Our News

This week is Rural Housing Week – an annual celebration of rural housing to reinforce the message that housing is vital for the survival of rural communities and services. The week is used to highlight key rural issues and shine a spotlight on successful developments that offer a lifeline to local people in our market towns and villages. Our Rural … 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

It’s been two years since the introduction of GDPR in the UK, but not all charities and community groups are GDPR compliant. If you have yet to assess your GDPR compliance, are new to GDPR or simply want to check what has changed since May 2018, then we are running an online workshop on Friday 12 June for you.  Aimed … Read More

An online training session on Friday 19 June for charities and not for profit groups in Surrey. Have you formed a new group that you want to register as a charity? Do you want to convert an old-style Charity into a new Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO)? Do you want to explore whether your charity’s trustees are protected from personal liability? … Read More

Urgent help needed for Surrey’s frontline workers – can you produce PPE? Following the government announcement yesterday that there is a global shortage of PPE, Surrey County Council is urgently appealing for volunteers to help supply items for Surrey’s frontline workers. Social workers, care home staff, volunteers and others across #Surrey are fast running out of vital PPE supplies such … 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

Do you have staff who could be redeployed as volunteers within the sector? Do you have staffing gaps due to illness or increased demand? We can help you to manage your staffing needs.  Join our Covid-19 staff exchange. Surrey Community Action is co-ordinating a project to help voluntary, community and faith organisations in Surrey manage their staffing needs during the Covid-19 pandemic. … Read More

Our small businesses need you! As the Coronavirus changes the economic landscape, Surrey Community Action’s Inspiring Enterprise team are working hard to support their budding businesses as their business ventures face dormancy virtually overnight. For some there are some possible ways to adapt and respond to the new needs of their market. For others, it has been crippling. The Inspiring … 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  Village halls & community centres that were not hosting essential services may re-open from 4 July.  Advice from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has been published: 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 The “Expanded Retail Discount Relief”, or extension of Business Rates relief, applies to charitable halls and CASCs, meaning that you should receive 100% … Read More

In partnership with Ecopare, Surrey Community Action have developed a half day Energy Awareness seminar, one tailored for community space providers. The Energy Awareness Seminar includes: • Setting the context: The drive for sustainable organisations • Your energy bills demystified • Energy terminology explained • Interactive benchmarking of costs and identifying usage patterns • Identification of key energy consumers • … Read More

A suite of two offices is now available at our charity hub, Astolat, in Guildford. Located in Burpham, just off the A3, the suite comprises two neighbouring rooms – one accommodating 4-5 desks and one accommodating 2 desks.  Both rooms must be taken together. The suite of rooms is offered rent free, with just a service charge payable which covers … 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

The ACRE Network needs village helps to take part in a crucial census. Carried out once every ten years, the survey will provide up to date information about halls and the social and economic impact they deliver for their communities. This information is vital to secure funding for halls, funding for Network services, and to ensure that the  services and … Read More

Surrey’s first Warm Hub! Local charity, Surrey Community Action has teamed up with Hale Community Centre to deliver Surrey’s first Warm Hub. A Warm Hub can be any community venue – a village hall, a community centre, a church, a parish room – which provides a warm and friendly environment for people to meet over refreshments and find out more … Read More

More unemployed people in Surrey will be able to benefit from free support to start their own business, thanks to a £1.4 million funding boost to the Inspiring Enterprise project. Further funding from the National Lottery Community Fund and European Social Fund will enable Surrey Community Action – together with partners WSX Enterprise, Action Hampshire, The University of Winchester and … Read More

Sponsored by: CANCELLED.  Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, we have cancelled this event and issued refunds to delegates.  We hope to run the event later this year or early next spring. Surrey Community Action celebrates its 70th anniversary this year.  Since our inception, there have been lots of changes and challenges for the voluntary, community and faith sector.  But what … Read More

Want to make a difference in Surrey? Come on Board! Last year Surrey Community Action helped 1300 people to avoid fuel poverty, supported 100 good neighbour schemes across the county, provided advice to 100’s of village halls, strengthened the voluntary sector through advocacy and much more, to keep communities thriving. Now we need your help. We’re looking for dynamic people … 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

A local enterprise project is inviting budding entrepreneurs to take advantage of the support on offer thanks to National Lottery funding. Inspiring Enterprise offers free support to help develop the ideas, confidence and skills to set up a business or social enterprise. The project is funded by the European Social Fund and the National Lottery, through the Big Lottery Fund. … Read More

In the summer of 2016, 375 community organisations and stakeholders across Surrey, participated in our research into the voluntary sector; where it is now and where it needs to be in the future. The research, via online questionnaires and telephone interviews, gives us an insight into the projected needs of the community in the future, recognising that we need to … Read More