easy read summary working together agreement final

8/20/2019 Easy Read Summary Working Together Agreement Final

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Working Together Agreement

What is this?

An agreement about how the National Valuing FamiliesForum, National Forum of People with Learning Disabilitiesand Inclusion North will work together.

This easy read summary sets out how we will work togetherin 6 main areas

The Main Areas

1. How we will work together to stay strong at a

national level

2. How we will work together to stay strong at aregional level

3. Both forums working well together

4. Who makes the decisions

5. What we will all do if something is not working

6. How we will all communicate

We will all work to this agreement. We will review itevery year in the Autumn usually



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How will we do these things?

1. Work together to stay strong at a national level

The forum members will:

Share information with each other and InclusionNorth. This includes things like stories of thedifference the forum is making or examples of work orgood ideas they know about.

Understand the roles they are taking on, both asmembers of the forum and in representing the forummore widely. They will follow what is in the reps roledescription.

Promote the National Forums as widely as possible,using agreed materials/branding.

Agree a plan of work and action plan to make thinghappen.

Give support to the forum leaders – the Co Chairs

Commit to preparing, attending and contributing to theNational meetings (and on occasion leading sessionsin the meetings), and to sharing reports at the timesagreed.

Inclusion North will:

Agree a work plan with both forums. This will be usedto set the meeting agendas and give direction to theregional work.

Give the Chairs, the national and regional forums

good information so they can do their job.

Give new regional reps an information pack about theforums and their role so that they can do their job.

Make sure the meetings run well so that people’sviews can be taken to the Learning Disability Board,



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regional networks or wider groups.

Work in a co-produced way. By this we mean thateveryone will work together and make good use ofeach other’s skills.

Run an easy read course or ‘Using the forum websitecourse’ (as agreed with forum members) and othersessions if there is any money so members candevelop skills to use in their local areas.

2. Working together well to stay strong at a regionallevel

Regional hosts/reps will:

Have good connections with families and self-advocates across the region, including their fellowregional forum and share information from those withInclusion North to support the work of the forums

Connect with any self-advocate or family leadership

programme going on in your region

Develop a regional work plan that supports thenational work plan

Share and promote the work of the National forumsacross their region

To think about and act on regional work opportunities – or be able to share regional contacts who could takethose opportunities on

Have clear, consistent support in place for the

regional rep/s in the region and at the national forummeeting.

Regional hosts provide monitoring reports as set outin the grant conditions.




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Make it clear what it is expected from regional grants – this includes meetings, membership, support to repsand reporting/monitoring

Review the roles and responsibilities of regionalrepresentatives and co-ordinators, and make surethey are clear for everyone

Share information from our own contacts, networksand connections that can support the regional work

Share and promote the work of the regions andregional work or funding opportunities

Have clear, consistent support in place for the regions

Listen to feedback from regional hosts or reps to keeptrying to make our work with the regions better

3. Both forums working well together

Forum members will:

Understand and promote the shared purpose,messages and values of both forums

Seek to have a joint voice at the Learning DisabilityBoard, and around the workplan to influence &support other groups or organisations

Work together in the regions and be supportive of oneanother’s work

Come together once a year for a joint meeting

Be open and honest about any conflicts of interest.This means saying if there is anything in their lives (atwork or home) that might affect their work with theforum. Members will do this at the meetings but alsoby telling Inclusion North or the Co Chairs betweenthe meetings if something comes up.



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Support the forums to have a clear purpose, and tounderstand joint messages

Support the co-chairs to plan for, attend and feedbackfrom the Learning Disability Board

Work with regional hosts on local partnerships andthe best way of working together

Facilitate and co-ordinate the joint meeting

Be open and honest about any conflicts of interest.This means saying if there is anything in their otherwork that might affect their work with the forum. Theywill do this at the meetings but also by telling the CoChairs between the meetings if something comes up.

4. Who makes what decisions

Co-chairs will:

Decide on the final date for national meetings

Decide on the final agenda for the national meetings

Share out to people with interests or the right skillsrepresentative roles of the forum

Provide direction or advice to Inclusion North andregional hosts/reps when needed

Have the final say on decisions at national meetings ifneeded

Regional hosts will:

Decide with their regional network and members how



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their regional grant is used (if they meet, how theymeet, how information is communicated, who supportsthe regional rep)

Decide when they attend the national meeting

Decide if they are able to undertake regional workopportunities or help pass them onto others who mightbe better to do it

Regional representatives will:

Vote on behalf of their region at the national meeting(we would expect that most decisions will be made atthe meeting, but on occasion a decision may need togo back to be discussed at the region)

Vote for who is Co Chair or Vice Chair

Organisational forum members (NVFF) will:

Decide when they attend the national meeting

Decide what support they can offer to the nationalforums/regions


Decide on the venue for the forums

Decide how best to co-ordinate and facilitate themeetings

Decide on the agenda that goes to the co-chairs

Decide how expenses are claimed and when

Decide what monitoring information is required andwhen

Decide on an election process for the co and vicechair roles of the national forums



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Decide when minutes, agendas and other informationis communicated (as laid out in ‘How we will work withyou’)

Guide you on how forum branding should be used

5. What we will all do to make the Forums work

better or if something is not working

Forums members, reps, supporters, coordinators

or hosts will

Say if they are unhappy or worried about something todo with how the Forum is running.They will tell someone as soon as they can and if theycan say what they think will put it right

Everyone will try to work together to solve problems

They will tell Inclusion North or the Co Chairs byphone or e mail or letter if they have ideas for whatcould make the forum stronger or work better.

If things are not working well, please talk to InclusionNorth. You can talk to Lucy on x or to Angela on x. Or

you can fill out a complaint form on the forum website

– the link is here x

Inclusion North will

Listen to and act on all feedback – the good and the

bad.

They will explain the decisions they make or why they

have done something if they cannot act on all the

good ideas

They will take seriously any worries or complaintsForum members have about Inclusion North or theirwork. They will try to sort them out or will investigate ifit is a serious issue and look at what they need to do



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differently.

Try and help Forum members (including co and vicechairs, supporters and organisational reps) sort outproblems with the Forum or with other members of theForum.

Family carers and people with learning disabilitieseach bring their own experiences to the forums.

We will listen to each other and respect each other'sviews.

We will work and support each other so that peoplewith learning disabilities can have good lives.

6. How we will all communicate

What is this?

An agreement about how members of the National Valuing

Families Forum, the National Forum of People with

Learning Disabilities and Inclusion North will share

information in the Forum and with other people.


Send out the dates of the next meetings for 2016/17to all members

Send out agendas and papers at least two weeksbefore the meeting

Send out minutes within two weeks of the forummeetings

Regularly communicate with members, sending outeasy read information about the latest news, workopportunities etc.



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Produce an easy read money report three times ayear which we will share with the forum

Produce monitoring information three times a year forthe Department of Health

Update the forums website and social media at leastonce a month

Reply quickly to requests that come in for the forums – for example we would expect to usually reply topeople within 2 working days to say we have therequest at least

Share ideas, networks and connections that may helpstrengthen and develop the forums regionally and

nationally Tell people about the forum and its work

Regional representatives/co-chairs and vice chair will:

Prepare regional reports (regional reps) and nationalupdates (co and vice chairs) at the agreed times toshare with forum members

Feedback to their regional members about the forumwork and regional updates within 4 weeks of themeetings or getting updates

Make sure that their own information (contact details,emergency contact, forum website profile) is up todate

Tell people about the forum when they can

Regional host organisations/co-ordinators will:

Share information from the forums, minutes, updates,papers, regional work opportunities etc. usually within

4 weeks of getting it to all members/networks acrosstheir region

Ensure that their own information (contact lists,contact details etc.) is up to date

Support regional reps to prepare regional reports in atimely manner to share with forum members

Tell Inclusion North about any problems with the



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regional network as soon as possible

Get agreement with and share contacts/networkdetails with the National Fora

Tell people about the forum and its work when theycan

National organisation representatives will:

Prepare organisational reports and national updates(if representing the NVFF on national groups) in atimely manner to share with forum members

Feedback to their members about the forum work andupdates

Ensure that their own information (contact details,information on the forum website) is up to date

Tell people about the forum and its work when theycan

The rules we will all work to around branding

The National Forum of People with LearningDisabilities and the National Valuing Families Forumeach have a separate logo.The logos can only be used by members of the

forums with the line ‘member of’

Inclusion North will share with all of the members thelogo and branding which we have all agreed to use

The rules we will all work to around social media

(Facebook, Twitter)

We understand social media is an open and quick way of

sharing information and talking with people.

Commented [S1]: What does that mean? Communicate with

who? Do you mean Tell Inclusion North about any problems with the

regional network as soon as possible

Commented [S2]: Sorry I don’t understand this



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We do not want to have rules that stop any of us using

social media to connect to more people and do the forums

work.

At the same time we want to ask everyone to not do

anything on social media that might confuse people or

make them think anything bad about the forums.

We suggest everyone works to these rules

There will only be 1 official account for each forum onTwitter, Facebook or other social media. Only theseofficial accounts will use the logos or names of theforums.

Inclusion North and the agreed forum rep will beresponsible for updating the forums own social mediaon behalf of the forums

The Forum would be really glad if members will share

updates on their personal or organisation’s pages to share

information and promote the fora

easy read summary working together agreement final

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