Corporate

Thanks to a donation of masks from two local businesses, Nad Lab UK and Masqonn Five Lamps have been able to provide masks to all of their staff.

The donation, will help them to minimise the spread of Covid-19 and also protect staff members and customers.

In total there was 200 masks donated 50 KN95s masks donated and 150 fabric masks.

Although the majority of staff are currently working from home, the masks will ensure that when staff do travel to the office, or to visit customers that they are protected and risk is minimised.

The masks will also be used for staff who are working on the Home from Hospital service, which provides support to people over the age of 50 who have recently returned home from hospital. The support includes shopping, social calls and also help with light housework.

Five Lamps are thrilled to announce that they have been short-listed for the North East Charity Awards 2019 in the award category Outstanding Social Enterprise Award.

The Journal and The Newcastle Gazette are hosting the awards for the fifth year, which recognise and celebrate the hard work and creative thinking by local charities and individual fundraisers, whilst also highlighting local businesses and employees who help to support the work of local charities.

The Outstanding Social Enterprise award celebrates the excellent work of a local social enterprise or a trading arm within a charity that delivers significant social impact by trading to achieve their social purpose.

Five Lamps delivers an integrated range of social, economic and financial inclusion services within which they seek to transform lives, raise aspirations, remove barriers and offer choice. Five Lamps Trading Ltd, (brand name Conduit) is a responsible lender offering fair and affordable personal loans as an alternative solution to high cost credit providers including pay day and door step lenders. Conduit is much more than a loan provider. Loans enable people many of whom are excluded from main stream banking, to access credit and over time improve their credit score and history. Conduits affordable loans are also making a positive social impact by reducing outgoings and increasing people’s disposable income.

As Conduit is solely owned by the Charity, the profits made are gifted back to the Charity to support their brilliant charitable activities, which includes youth services, domiciliary care, business start-up support and also employability to help people find and sustain employment. It is intended that the profits will also be used to help support more financial inclusion products and services.

Lisa Pickard, Group Chief Executive said,

“High cost credit has a devastating impact on so many individuals and families but with *millions of households in the UK having no savings, when faced with an unexpected spend and / or a poor credit history or score, high cost credit has become a lifeline. Our Conduit Loans offer a really affordable alternative that on average saves our customers *£230 per year. £4.42 per week back in families’ pockets many of whom are juggling finances makes a huge difference. But our commitment to financial inclusion and social impact doesn’t stop there. I am proud of this unique and innovative model that ensures all profits are reinvested into our charitable activities. Between our charity and trading company we are committed to changing lives and creating opportunities.”

For more information on Conduit, please visit, www.conduit.org.uk

*(Stat taken from House of Commons Treasury Committee, 18 July 2018)

*(Figure is a Representative example: A £500 Conduit loan over 52 weeks; total charge for credit £197.32; 52 repayments of £13.41 per week. Repay £697.32 at 99.8% APR (Fixed). Compared to some lenders, we can save you up to £230.00 in interest. See www.conduit.org.uk for more information)

An opportunity arose in June 2019 when Labyrinth Holistic Community Café had to close their current café based on Dovecot Street in Stockton. Five Lamps heard that they had to relocate and contacted the owner to advise them that they had an under-utilised café that they were hoping could be brought back to life.

Over three years ago, the café based at South Thornaby Community Centre was ran by volunteers and provided a space for the community to enjoy home cooked meals. Unfortunately since the volunteers retired, the café has been used sparsely.

However, the café will now be brought back to life and reopened by Labyrinth who will be offering a safe community space for people to enjoy an affordable, low cost meal whilst socialising with their friends, family and neighbours. The café will initially open on a Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday between 10:00 and 14:00 and will serve a variety of home cooked meals.

On Tuesday lunchtimes the café will be delivering a lunch club for the elderly between 12:30 – 13:30, this will include a two course home cooked meal for £4.

As well as a community café, Labyrinth will also be running a food bank from South Thornaby Community Centre, where organisations can refer individuals or families who may be in need and do not meet the criteria for other food banks.

Nicola Garrett, Director of Corporate Services Five Lamps said,

“It is brilliant to see the café at South Thornaby Community Centre brought back to life for the local community. As well as being as being a space for people to socialise and access affordable healthy meals, we are working with Labyrinth on a longer term plans to respond to some of the issues facing our community.”

Deborah Bailey- Knibbs, Labyrinth said,

“Labyrinth and the community of Stockton are so grateful to Five lamps who have truly shone a light on a very dark time, here is to a mutually beneficial partnership” 

Members of the public are welcome to attend South Thornaby Community Café, open Mondays to Wednesday 10am till 2pm. The Community Centre is on Havilland Road, Thornaby, Stockton-on-Tees, TS17 9JG.

To find more information on Labyrinth, please visit their Facebook page- @Labyrinthatfivelamps

Mary, visited the Conduit Scotland, Dunfermline shop looking for a £100 loan as she had received an unexpected bill and her pension was not due to be paid for a couple of weeks.

Whilst Jackie, Customer Service Officer, was helping Mary to complete her application, she noticed a number of her bills were extremely high. This included her council tax, gas and electricity bills and also her rent. Jackie informed Mary that it might be beneficial for her to visit her local council office and discuss her council tax and housing benefit, just to ensure she is claiming all of the correct benefits and discounts for her circumstances.

Jackie also gave Mary the details of Cosy Kingdom to help with her gas and electricity bills; they are a free and impartial energy and debt advice service available to all tenants and homeowners across Fife.

The overall conversation resulted in a huge success and Mary received just under £2,000 rebate from her council tax and housing costs. She also received a large reduction on her rent charges, as she qualified for housing benefit.

Mary also benefited from a home visit from staff at Cosy Kingdom, to provide energy efficiency advice to reduce her gas and electricity bills. Mary was absolutely delighted and said she had no idea that this level of support and advice was available when she came in to the Conduit Scotland shop and Conduit are really a different kind of lender!

Since her first visit, Mary still regularly pops into the Conduit Scotland shop for a cup of tea and a chat with the Customer Service Officers. She also informed them that she has now been able to treat herself to a new coat and some new clothes which she has not been able to do for a very long time.

Five Lamps staff have been donating Easter Eggs to help the Salvation Project’s Easter egg appeal.

The Salvation Project who are based opposite one of Five Lamps offices on, Westbury Street, Thornaby are hosting an Easter event in April 2019 for residents of Thornaby and surrounding areas.

The aim of the event is to bring the residents of Thornaby together and ensure all children within the local area, receive an Easter egg this Easter. The event will also host a number of activities including a buffet, Easter egg hunt, Easter bonnet competition, painting and an Easter bingo.

Five Lamps staff are proud to help the Salvation Project with their appeal and in total they have donated 45 Easter eggs to the project. The donated eggs will be used to help fulfil the Salvation Project’s aim of ensuring all young people in Thornaby receive an Easter egg this Easter.

The Salvation Project are a local non-profit group set up to support people in the community in and around the Thornaby area. The sessions which run on a Wednesday evening are open to anyone to attend.

Five Lamps is delighted to announce the appointment of Lisa Pickard as its new Group Chief Executive. Lisa takes up the post in early March 2019 and will replace Graeme Oram, who is retiring from the organisation after 16 years’ service.

Lisa comes to Five Lamps with extensive and varied experience in housing, social care and finance sectors. Joining us from the independent Care Group where she was Chief Executive and previously spent 22 years working in social housing both locally and nationally, including a spell with the housing regulator and latterly as Chief Executive of a housing association in Leeds.

Lisa said:

“This is a dream job for me; a cliché but true. It’s a role that brings together all aspects of my career and an organisation that mirrors my values and passion around equality and inclusion. As co-founder of Real Life Reform I saw first hand the devastating impact high cost lending has on families and communities. To be able to lead an organisation that shares my passion to support communities, to inspire young people, to encourage local enterprise and give people access to affordable lending as well as providing a home care service and regenerating empty homes to provide much needed affordable housing and in an area where I live, is just right up my street! I have been so inspired by Five Lamps; it’s a privilege to become their new Group Chief Executive and build on the strong legacy that Graeme hands over when he retires.”

Five Lamps is a charity based in Stockton-On-Tees, which was established in 1985 and has grown to be a recognised and highly regarded social enterprise providing essential services to the local and national community. Five Lamps’ range of services includes domiciliary home care, hospital discharge, youth clubs, employment support for young people and enterprise mentoring and coaching.

Through its Trading Company, Five Lamps is a responsible finance provider, regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and provides personal loans to customers who are looking to break out of the high-cost debt cycle. Five Lamps’ lending allows these customers to develop and build positive credit histories through flexible loans with APRs much lower than those of competitors.

Graeme Oram says:

“I am thrilled to be handing over the leadership of Five Lamps to Lisa. She is a proven leader with a real passion for communities and the inclusion agenda. Both our Charity and our Trading Company are ambitious for growth and I know that Lisa is excited by the challenge.

It’s hard to believe that it’s over sixteen years since I joined Five Lamps. It has been an incredible journey which has taken us from working only in Thornaby on to a national platform across England and more recently in Scotland. We have focused on meeting unmet need and tackling the social, economic and financial exclusion which blights the lives of so many in our communities.”

For more information, please contact: nicolagarrett@fivelamps.org.uk

Five Lamps receives £1,000 donation from CF Fertilisers

CF Fertilizers hold an annual employee event the ‘F L CLARKE TROPHY NIGHT’ and each year from money raised at the event, they then award local charities nominated by staff and chosen by draw, to receive a monetary award.

At this year’s event, Five Lamps were nominated by a member of CF Fertilisers staff, Judith Goldsborough who works within their accounts department to be in with the chance of receiving the award. The night was a success and Five Lamps were one of the chosen charities from the draw.

Five Lamps were thrilled to receive the monetary award which was £1,000, part raised on the F L Clarke Trophy Night and then match funded by CF Fertilisers.

The monetary award will help promote intergenerational social inclusion activities with a project where young people from Five Lamps’ youth clubs will create food and warm hampers for elderly people who are transitioning from hospital care back into their own homes. The hampers will include essential items such as food, blankets and also toiletries.

Judith Goldsborough, CF Fertiliser Assistant Financial Analyst said:

“I chose Five Lamps because it is a local charity.  It is different to the normal charities where it helps people to rebuild their lives and get back into the community, it makes you realise how fortunate we are and how things can change so easily”

Nicola Garrett, Five Lamps Director of Corporate Services said:

“We are thrilled to receive such a generous donation from CF Fertilisers. The funding will help to support our social inclusion activities across Stockton and see young people from our purpose built youth club “The Youthy” support elderly people being discharged from hospital”

Five Lamps’ Youthy is open four nights a week and host the following sessions – All Stars for young people aged 7 to 10 years and is open on Wednesday’s from 5.15pm to 7.45pm; Senior Youth Club for young people aged 10 to 19 years and is open on Thursday’s 6:30pm to 8:30pm and VIBE a club for young people aged 7 to 25 years with physical and learning disabilities. VIBE is open on Tuesday’s and Friday’s from 5.30pm to 8.30pm.

On Friday 31 March 2017, Five Lamps Home Care working in partnership with Stockton Riverside College held a two course lunch at South Thornaby Community Centre.

As a Home Care provider, Five Lamps recognises that older people are particularly vulnerable to social isolation and loneliness owing to loss of friends and family, mobility or income and that this can have a significant detrimental effect on their health and wellbeing. The lunch provided an opportunity for older people to meet new people and enjoy a home cooked lunch by students from Stockton Riverside College.

Invitations were sent to all of Five Lamps Home Care service users, as well as local residents at Rochester Court, with transport provided. Overall the day was a success and there was over 15 service users, local residents and their families and friends who attended.

Stockton Riverside College students delivered an excellent service to the attendees and provided a two course home cooked meal which included a main meal of mince and dumplings and a dessert of ginger pudding and custard.

The students also provided a waiter service to ensure all of the service users were topped up on refreshments throughout the lunch.

Rachel Maughan, Five Lamps Registered Manager said;

“I am really proud of the students they are a credit to themselves and the college! It was great to see young and old enjoying each other’s company”

“One of Five Lamps Home Care’s key objectives is to reduce social isolation and loneliness. We pride ourselves on being a different kind of Home Care provider and as such, are well placed within the preventative agenda to offer a range of wrap around support to our service users. The lunch club is just the start of our wellbeing offer”

One of the attendees said;

“I’ve never had a meet and greet from any other care company, it was great to get out and to see the staff and other people, I will definitely come again”

Five Lamps Home Care would like to continue the success of the day and are looking to host a lunch club every Friday at South Thornaby Community Centre, Haviland Road, Thornaby, Stockton- on- Tees, TS17 9JG. If you would be interested in volunteering on the day with organising or cooking, please contact homecare@fivelamps.org.uk

Five Lamps’ Enterprise Team are celebrating after successfully achieving the Customer First standard for the fourth time since 2010.The Enterprise team first achieved the standard back in 2010 and were thrilled to be re-accredited with the standard during their assessment on 19 July 2016.

The assessment includes three key milestones which are evaluated over 30 statements, the milestones are- customer relationship, market awareness and developing your people. The overall assessment enables the Assessor to identify the team’s strengths and any areas for continuous improvement.

From the assessment, Five Lamps were compliant with all 30 of the statements and there were no areas of development needed throughout the milestones.

Mike Wildey who undertook the assessment on behalf of Customer First UK Limited said

“Five Lamps continues to be an organisation that genuinely embraces the Customer First approach and deserves to be highlighted as an ‘exemplar’ for the Customer First standard’”

Organisations that have achieved the National Standard for Customer Service do so because they put their customers at the heart of everything they do. Leaders within these organisations are people with the vision to embrace the standard as a tool for continuous improvement in order to raise their competitive advantage within their sector.

Graeme Oram, Chief Executive of Five Lamps said

“We are delighted to secure further Customer First re-accreditation. The standard provides a strong foundation for our work with individuals from the most disadvantaged and vulnerable groups in society and enables us to measure our social impact as well as supporting the continuous improvement of our services”

Five Lamps’ Enterprise Team supports over one thousand people into self-employment each year, providing high quality coaching and mentoring and a wide range of access to finance.

For more information about the Putting the Customer First framework visit www.customerfirst.org

Five Lamps, a social enterprise working to transform the lives of socially and financially excluded individuals, has been recognised as a leading social enterprise, winning the Resilience Award in the 2015 NatWest SE100 Awards

The NatWest SE100 Index is an online listing of social ventures, ranked and scored according to their growth and social impact. Each year the NatWest SE100 Awards recognise social enterprises on the Index who have demonstrated some of the best business practice within the sector, celebrating the growth, impact, ambition and resilience of social enterprises in the UK.

The Resilience Award recognises a social venture that continually delivers positive social or environmental change and repeatedly achieves impact goals, successfully tackling challenges and overcoming difficulties to deliver their mission.

Five Lamps delivers an integrated range of social, economic and financial inclusion services which seek to transform lives, raise aspiration and remove barriers. These reach over 20,000 people annually.

The market served by the organisation spans the financially excluded; individuals in the welfare to work arena plus those trapped in the ‘low pay, no pay’ cycle; troubled families with complex needs; young people; new and early-life businesses unable to access mainstream finance and helping homeowners, typically those who are elderly, disabled or on a low income, to improve repair and adapt their properties.

Graeme Oram, Chief Executive at Five Lamps said:

“It is a source of significant satisfaction for the organisation that, in the year it celebrates its 30th anniversary, it has achieved a record level of turnover with £4.76million last year. Five Lamps is a story of genuine resilience; social entrepreneurship and continuous reinvention”

“Five Lamps’ resilience has been tested regularly, it nearly ceased trading after two years as its progenitor withdrew support; in 2002 all of its funding was set to end within sixteen months (75% of it within four months); in 2003, the funding envisaged for services in our new youth centre was withdrawn after less than twelve months; in 2005, a delay in commissioning a new programme brought the organisation close to insolvency and in 2012, the ending of three key contracts, all successfully delivered, and exceeding contracted targets, saw 55% of the previous year’s turnover disappear overnight. Resilience has also been tested by increased demand for our services; the need for further capital and public service austerity”

Marcelino Castrillo, Managing Director Business Banking, NatWest, said:

“I want to congratulate all this year’s winners, not just on their success in the awards, but on the profound social impact that they are having on our society. NatWest is proud to have supported the SE100 since the beginning and we are committed to unlocking and nurturing entrepreneurial talent through access to finance, markets and expertise”

Rob Wilson, Minister for Civil Society, said of the NatWest SE100:

“Social enterprises occupy a crucial place in our society. These organisations help tackle social challenges while contributing to economic growth. The SE100 Index is an important benchmark for the sector and I would encourage all social enterprises to sign up so we can build a truly compassionate society”