Case study
Camden Carers Service
General Support
Camden Carers Service supports unpaid carers who live, work or study in Camden or care for a person who lives in Camden.
When Camden Carers Service moved into the VAC building as a tenant. The Director, Allegra Lynch, talks about some of the services they have used at VAC and how these have been beneficial for the organisation.
VAC are a fantastic organisation. They link all the voluntary sector organisations together and offer all of us support. They link in with Camden Council so they’re a mine of information and support. I think the borough would be very lost without them.
Q. How did you come to work with VAC?
When we first came here we had just leased this office from VAC. We moved in here in 2009. I’ve used their HR support, even though we have our own HR consultant. We use the meeting rooms. We’ve just found out we can use their franking machine which has meant a big savings for us.
One thing that VAC does really well is the newsletter. It is the one newsletter I make sure I read. It’s really good; it has a wealth of information. Staff are very busy so I go through it and highlight relevant bits and send it on to individual staff members. We advertise our services through the newsletter as well. Of all the newsletters I get, I make sure I read the VAC one. It has such good information in it.
Training: members of the team have accessed their training. VAC offer a range of good training on issues such as fundraising, how to make award bids, management training and other relevant issues. That side of VAC is really helpful to our organisation. Any of the training I’ve been on has been of a good quality. There’s also training available for our trustees. We find out about it through the excellent newsletter. There are other things that VAC lay on, information sessions around funding opportunities or advice about more strategic issues that I attended when I can.
Q. Has the support you’ve received from VAC meant any difference to your service users?
Ultimately it must be making a difference, especially the training we’ve done with them; it has a knock on effect. The better supported our staff are the better support we can give to carers.
Q. Has VAC’s services made a difference for the Camden Carers staff?
It must do. If our staff are not supported and well trained then they can’t help the people we support. VAC’s support does help with that, indirectly. They’re not doing our work for us but it frees up time for us to be getting on with what we’re good at.
Q. What think of VAC as organisation?
They are a fantastic organisation. They link all the voluntary sector organisations together and offer all of us support. They link in with Camden Council so they’re a mine of information and support. I think the borough would be very lost without them.
