An Introduction to CISWO
CISWO is a National Charity which has a focus on the key role of delivering community and personal welfare services within mining and former mining communities.
CISWO is a responsive team-based charity positively impacting upon the lives of over 500,000 coalfield residents through a wide range of services delivered by professional, experienced and dedicated staff.
CISWO is committed to building community capacity through a range of One-Stop-Shops, IT learning opportunities; facilitating life long learning; raising achievement with under 5's support; and after-school clubs.
CISWO dedicates resources to empowering individuals and communities to combat social exclusion, by facilitating such activities as advocacy, group support provision, outreach employment services and credit unions, in order to address deprivation, unemployment and disaffection.
CISWO is governed by 12 Trustees who are also the Trustees of CIBT, the MWNEF and the King’s Silver Jubilee & Coronation Cottages Alms House Association.
The Organisation’s staff administer these charities.
CISWO was established as a limited company prior to the Miners’ Welfare Act 1952. It was a partnership between the National Coal Board and the Mining Unions, to address the welfare of employees and their dependants “beyond the colliery gate.” It succeeded the Miners’ Welfare Commission, very much a social experiment between 1920 and 1952, which developed community facilities for the benefit of mineworkers and their dependants. The work of CISWO as an Organisation until 1995, was funded by British Coal on the basis of a levy on the tonnage of saleable coal.
In 1995 with the privatisation of the coal industry, CISWO became a national charity governed by Trustees having received an endowment from British Coal. The privatisation of what remained of the coal industry effected the separation of CISWO from the structure of the coal industry.
There followed a time of radical change for the Organisation, in order to strategically develop from the conscience of a nationalised industry into an independent, dynamic service provider.
Social Workers took a fresh look at styles of work and community need and the Operations Team developed a fresh impetus for community development, based for the most part, on local Miners’ Welfare Schemes.
The Organisation has developed skills for obtaining outside funding for project work and enhanced service delivery for local miners’ welfare charities, for social work initiatives and other initiatives. Principal among these is the national One-Stop-Shop Project, through which seven Community Development Workers worked to transform 30 Miners’ Welfare Schemes into centres of service, resource and training in coalfield communities.
Today, the internal structure of CISWO includes the management of the professional social work service and the more specialist work of the operations teams, at six regional office locations. Headquarters is located at The Old Rectory at Whiston near Rotherham, South Yorkshire. The major focus of the social work service is on individual and group interventions, working in the arenas of health, financial and personal problem solving within coalfield communities. The role of the social work service is supplemented by the resources of the Coal Industry Benevolent Trust (CIBT), a fund offering financial assistance to mineworkers and their families which is targeted at the relief of need. The operations staff are focused on the wider community regeneration agenda, offering advice and support to 350 miners’ welfare schemes (recreational charities,) administrative services to 31 regional charities, and engaging in partnership work to stimulate local initiatives towards regeneration. Increasingly, the two elements of CISWO’s work come together in the joint pursuit of coalfield regeneration.
An important area of work is maintenance of facilities around the Country for recuperative breaks. There are now seven convalescent home charities in attractive locations. There is provision for breaks for miners and dependants and special breaks for those with some serious needs but the homes are specific to certain coalfields.
The Organisation has recently revised it’s Mission Statement which reflects the focus, direction and quality of services the Trustees wish to achieve:-
CISWO aims to enhance the quality of life by the promotion of social inclusion in coalfield communities through:
· A Social Work Service striving to empower people and communities through professional, confidential support and project development.
· An Operations Service promoting community regeneration and development through professional support, in partnership with others, to Miners Welfare Schemes.
· An Administrative and Clerical service providing quality support to managers and service users.
Working together, we have an active commitment to the professional development of all staff, to serve the community.
Britain’s coalfields remain some of the most deprived areas of the country. There are innumerable challenges ahead for CISWO.
How does CISWO make a difference?
Over 5,000 people benefit each year from the one to one services provided by the Organisation’s Social Workers, enhancing quality of life initiatives and reducing social exclusion, particularly amongst older people and those most disadvantaged by ill health, disability or poverty.
Counselling visits in clients’ homes, are arranged after referrals from a wide range of sources.
The financial results of these social worker visits are income maximisation via state benefits, the Mineworkers’ Pension Scheme and other sources of income.
Through the network of Miners’ Welfare Schemes, CISWO is delivering an extensive range of community services designed to meet the changing social and economic needs of mining communities.
Through regional convalescent facilities, beneficiaries benefit from care breaks which support a broader range of quality of life initiatives.
Enabling Individuals and Communities
In England between 1995 and 2004, over £30million has been accessed for community development projects by Miners’ Welfare Schemes, delivering services and raising community capacity, thereby making a substantial contribution to the regeneration of the coalfields.
CISWO has enabled Welfare Schemes to knit together complex funding mixes for capital projects including European funds, statutory funds such as SRB and Lottery Funds; and grant making trusts. Over 40 separate grant making bodies were successfully accessed following fully developed individual applications and business plans.
CISWO is helping to redress the imbalance of lottery monies distributed to coalfields.
Targeting areas of need
Efforts have been concentrated on areas of high deprivation, unemployment and crime.
The involvement of local people in these processes is enhanced because of the unique and trusted position of CISWO.
Participation of previously disaffected groups has reduced vandalism and petty crime. In one project, young people produced a documentary about criminal behaviour resulting in the re-opening of a local police station and more local constables in the area.
Helping Communities Help Themselves
One-Stop-Shops were delivered under two separate projects—The Community Fund One-Stop-Shop Project and the Millennium Commission sponsored Coalfield Community Landmarks Scheme in partnership with Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire and Derbyshire County Councils.
Many functions are centred around One-Stop-Shops from legal advice, education and training provision through activities designed to lessen social exclusion.
Advice centres, Employment Service outreach, helping the unemployed find local employment opportunities; a doctor’s surgery; enhanced group activity; and IT learning opportunities are all examples of service delivery via miners’ welfare schemes.