Around 80 community and voluntary groups are providing support to local people in North Lanarkshire during the C19 pandemic including:

• wellbeing and befriending  calls
• shopping and deliveries of food, medicines and other essential items
• provision of free food where needed

This support is provided to existing service users; people referred by VANL staff through the NLC C19 Helpline; and to local people who make contact with community and voluntary groups directly
by a mix of established community and voluntary groups involving staff and volunteers and new C19 support groups run by volunteers.
 
Voluntary Action North Lanarkshire is providing support to the community and voluntary sector across North Lanarkshire during the C19 pandemic by providing information and guidance on key issues such as funding and ICT.  VANL is also supporting the referral processs from the NL C19 Helpline for people requiring support from  community and voluntary organisatoins.   The following VANL staff also provide a locality link across North Lanarkshire .

NL Community and Voluntary Sector COVID 19 Response

During the C19 crisis many of our existing community and voluntary organisations have adapted their normal activities to provide support to their service users and wider communities and new C19 community groups have also been established. This briefing paper provides more background information on the role of the community and voluntary sector  and volunteering during the C19 pandemic.

The following six “Community Solutions” funded organisations are acting as local “anchor” organisations during the C19 crisis, providing direct support to local people and also liaising with other community and voluntary organisations and staff from the council and NHS to support a co-ordinated approach to their local C19 community response.

In addition, to these six anchor organisations, a further 77 community and voluntary groups are providing emergency COVID 19 support. Find these groups on the spreadsheet below: 

View in Excel Format

View in Excel Format

Information on NL Community and Voluntary Sector support for vulnerable people during the C19 Pandemic

Since mid-March when COVID 19 lockdown commenced, the community and voluntary groups providing emergency support to vulnerable groups have focused on providing food, wellbeing and befriending support. VANL has been inviting the 83 community and voluntary groups providing emergency COVID 19 support to provide data on their activities in a standard format to support monitoring and reporting of their contribution. Around 37 of the 83 organisations provide regular data returns, which are analysed by a public health analyst at Public Health Scotland for VANL.

Regular summary reports on community and voluntary sector C19 support for vulnerable groups are published here. An updated report is listed below -

nl_cvs_c19_support_activities_march_-_july_2020_final_report.docx

nl_cvs_c19_support_activities_march_-_july_2020_final_report.docx

(Please note that total community and voluntary sector C19 support activity will be much higher than the data presented here as returns are not received from all groups providing support.  However, this data gives a good indication of the volume and type of support provided.)

Analysis of VANL C19 referrals 

A breakdown of the total number of referrals by locality and type of support can be found in the document below.

 vanl_covid-19_referrals_analysis_1.xlsx

NL Community and Voluntary Sector C19 Support March-July 2020

During the first wave of the C19 pandemic the NL CVS provided a wide range of vital support to vulnerable people including:

• Shopping and deliveries of food and other essentials
• Emergency food packs
• Remote befriending

This report provides a powerful overview of our sectors vital contribution during this period. 

 nl_cvs_c19_response_report_march-jul_2020_updated_oct_2020_final_design_1.docx