News tagged 'targeted awareness programme'

2011 was a very busy year for everyone working on the digital TV switchover. Transmitters covering 10.5 million homes across the Anglia, Central, STV, and Yorkshire TV regions switched to digital, and preparations began in the London and Meridian TV regions too.

Our partners on the ground did a brilliant job of engaging their local networks of community groups and volunteers, making sure that people who might struggle with the switchover were given the support and information they needed to cope. It’s thanks to them that we managed to reach so many people and achieve such great results.

We commissioned and trained well-known, trusted local voluntary and community sector organisations in each TV region who:

• briefed over 2,000 organisations about switchover and how they could help the people they support
• trained nearly 4,000 individuals so they could cascade the information and advice within their organisations, networks, volunteers and service users gave talks about switchover at over 4,500 community events and activities, reaching nearly 300,000 people
• ran advice points in 81 locations at the point of switchover, providing help and reassurance to over 10,000 people  
• gave one-to-one, face-to-face support to over 100,000 people.

To reach those who do not attend events and activities in their community and are more isolated, volunteers managed to engage an amazing 57,000 trusted individuals who knew their local communities extremely well and could identify and support those who needed some help to access the Switchover Help Scheme.

In postcode areas where responses to the Help Scheme were lower than expected, volunteers raised awareness at a really local level in nearly 5,000 community venues - such as GP surgeries, Post Offices and local businesses – having a friendly chat with staff and leaving behind leaflets and posters. Volunteers also went out to speak to almost 200 small, informal groups to talk to them in person about the Switchover Help Scheme.

A really big thank you to all of our partners who put in so much effort to support their local communities during 2011. Despite it being the busiest year yet for digital switchover, we met or overachieved on all our targets, supporting hundreds of thousands of people to prepare for the switchover. The hard work and commitment of our lead and second tier organisations, and the thousands of very local voluntary and community sector organisations and volunteers, ensured we reached the people who needed help and advice the most and supported them through the process.

We are delighted that four people delivering outreach work have had their outstanding work recognised in the Switchover Help Scheme Charter Awards.

The Help Scheme launched the Charter Awards earlier this year to celebrate the excellent work being carried out by all key Help Scheme delivery partners to serve eligible people. Anyone can be nominated for an Award if they are working on behalf of the Help Scheme – from a volunteer who goes the extra mile to ensure an eligible person isn’t left with a blank screen, to engineers or call centre staff providing an outstanding service. 

Over just two months of the awards scheme running, Belinda Shiu from Sheffield Chinese Community Centre, Douglas Pye from the Community Council of Staffordshire, and Brian Goodwin and Jan Hawkins from the Rural Community Council of Essex, have all received awards for their dedication and commitment to supporting eligible people.  

Congratulations to Belinda, Doug, Brian and Jan, and a big thank you to those who nominated them.

Belinda Shiu, Centre Manager - Sheffield Chinese Community Centre

Being the manager of the Chinese Community Centre, Belinda is a well known member of the Chinese community in Sheffield. She put in a huge amount of work on the targeted awareness programme in Yorkshire to support the elderly people in her community to access the Help Scheme.  As well as conducting sessions to raise awareness of the Help Scheme, she also arranged appointments with each of them so she could register their Help Scheme preferences over the phone on their behalf and book engineer appointments for those who wanted to take advantage of the scheme.

Belinda dealt with several lengthy phone calls on behalf of the elderly Chinese people she represents, and even accompanied people to the post office and arranged payments for those who were not familiar with the process of paying through credit cards.

Douglas Pye, Community Volunteer - Community Council of Staffordshire

Doug is a member of staff at the Community Council of Staffordshire. Working on the Communities Programme, Doug knows how important it is to find individuals who have multiple barriers to accessing the Help Scheme and have ‘triggers’ in their life that make them extremely isolated. He has helped individuals not just to access the Help Scheme but also to help them get back into society.

For example, one gentleman Doug helped was feeling very lonely and isolated since his neighbour moved away. He didn’t get out and about much, but told Doug that he wanted to make new friends. After helping him to access the Help Scheme, Doug made sure that the gentleman had an emergency action plan in place in case anything happens to him and put him in touch with nearby community groups to help reduce his isolation.

Brian Goodwin, Village Agent Manager and Jan Hawkins, Village Agent – Rural Community Council of Essex

Brian and Jan both work for the Rural Community Council of Essex and are involved in delivering the Communities Programme. They did everything they could to help a frail and vulnerable elderly gentleman whose TV had gone blank at switchover, working closely with Tom Pugh from Carillion, who also won an award for the support the three of them gave to the gentleman.

Brian contacted the Help Scheme contact centre on the gentleman’s behalf, but the centre couldn’t help because Brian didn’t have specific details of the individual. Brian made the decision to ask a village agent (Jan) to go and see the gentleman to assess the situation. This was out of Jan’s area, but Jan was happy to help. This was a difficult case due to payment for the Help Scheme, and through a lot of communication between Jan, Brian and Tom Pugh from Carillion, they provided a solution for the gentleman.

As well as sorting out the gentleman’s access to the Help Scheme, Jan became extremely concerned about the gentleman’s living conditions and care package. Because of Jan’s role as the village agent, she has now contacted social services to make sure the gentleman’s care package was upgraded to suit his needs.

Do you know anyone who deserves an award for the work they are doing on behalf of the Help Scheme to support eligible people?  Nominating is simple – just send your completed nomination form to charterawards@helpscheme.co.uk. If you don't have a nomination form, please contact Debra Allcock for a copy.