Learning Lessons and Making Change: How VCS organisations are preparing for Winter 2023/24

Winter 2022/23 was unlike many others as the pressures we have become used to seeing during winter months were exacerbated and compounded by the escalating Cost-of-Living crisis. For many Voluntary and Community Sector (VCS) organisations, help had to be rapidly put in place to best support their communities. Whilst much of this was successful, the unprecedented nature of the combination of crises meant a trial-and-error approach was also taken to work out the kinds of initiatives that would best suit their area’s needs.

As we face an uncertain winter again this year, partners are looking to learn from 2022/23 and improve their services for those most in need within their communities. This is particularly the case when it comes to warm spaces, which were almost unheard of just 12 months ago.

At the beginning of 2023, in the middle of the winter months, we spoke to Aneta Wujek from Communities 1st about what the organisation was seeing in their communities. Ahead of winter 2023/24, we spoke to Aneta again about what they learnt last year, are planning this year, and the need they are anticipating for the coming months.

One of the primary areas of work that Communities 1st focussed on last winter was warm spaces, running both their own and providing training and support to organisations in their network who were doing something similar. After evaluating this work, they have since identified some lessons and key factors that helped their warm spaces to be successful.

“We had some longstanding sessions which became warm spaces that people kept coming to, but we also had a couple of newly established ones that were very successful too, and we will continue to build on those. The activities are the key to their success as was naming them Creative Community Cafés - something other than warm spaces. People didn’t want to have the stigma of not being able to pay the bills, but they wanted somewhere they could be with others. It was good for their mental health to be able to connect with people, especially after Covid,” Aneta explained. “The warm spaces that offered food were also successful. We don’t know whether this was because people can connect through food or because they were not able to have warm food at home, nevertheless food has been particularly important.”

One of the challenges that many VCS organisations have faced both generally, and with their winter offer is funding, and this was also the case for Communities 1st. “Funding needs to be thought about much earlier,” Aneta said. “Last year, it was around October when we all realised how energy bills were going to impact people and that we needed to do something. This year we know what is happening. It would be good if funders could catchup and offer funding for warm spaces earlier than October.” Even once the winter months had finished, Communities 1st still saw a considerable number of people seeking support whilst others continued coming to their groups and sessions for a sense of togetherness. “We carried on our Creative Community Cafés with arts and crafts, games, and other activities, and had the same numbers, maybe one or two less. Many now have a connection and so also come for company,” Aneta said.

Looking ahead to the coming winter months, Aneta and Communities 1st are preparing to see many people again in need of support. However, as is the case for many in the sector, the need for warm spaces does raise some concerns. “We are going to carry on with our warm spaces as Creative Community Cafés. Unfortunately, we are not expecting people to stop coming because there is less help available from the government compared to last year. However, what we don’t want is for warm spaces to become institutionalised. It is OK if people are coming for company and to do activities, but what we do not want is the situation we have with foodbanks,” she explained.

Whilst the pressures of the Cost-of-Living crisis may have eased slightly for some compared to last year, for others, there has been little rest bite from the crisis. “It is quite Dickensian in some cases. People do not want to put the heating on or cook a warm meal because they just can’t afford it,” Aneta said of those the organisation has been supporting. “What we’ve heard from our colleagues on the frontline is that it is concerns around negative budgets, so we have been providing a lot of support with information, signposting and helping people complete forms. We also have just-about-managing people who work, but not fulltime or do work fulltime but on very low incomes who don’t qualify for certain benefits. What we think is going to happen is when we get to temperatures when the heating would be turned on, we will see many more people coming through the door who are in dire situations. I don’t think it is going to go away this year and I think it will be worse than last winter.”

However, as in many crises and emergencies, the VCS has pulled together to offer support to those in the most devastating of situations. Through Communities 1st’s networks, Aneta has seen some of the incredible work being done despite the pressures on organisations and volunteers alike. “The whole voluntary sector, I really applaud because there is a lot of work being done, often on a shoe-string budget, and they provide such an amazing service to local communities. We also know that volunteers are a very important part of our warm spaces, but they played a far more vital role than we had thought. It was not only that they were facilitating the spaces or looking after people, but many we hosted had heard about it through word-of-mouth from our volunteers,” Aneta said.

You can read our previous interview with Aneta Wujek and Communities 1st here, along with the notes from our January Capability Building Event discussing warm spaces.

We also want to hear from partners about how they are preparing for this winter. You can get in touch by emailing, or by posting on Slack.