mike.coker@harrowcvs.org.uk, gurpreet.ahuja@harrowcvs.org.uk
Training (TIDE)
TIDE is a training project which provides high quality accessible training for voluntary organisations based in Ealing, Brent and Harrow. The training is based on identified needs of the sector. Please contact us as detailed below for our current programme. TIDE also provides tailored training at reasonable cost for individual organisations. Please contact Coreen to discuss your requirements.
Service type: Ongoing and one-off services (subject to funding).
Location: The Lodge on Friday, otherwise based at Ealing CVS.
Contact details:
Coreen Allen, TIDE Co-ordinator
Telephone: 020 8863 6707 (Friday only), Fax: 020 8863 8401
Email: coreen.allen@harrowcvs.org.uk
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