Dear PPMA friends

We are so proud of Grace and Dan, who are both participating in the Big Brum Sleepout on the 29^th November. The sleepout is an opportunity to shine a light on the really tragic circumstances that drive younger people in particular to live out on the streets. Grace and Dan have chosen to fundraise for St Basils, which is an amazing organisation. You can read more about what they are doing below and we would be so grateful if you could support their fund raising efforts. It will make an enormous difference to the work that St Basils can do. They’ve included some helpful resources at the end of the post and we’ll be hearing from them once they’ve completed the sleepout.

Rough sleeping is the most visible form of homelessness. Nationally, the numbers of those rough sleeping is, sadly, on the rise.

Think back to your adolescent years. For some this can be a confusing time, your body is changing, you’re hormonal and feel misunderstood by the rest of the world. Now imagine going through this period of your life without the support of a loving family, stability, prospects and without a roof over your head. Sadly, this is the harsh reality for many young people living in the UK.

There is a common misconception that those who are homeless have wound up that way because of substance abuse. For many that unfortunately does become the reality when people end up on the streets as a means to numb and forget the harsh and painful reality of their circumstances. But there are an increasing number of people in the UK experiencing homelessness caused by pressures on the housing market, stagnating wages, an increasing shortfall between housing benefits and housing costs, and mental health challenges.

U.K. homelessness includes rough sleepers—people living in the “open air” and places not designed for habitation; hidden homeless or sofa-surfers – people who live with family or friends because they have no home of their own.

According to figures collected in the autumn of 2018 and published in January 2019, 4,677 people are estimated to be sleeping rough on any one night and that there was a decrease of 2% from 2017 to 2018. However, since 2010 rough sleeping estimates show an increase of 165%, with the West Midlands seeing the biggest percentage increase in rough sleeping in 2018 (42%). This increase has accrued despite a government target to cut rough sleeping by half by 2022, and end it altogether by 2027. These estimates really only give us a glimpse of what is actually happening with street homelessness, so it is believed the real number is much higher. You can find out much more about these statistics from the resources at the bottom of this post.

Thankfully there are many charities out there working on reducing and ultimately hoping to eliminate homelessness altogether. One such charity is St Basils who work with young people aged 16-25 who are homeless or at risk of homelessness within the West Midlands region. Every year they help over 5000 young people and every year over 1200 are housed in their 32 support accommodations.

Through their prevention, accommodation, engagement and support services they aim to help young people rebuild their lives, have a voice, access to education, gain skills and independence, confidence and employment and break the cycle homelessness can so easily trap them in of ‘no home-no job- no home’ Giving them hope and access to services that will enable them to experience a bright and fulfilling future off of the streets.

What can we do?

Aside from donating to a homeless charity of your choice, charities often hold events which enable you to take part and help. One such event is the Big Brum SleepOut, which is a fundraising event challenging those taking part to build a dwelling out of cardboard and plastic sheeting then sleep in it overnight in the grounds of Birmingham Cathedral in Winter to truly experience and appreciate how it feels to be homelessness sleeping rough.

Wanting to try and relate to those that are homeless and living rough is one reason why myself and my husband will be taking part in the big sleep out challenge ourselves on the 29^th November. We want to raise money, awareness and aid those working to eradicate homelessness for good. I believe you cannot fully start to comprehend someone in this situation until you have in some way tried putting yourself in their shoes. It saddens me that as a privileged country in the 21^st Century we still have such a high number of homeless citizens. And although I am apprehensive about sleeping outside on what potentially could be a freezing and wet night (let’s face it we live in the UK so the odds are pretty high and I consider anything under 25C to be chilly!); I am fortunate enough to have choices in life. I have chosen to do this and after the 1 night I can go back to my warm home, have a warm shower and get into my comfortable snug bed to catch up on the sleep I probably didn’t get the night before, but that just isn’t the case for those living in these circumstances. I want to try and change that to ensure they too can have a warm and good night sleep in their own home.

It would be fantastic if you could support this amazing cause and you can donate to and read about our campaign here. All money raised will go to St Basils.

Thank you
Grace

Dear PPMA friends and colleagues,

We’re absolutely delighted to have Karen Grave as our new President and in this blog post she shares her reflections with us on #ppmahr18 and sets out the organisations priorities for the coming year etc.

“Well what a week we had last week in Newcastle-Gateshead.  The team are just about recovered, but we are still buzzing from the wonderful reception we had to #ppmahr18 – I’m still mesmerised by gold stilt walkers!  I’d like to thank again the very many people who have taken the time to write to me (and the team) to say how much they enjoyed conference last week. That means such a lot to us, particularly as we ran a 3 day event and were snowed under with the increased capacity we had this year.  Our event partners at Sage Gateshead, Hilton and Jury’s Inn and our entertainers did us proud.

It’s difficult to pick out highlights from what was a week full of amazing experiences, but there are some memories that stand out for me this year:

Our outreach to students in partnership with Manpower. The power of that event has to be seen to be believed – meeting/working with young people and opening their eyes to our wonderful world of public service is one way that we can overcome the challenges in recruiting young people. My professional view is that strategically this can be a game changer and I want to work with our regions to look at how, together with Manpower, we embed this programme as part of our overall Let’s Talk You, Talent Offering.

The inclusivity, warmth, passion and camaraderie of conference – right from the pre conference event, through to the end has been expressed more than anything else. I am very proud that we were able to achieve this. We covered some tough topics. Jasvinder was an utter inspiration and I am still reflecting on her moving keynote opener. Whether it was the content of her speech or our pre conference event, or the sun – we certainly created amongst us a supportive, compassionate environment where a number of us where able to share some very heartfelt emotions.

And of course our MOU announcement with CIPD, HPMA and UHR. I’ve been working with Nicky and Helen (and Peter Cheese) for many months now on the detail of this agreement. We very much welcome David D’Souza now who will take this forward on Peter’s behalf. We all know that moving forward, collaboration and ensuring that our collective professional voice is raised is key to how we help organisations deal with the increasing challenges we face.

Our existing plans to develop our PPMA brand, offerings, increase our membership, harness the wisdom and experience of our Past President community and raise our collective professional voice will continue. However, there are a number of additional areas that will take up the attention of PPMA Policy Board and Principal Officers this year. We need to take a look at how we are governed and structured. This is partly driven by a desire to maximise the benefits from the MOU but also to ensure that we are nurturing and supporting the next generations of PPMA leadership. There will be lots more to come on that during the next months.

I’d like to thank again our sponsors, speakers, partners and delegates for all of your support. I’ve said many times before – and I am sure I will continue to do so – that we cannot do this without the support of all of you. I do want to encourage all of you to participate. Our Board and Principal Officer roles are, as you know, voluntary. We put in the most enormous effort to build a community that supports each other and retains a laser focus on workforce issues. We can’t do that without your involvement – so please take the time to read the blogs, participate in our research programme, support our regional events and talent management programmes. Keeping engaged keeps us honest by making sure we focus on the issues that matter to you. Don’t forget that Steve, Leatham, Kim, Grace, Policy Board and I work for you!

On a very personal note, I want to thank you for your extremely kind wishes following the death of my father. Although his death was expected, it has still nevertheless been a whirlwind since last Autumn. My last conversation with Dad was yet another exercise in bringing him up to speed with conference planning.  He would have been as proud of what we all achieved last week as I am to be your President this year.”

Warmest

Dear PPMA colleagues and friends.  It’s only 4 working days to go #PPMAHR18 and today we’re going to hear today from our conference team on what they are really looking forward to:

First is Steve Davies our Honorary Treasurer and Secretary and Regional Chair London/South East and he tells us “I’m looking forward to seeing Karen’s investiture as president, acknowledgement of Caroline’s great year as President, thought provoking presentations and catching up with colleagues from other organisations.

Next we hear from Leatham Green who is our Interim Executive Director who tells us “I am so looking forward to be able to show case the brilliant talent that we worked with at this year’s Apprentice of the Year, The One to Watch, and HR Rising Stars. The events were brimming with exceptional future leaders and this will be the first year that we have incorporated a conference slot so that the conference delegates get a chance to see them in action.  I know it will be truly inspirational. It is always great to have the opportunity to catch up with friends old and new and this year we have created much interest in the Masquerade Ball so I am looking forward to seeing the amazing masks on parade!!”

Emma Browes  is HR Service Manager at Leeds City Council and has been a big part of the conference team and she says “This really has been an exciting 12 months of involvement with the PPMA. I’ve been proud to be part of the Northern HR Summit – bringing people together from all over the country, not just the north. It was also a huge privilege to meet & coach the Rising Stars this year.  Their energy, enthusiasm and growth over the two days was inspiring. I can’t wait to catch up with old friends and meet new at this years annual seminar.”

One of the longest serving members of the PPMA team is Finance Manager, Kim Mckinery and she’s “Looking forward to catching up with so many people who I don’t see very often and working with some of the nicest people I know.  I cannot wait for the Gala Dinner as I know with all the effort Karen has put in to make this absolutely special and fantastic, it will be an utterly amazing night.  The location of this year’s Conference is in a  wonderful Town and in the iconic venue, The Sage on the banks of the River Tyne, will surly make it one to remember.”

Finally we hear from the newest member of our team, Grace Davies who joined us in January as Support and Marketing Coordinator it’s her first PPMA conference and she tells us “Being a new member to the PPMA team at the beginning of this year I wasn’t sure what to expect with regards to what would be involved with organising conference. I can safely say that my first 4 months have flown by and although it has been extremely busy at times it has been a very enjoyable experience and truly amazing to see just how much time and effort goes into the event from all that are involved. I am looking forward to seeing and enjoying the results of our hard work and meeting up with everyone that has participated to the journey so far.”

All of the PPMA team are really looking forward to seeing you in Newcastle Gateshead and wish you a fabulous experience.

Dear PPMA colleagues and friends.

It’s a belated New Year from me and all of us at PPMA.  We’ve all been incredibly busy here in January already and it sadly feels like Christmas and the New Year was an awfully long time ago.  I hope you had a wonderful time with family and friends.  My husband Kevin and I spent a few days over the holidays in beautiful Gloucester.  It was a wonderful opportunity to relax and reflect on what we have been doing since last April.

Time passes so quickly, but I feel very strongly that we have made some real progress with our Agenda and I’m looking forward to the rest of my term.  Since you last heard from me, I have visited colleagues in Northern Ireland, Scotland (our SPDS colleagues) and down in the South West, where our Regional Chair Julie Biggs and her colleagues put on a fantastic event focused on Wellbeing.

I also had the opportunity to talk at the HPMA conference in Leeds in November.  We’ve made some really positive and sustainable progress in building our relationships with other groups this year and it’s a constant inspiration to me to see the passion, commitment and energy of like-minded professionals up close.  I increasingly worry about our ability to keep abreast of change so it’s always refreshing to be with highly committed colleagues.

There is a key area though where I’m not sure that we are keeping up.  And that is the critical issue of our own professional development.  We heard from one of our Sponsors, Osborne Thomas at our October Northern Forum about research they had done with the LGA.  This showed that HR and OD professionals just aren’t focusing on their own development.  No I know we are busy BUT it’s critical we keep up with our own CPD.

I’m really pleased to say that Rising Stars and Apprentice of the Year 2018 programmes are underway.  Leatham Green is leading on this and I know he’s excited about entrants so far, but it’s critical we all continue to push these very important programmes.  Given the research I just mentioned, we can’t be satisfied until we have an overwhelming response to these programmes.

Turning my eye to this next few months, we’re obviously focusing on this years awards and of course Annual Conference in April.  Karen will be updating you more on this over the next few weeks, but don’t forget conference booking has been open for several months.  We’ve been using our social media channels heavily.

Talk of social media, this is one area that our new PPMA Business Admin and Marketing Support Officer will be working with us and TenHorizon on.  We failed to find a snappy title for our new full time role, but we absolutely succeeded in finding the right person for the role.  My final note for this blog is to introduce you to Grace Davies.  Grace has been with us since the beginning of January and she has already made herself a critical part of our team.  Grace has put together a short film below – go and make a cuppa and then listen to what she has to say.

Until next time and with very best wishes