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

This year we entered into a new venture with our events app, which has been marked a huge success with take -up being 61% against an average of 48% for first time app users with unique hits over the 2 days reaching 19.2k! With 63.46% of you rating the use of the app as excellent or very good. – “Really loving the new app – it’s bossy and fun!”

The app doesn’t end with conference, so please keep hold of it as we will be using it to promote our latest blog posts and keep you informed with up coming event information. It will also be used during the Northern Forum in October so stay tuned!

We have received such positive feedback when it comes to Conference this year Excellent and Fantastic are just a few words quoted with 63.79% of you rating #PPMAHR18 as excellent or very good and it really means a lot to us that our members and colleagues get the most out of the event and find it valuable and enjoyable…

“Fantastic event thoroughly enjoyed it! The pre-conference event worked really well as allowed introductions to be done on an informal basis which paved the way for the rest of conference”

“This was my first event and I’ve really enjoyed it and found everyone so welcoming. T have found some of the speakers really engaging and inspiring and I feel more motivated to move forward with my career.”

We look forward to taking on board your comments of improvement including experimenting with session formats and including more information about the shortlisted award entries in the lead up to the gala dinner awards evening to ensure next year’s conference is even better and really hope we see you all there.

You can find the full pack of the survey results here.

Hello PPMA members and friends

Caroline Nugent writes her last blog post in her capacity as PPMA President and she shares with us the highlights from her brilliant year in office.

“My reflections

Well what a year! I cannot believe how fast this year has gone but I’m happy to leave the presidency in the capable hands of Karen Grave who will take over the reigns at the PPMA conference this month.

Well what do I think we have achieved this year? For a start there has been significant work going on behind the scenes to ensure the future sustainability of the PPMA with the world of Heads of HR, in the public sector in particular changing. More and more of us are working across more than one employer and although it’s great for our development and the development of our teams, it has meant that we needed to ensure a wider public services approach to the PPMA. With each shared service is one less Head of HR.  I am thrilled that we have increased civil service membership, including the Chief People Office for the whole of the Civil Service,  Rupert McNeil.  This has shown how we can engage and our reach is far wider.

We also have a number of Chief Executives as members and this shows how we have moved from a ‘Personnel’ approach to a full on Leadership, OD  and Workforce strategic approach. If your Chief Executive is not a PPMA member, ask why not!  It is vital we are given the space to look outside of our organisations in order to bring back the sharing and best practice that is out there.

I have been amazed whilst I have attended lots of events at how many people have said they struggled to be given the time to attend. Why aren’t they forward thinking like one of my chief executives who has made it mandatory for all senior leaders from whatever background, be it legal to planning to bereavement services, to attend external events and wherever possible to speak at them? It is all this learning which will move an organisation from good to great!

Our marketing and sponsorship arrangements have done us proud this year with an increase in the breadth of our sponsors which will enable our members to hear and learn from many great operators in their fields. This proves that we have a lot to offer sponsors and they in return have great knowledge and products we can utilise.

A peek behind the scenes again – we have been actively working with colleagues in CIPD, HPMA and UHR for the long term benefits of all of our respective members and during the next year you will start to see how you will have a greater interaction and opportunities which we have not had before.  Look out for that news!

We have recruited Grace who has proven to be a great admin and marketing resource for the organisation. Leatham and I interviewed Grace by Skype, as we wanted someone who is capable of working remotely who could actively engage with members and sponsors – she is certainly supporting us on a daily basis. As you know as Policy Board members, we are volunteers so having a solid back office is critical for us!

Also watch out for more from Leatham who has joined us as a time limited resource as Executive Director.  Many of you will know from the SOCPO days (and many of us are old enough to remember!) we used to have a resource and this year we have decided we are moving at such pace we need some extra oomph to help and Leatham is certainly that person! HPMA and UHR have this role as a standard part of their organisations and Karen and Leatham and Policy Board will be looking at how we make this happen for PPMA this year.

So finally, with apprenticeships, women in leadership and increased membership as my priorities for my term I am pleased to say that I have moved them all forward for those coming along after me to continue. I have loved being your El Presidente (as so many of you have called me) and I look forward to supporting the PPMA for years to come.”

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.