This is our page of covid-19 guidance for the charity trustees and staff of community buildings. For our community buildings guidance home page please click this link.
Step 4 of the Government’s roadmap – from Monday 19 July
We have now moved into Step 4 of the Government’s roadmap of easing the pandemic restrictions. This means most legal restrictions have been lifted – for full details of the general picture see this link of the current Government guidance.
Re-opening After Lockdown guidance updated
ACRE, our national partner charity, has updated its Re-opening After Lockdown information sheet. Download it, along with Word versions of the appendices (including a risk assessment template for you as the building manager, and for your hirers) from the links below:
Re-opening Information Sheet 2021 07 21st
Reopening After Lockdown appendices
If you would like PDF versions of any of the appendices, they can be downloaded from ACRE’s website via this link.
We’ve had several questions around refusing admission to people who have not been vaccinated, once they’ve had the opportunity. This is very much a live issue and we don’t have definitive answers, but a recent news bulletin from Acas contained some useful pointers – at this link.
Financial forecasting template spreadsheets
To help you plan for the future and see what impact the pandemic is likely to have on your organisation’s finances going forward, here are two sample spreadsheets you can use through the following link:
Financial forecasting template spreadsheets (zip folder)
A visual guide to making community buildings safe
ACRE has got together with architects IF DO and Clarion Futures, the charitable foundation of Clarion Housing Group, to produce a visual guide to making community centres and halls safe.
The following links are available for further information:
Visit > News page on ACRE’s website
Visit > Direct link to the guide
Visit > IF_DO and Clarion Futures for their respective sites
Further information on Wickham Community Centre can be found at this link, and we think it’s great to see them being used as a case study in this guide, so thanks to Centre Manager Kate English for her valuable contribution!
Government guidance
The multi-purpose community facilities guidance was last updated on 17 May so it does not reflect the current situation. Both this community facilities guidance and the home page for all the Government advice on the pandemic is below:
Visit > multi-purpose community facilities guidance
Visit > Government information and guidance
General guidance for charities
The Charity Commission has a page for guidance on charity meetings, financial issues and other topics.
More information > Charity Commission covid-19 guidance
Financial support for community buildings
Furlough
The furlough scheme is due to run until the end of September.
More information > Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (furlough)
Support for organisations with premises
The Government has given financial support to most organisations that operate premises, including community centres and halls. These are now closed but any further news will be added here.
Comments, queries, and further support
We gratefully acknowledge ACRE’s tireless work in preparing this guidance document, and all the other resources they supply for community halls and centres.
Please see this link to specialist resources for community buildings for details of these other documents and how to access them. Action Hampshire can help in other ways too – with link access to regular news bulletins and a membership offer through this link.
Please contact Kevin Sawers (by this email link or on 01962 857358) with any queries. You can also contact Kevin if you would like to join our online discussion forum, where you can raise queries and share ideas with over 190 community hall / centre managers and trustees.
We use the Basecamp system – see this short guide and video for more info.
