News
-
Health through Warmth partner commended at national awards.
12th July, 2010
CEL Transform’s partner on a national charitable grant fund has been highly commended at the Business in the Community Awards 2010.
npower’s ‘Health Through Warmth’ scheme received the commendation in the Building Stronger Communities Award category following an investment of £11.7 million pounds since 2000.
The aim of Health Through Warmth is to provide support to vulnerable people with cold and damp related illnesses who are in need of assistance with heating and insulation. Since 2000, the scheme has worked with partner organisations to access funding and install the necessary measures. Health Through Warmth’s achievements to date include the following.
-
Over 45,500 vulnerable people have received measures.
-
18,111 community workers have been trained to identify households at risk, enabling them to make referrals to the scheme.
-
Over £5.1 million of the Health Through Warmth Crisis Fund has been invested in repairing/replacing boilers, heating systems and appliances, draughtproofing, insulation, energy efficiency and benefits advice and so on.
Volker Beckers, Chief Executive Officer of RWE npower said: “Health Through Warmth offers a comprehensive solution to people who don't have the means to fund heating and insulation in their homes. It helps to improve their levels of warmth, comfort and quality of life. The scheme has adopted an innovative approach to partnership working and supports our commitment to helping people most in need, we are proud of its success.”
Click here to read more.
-
-
Digital Outreach is praised for work in digital switchover community outreach programme.
12th July, 2010
On Tuesday 6 July Dianne Jeffrey, Chair of Digital Outreach Limited which is part owned by CEL Group, joined Ed Vaizey MP, Minister for Culture, Communications and Creative Industries (joint Minister with Department for Business, Innovation and Skills), and David Scott, Chief Executive of Digital UK, at a special event held in London’s Southbank Centre to mark the progress made towards the UK’s switch to digital TV.
Joint venture social enterprise Digital Outreach Limited (DOL) is delivering Digital UK’s national Digital Switchover Community Outreach Programme, working with thousands of voluntary and community organisations across the UK to build people’s confidence around the switchover, giving them the information and support they need to make the switch to digital TV. Working with local voluntary and community sector partners, the programme has provided information and advice to target groups at over 3,500 community events so far, spreading the message about switchover to over 500,000 people.
At the event, Ed Vaizey praised the work of the community outreach programme, saying: “Digital Outreach is an excellent example of how a social enterprise can contribute to delivering the Big Society model, recognising and working with the grain of what people are doing on the ground, and interacting with members of the community we really want to reach.”
Click here to read more.
-
CEL Group is awarded ISO 9001 certification.
12th July, 2010
Following an assessment by an independent body, CEL Group has been awarded ISO 9001 certification. This certification has only been achieved by about 5% of UK businesses and this prestigious award is supported by the Government and recognised worldwide.
A delighted Paul Kennedy (Chief Executive, CEL Group) said “We are tremendously proud of the service we deliver and achieving high quality standards is absolutely essential because our customers are at the heart of everything we do. Now with the award of ISO 9001 certification these high standards have been confirmed by the experts.”
Pam Pugh, Lead Assessor for QMS International said “Customer focus is central to an effective quality management system. CEL Group's ongoing policy of gathering and responding to customer feedback was particularly impressive and is a key factor in ensuring that their service not only meets but frequently exceeds customer expectations.”
The award provides CEL Group with a platform to continuously improve its customer offering across all of its markets. Having benchmarked itself against an industry standard, the business is now focusing on areas for on-going improvement.
-
Foundations Handyperson Conference 2010
13th April, 2010
Foundations delivered the first ever National Handyperson Conference on 24 March 2010 at the Royal College of Physicians in London.
This one-day event was funded by the Home Office and Communities and Local Government. Attended by 160 delegates, the event was fully booked, with handypersons, service managers and commissioners attending to celebrate what has been achieved so far and debate the next steps in the development of handyperson services nationally.
Foundations Director Steve Malone gave delegates a warm welcome to the conference, saying: "It's fantastic to see the whole of the handyperson sector here today - from handypersons themselves to service managers and commissioners of handyperson services."
Click here to read more...
-
PfH announces e-procurement partnership with ProcServe
12th April, 2010
Procurement for Housing (PfH), the national procurement consortium delivered by CEL Procurement today announced its partnership with ProcServe, a leading provider of eCommerce solutions. The partnership will combine to deliver a dedicated eMarketplace and Purchase-to-Pay solution for the social housing sector.
The PfH Procurement Marketplace will be a first for the social housing sector. The Marketplace and electronic trading portal will be available for all PfH Members and it will eventually provide access to all of the consortium's framework agreements.
The solution provided by ProcServe, will help streamline and deliver effective procurement services for social housing providers across the UK. It will specifically help social housing organisations to reduce the price paid for goods and services by providing them with easy access to pre-loaded framework agreements, provide simple connectivity to suppliers and deliver e-invoicing capabilities. The solution will help these housing providers to streamline their procurement process, enable the accurate tracking of spend and deliver efficiency savings.
Paul Kennedy, Chief Executive of PfH managing contractor - CEL Group said "PfH has decided to team up with ProcServe so that Members can benefit from the value-for-money afforded by PfH framework agreements coupled with the easy, intuitive and efficient ordering solution provided by ProcServe. We know that there has been a growing demand for a service like this from our Members and we firmly believe that in ProcServe we have found the right partner to deliver it."
Veera Johnson, Chief Executive of ProcServe said "This is an exciting partnership that will create a truly collaborative electronic marketplace for the social housing sector and its suppliers, and deliver the direct efficiencies of the frameworks as well as the process efficiencies of e-procurement. Ultimately, we hope this partnership will enable social housing providers to reinvest more resources in front-line services and improve neighbourhoods."
The Procurement for Housing eMarketplace will be available in 2010. For more information about the service, please contact PfH on t: 0845 864 5260, e: info@procurementforhousing.co.uk.
-
UK Universities set to save thirty seven million pounds in the face of severe spending cuts
8th February, 2010
As UK Universities face reported funding cuts of £500m over the coming year, it has emerged that nearly 8% of that figure could be saved by changing the way that fees are collected from International Students.
International students pay an estimated £4bn in course fees to UK Universities each year, representing 8% of total revenues received.
International students generally pay their fees by either international bank transfer or credit card - and Universities pay the banks and credit card companies to receive the fees using these methods.
According to Uni-Pay the international fee collection service managed by CEL Transact, research shows that each payment received by international bank transfer will typically incur a charge for the University of around £6 and each international credit card payment will typically incur a charge of at least 1.5%.
It also shows that the typical international student pays their fees in two stages, a deposit and then a balance payment, with 40% paying by international bank transfer and the remaining 60% paying by credit card. On this basis, the charges paid by UK Universities to collect international student fees add up to a staggering £37.9 million pounds a year.
-
Paul Kennedy to deliver 'best practice procurement' session at NHF Housing Finance Conference
8th February, 2010
With CEL Procurement increasingly being recognised as the leading authority on procurement in the social housing sector, CEL Group Chief Executive Paul Kennedy has been invited by the National Housing Federation to deliver a procurement session at the Housing Finance Conference at the University of Warwick on 25th March 2010.
CEL Procurement manages ‘Procurement for Housing' (PfH), the social housing sector's leading procurement consortium, which has over 700 Member organisations collectively managing over 3 million homes in the UK.
Paul will be discussing the role of best practice procurement in delivering sustainable businesses and communities. He will focus on how procurement can enable housing organisations to get the best value achievable for every pound spent, which will be critical in a climate which could see higher profit demands from supply chains, as well as rent reductions.
The Housing Finance Conference is the social housing event for the sector's senior finance professionals.