Our News

  Find out how with support from our Skills Impact project, Genty Lee has improved her numeracy skills along with her grammar and spelling and received the help she needed to complete her autobiography. Our Skills Impact project is a pilot scheme funded by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities to help people to improve their literacy and … Read More

Date: | Tuesday 25 May 2022 Time: | 09.30–12.00 EVENT DETAILS Our Members’ Assemblies help us understand the challenges voluntary organisations are facing, helping inform the work we do. For this event, we’re working in partnership with Surrey Community Action to engage our members and the voluntary sector across the south-east. Our assemblies are a great way for our members … Read More

My name is Julianne Blair and I am the newly appointed tutor for Surrey Community Action’s Impact project, which helps Gypsy, Roma and Traveller adults to improve their literacy and numeracy skills. I have attained three degrees: one being a BA(Hons) in English another being a MA(Hons) English and Victorian Literature & Culture and my Post Grad Teaching certificate was … Read More

Surrey Community Action has launched a new Community Buildings Grant Fund in partnership with Surrey County Council. The Covid Recovery Grant scheme will provide funding to help community buildings with their post Covid recovery. Community buildings will need to be Tier Two members of Surrey Community Action’s community buildings support scheme to apply to the temporary fund. Community Buildings will … Read More

  Are you a sole communications professional or part of a very small comms team? Would you like to be part of a group for charity communicators in Surrey? Talking Shop aims to be a hub for people in marketing communications to get together, network, share ideas and good practice and chat all things comms! To register your interest, email … Read More

Locality, a national community group support charity, has been commissioned by Surrey County Council to do an assessment of how we help you and how we should support you in the future. We see this as a very useful tool to gauge how well we are supporting the sector and meeting its needs and where gaps in service provision lie. … Read More

SES Water’s ‘Here For You’ programme provides several payment support schemes to help those customers who may be struggling financially. This includes: • ‘Breathing Space’ – a payment pause scheme for customers facing life changes that have affected their income and who need time to adjust • Water Support Scheme – a 50 per cent bill reduction that is funded … Read More

Thanks to funding from UK Power Networks, we’ll be setting up a series of Energy Clubs across the county. We will be offering both one-to-one and group sessions to help people understand their gas and electricity bills, discuss any worries they may have about their energy supplier, liaise with their energy company where necessary and offer advice and information to … Read More

Last year our Warmth Matters project helped over 350 people to avoid fuel poverty by providing free, impartial information and practical advice. Read more about how we helped Mrs Andrews who was worried about her mounting energy bill debts.

Rising energy costs and higher food prices this winter will mean more people on lower incomes may be forced to choose between heating and eating, but help is at hand for residents of Ash thanks to a free Fuel Poverty Awareness Day on Tuesday 3 December at Victoria Hall from 2.00pm. Organised by local charities Surrey Community Action and Action … Read More

To help elevate your fundraising efforts, we have partnered with fundraising website easyfundraising. Voluntary organisations and groups in the Surrey area can earn free donations from leading online stores by just shopping online. When volunteers and supporters shop, book, and spend with over 5,000 leading retailers including, Amazon, John Lewis, M&S, eBay, Trainline, and many more, your organisation or group … Read More

Surrey Community Action’s new partnership with fundraising website easyfundraising means organisations, groups and buildings in Surrey can receive additional funding from leading online retailers. 5,000 retailers including Amazon, eBay, Argos and Just Eat will make a small donation to your organisation whenever anyone connected to the organisation uses the easyfundraising website or app to shop with them. With so many … Read More

We’re delighted to receive a Certificate of Excellence from The High Sheriff of Surrey in recognition of our community support during the Covid crisis. Making sure hard to reach communities like Gypsies and Travellers were well supported during the lockdowns was all in a day’s work for our Community Development Worker who helped one client who didn’t understand who she … Read More

Surrey Heartlands Health and Care Partnership have been successful in securing one of seven Green Social Prescribing ‘Test and Learn’ pilots in England. This will work with partners across the health, care and nature based sectors to overcome barriers and identify how green social prescribing can be ‘scaled up’ for the benefit of communities. Find out more here. Why are … Read More

Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN) has teamed up with Action Hampshire and Surrey Community Action to support more vulnerable customers through the winter months and ongoing coronavirus pandemic, with targeted advice and guidance through a variety of communication methods. Last year, SSEN handled over 550,000 customer calls during power cuts, with the average number of calls increasing tenfold during storms in the winter … Read More

Surrey County Council is asking for your help to identify any frontline social care workers (employed or volunteers) in your organisation in Surrey who are eligible for the Covid-19 vaccine because of their role: The government definition of a frontline social care workers is “All frontline social care workers directly working with people clinically vulnerable to Covid-19 who need care … Read More

Surrey Community Action was delighted to help the Royal Surrey Foundation Trust (who are carrying out vaccinations for their own health and care staff) ensure that spare vaccinations did not go to waste by putting out an emergency call to staff and volunteers from front-line voluntary sector organisations delivering health and care activities to vulnerable people across Guildford and Waverley. … Read More

Homes for Farnham, a new Community Housing Group which aims to provide a range of affordable homes designed with and for local people, is partnering with The Surrey Community Housing Partnership to identify the types of homes most needed by the community. The Surrey Community Housing Partnership is an initiative delivered by local charity, Surrey Community Action. The partnership is between Surrey Community Action and … Read More

This year Surrey Community action celebrates its 70th anniversary – seven decades of dedicated community service since our formation on 28 February 1950. Unfortunately the pandemic put paid to the celebrations and conference we had planned for the Spring but we’re marking the event with a series of social media posts highlighting our achievements along the way, and this potted … Read More

Action with Communities in Rural England (ACRE) is working with a major broadcaster to gather stories of inspiring rural community projects where residents have helped each other through the pandemic. If your rural community has a story to share, please send us a short video clip telling us what happened 2020 has been a tough year. Many lives, jobs and … Read More

Surrey County Council is giving local communities up to £100m over the next five years to spend on projects that improve their local area.  This is money put aside to empower YOU, Surrey residents.  The fund aims to empower communities by:  Connecting residents and community groups to build ideas  Stimulating local engagement and involvement  Providing the financial backing for community-led projects  … Read More

COVID-19 has amplified the stark inequalities that persist in our society and the impacts have been felt across all groups of the population. The Covid-19 Community Impact Assessment (CIA) explores how communities across Surrey have been affected by Covid-19, what support communities need as the pandemic continues, and communities’ priorities for recovery. Thousands of community members and people working in … Read More

Surrey Community Action’s Money Matters Project is launching a new free, informal and impartial budgeting course available via Zoom. For the last two years, the Money Matters Project has provided help and support to Surrey residents to help them manage on low budgets and heat their homes for less as well as advising people how to access specialist support. Our … Read More

Surrey Community Action has teamed up with Surrey Lifelong Learning Partnership to deliver free help and advice all under one roof. The new Community Learning Centre is based at 109, Southway (previously the Bike Shop) just outside Guildford town centre. The centre offers free help and support around job seeking, interview skills and CV building, mental health, debt management and … Read More

The Force for Change Programme  is open to registered charities with experience of working with the Armed Forces community. Grants of up to £20,000 are available to support Armed Forces communities to become less isolated and engage more in their local area. There are two rounds this year, with the deadlines of noon on 11 Sept and noon on 30 … Read More

The Community Projects Fund (CPF) will support community-led projects aimed at improving people’s local area. It is much larger in scale than previous grant funds, so will help support projects that can make a real difference. The CPF will provide £100m of capital funding over a five-year period – e.g. funding for building works, equipment, vehicles, green spaces, rather than … Read More

A £50,000 grant from the National Lottery Community Fund will help Surrey Community Action to expand its successful Money Matters project. The project provides free and accessible practical sessions that make day to day budgeting and saving money easier to understand to help make communities more resilient. The new funding from The National Lottery Community Fund, which distributes money raised … Read More

Making sure hard to reach communities like Gypsies and Travellers are well supported during the lockdown is all in a day’s work for our Community Development Worker who has helped one client who didn’t understand who she could spend time with during the lockdown and was still visiting family. Our Community Development explained the rules clearly and the client understood … Read More

Charities and community groups of all shapes and sizes are facing unprecedented challenges. Some have been able to respond to the challenges with new services and activities. Others have faced catastrophic drops in funding and are having to close services or worse. Over the last few weeks, Surrey Community Action has carried out research to paint a clear picture of … Read More

Following Government advice, we have suspended our DBS checking service until further notice. More information about DBS Checks and Volunteering during the Covid-19 Crisis can be found here. If you need to carry out checks on new volunteers then you can get a basic check done here: https://www.gov.uk/request-copy-criminal-record.

The Community Transport Association have produced some useful guidance (below).  Find out more here. UK Government announce stronger social distancing measures On Monday 23 March, the UK Government outlined strict new measures to tackle the spread of coronavirus, including a ban on public gatherings of more than two people. You can find the Government’s full guidance on these measures here. … Read More

Advice for village halls and community buildings  UPDATE: Following the Government’s announcement that lockdown restrictions will continue to lift according to the roadmap, here is the latest advice from ACRE. Advice from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government for the safe operation of community buildings is available: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-guidance-for-the-safe-use-of-multi-purpose-community-facilities/covid-19-guidance-for-the-safe-use-of-multi-purpose-community-facilities.  ACRE have published Covid-19 Safer Community Centres, a free-to-use guide … Read More

As you may be aware, Surrey County Council (SCC) carry out an annual survey to monitor how well the needs of Surrey’s Voluntary Community and Faith Sector (VCFS) are being met by infrastructure organisations such as Surrey Community Action and the local Councils for Voluntary Services (CVSs). For those of you unfamiliar with the term, an infrastructure organisation is one … Read More

Over 160 people took the opportunity to find out more about how community led housing could help to provide more affordable homes in their communities, at roadshow events in Guildford and Leatherhead this week run by the Surrey Community Housing Partnership. Community led housing is quickly gaining momentum across the country with a rapidly growing number of successful schemes delivering … Read More