The Big Lottery Fund is the largest funder of community groups, voluntary organisations and charitable causes in the country. It provides over £850m for people and communities most in need and benefits over 10,000 communities every year. Big Lottery Fund grants go direct to those who need them most. Now the Government plans to switch the money and devastate funding for the most needy at the very time it is taking other far reaching austerity measures which are making life even tougher for the same people. Why does it matter? The Big Lottery Fund is in the warp and weft of local communities and charitable causes across the country. Its funding benefits: -local groups supporting the disabled, elderly and those in poor mental health or with dementia -organisations tackling social ills including alcoholism, abuse, suicide and isolation or meeting social needs like getting online, accessing food banks or overcoming facial disfigurement -household name charities including Addaction, RNIB, Groundwork, Mind, NSPCC and University of the Third Age -programmes to help young people find jobs and be economically active -the life chance of babies though the Better Start programme -the quality of life for pensioners through the Centre for Ageing Better -supporting war veterans through Heroes Return -community centres, libraries and village halls run by the local community -everyday activities such as after schools clubs, scouts groups and community transport -the things that bring people together like the Big Lunch, community choirs, parks and allotments -everyone who wants to do something good for their local community - over 90% of funding is for less than £10,000 and given in response to ideas and proposals from local people and organisations -voluntary organisations and community groups - who receive over 95% of the funds

We have occupied the former West Hampstead Council Housing Advice office , that is still owned by Camden Council. It has been left empty for three years, while they were trying to sell the land to property developers. It will lay empty for another 1-2 years unless Camden Council agrees to our interim meanwhile lease use of this incredible 5 floor community resource. There are nearly 1.5 million empty buildings in the UK and we feel strongly that they should be used to create homes,community and environment projects. We are a collective of groups who have come together, to benefit the residents of Camden and London,who desperately need community space.We aim to help highlight solutions to the housing crisis.

Numbers have been depleated to unsafe levels

Not only are you making a large number of hard-working people redundant, but also these cuts are affecting the residents living within the boroughs and the way that they access council services. For example; The decision to close cash-offices in councils means that, for our older generation, it it now much more complicated to pay their rent and council tax...they have to have a suitable bank account (using unfamiliar technology) and be able to access and understand the new paypoint system. There is a lot to be said for the human-touch....face to face customer service will always be more efficient and effective than automated systems as less errors will be made by the residents and more help available from the council employees.

Families of disabled children who attend After School Club, Youth Club, Holiday Play Schemes, Residential Holidays, Saturday Clubs and Overnight Breaks at West Berkshire Mencap do so out of sheer necessity. West Berkshire Mencap support the most complex and vulnerable of children who quite literally have no other respite options. These short breaks enable families to cope with day to day life and in most cases, enable them to spend quality time with their other children who are often overlooked due to the time. Parents must invest to meet the care requirements and demands of their disabled child. Parents also use these services to enable them to access social activities, maintain friendships and relationships, access further training or to have down time to recuperate so they can continue to care for their child at home.

Despite the overwhelming support to maintain an effective Library Service across the whole of Barnet in the previous consultation, Barnet Council is continuing with its plans to limit the universal access to libraries for all people at all times. Our concerns include but are not limited to: • The 70% reduction in professionally staffed opening hours, which risks the safety of users and restricts the access of people under 16. • The reliance of volunteers, who might not be available in sufficient numbers to keep libraries open and whose of lack of expertise will rule out the provision of many services. • The massive reduction in space (more than 50% on average), which will reduce the resources and services the libraries can offer. • The rapidly increasing cost of killing off the library service, which far outstrips the proposed savings. Spending over £6m to save £2.2 million is a waste of taxpayer’s money. We call upon Conservative-run Barnet Council to halt these proposals and to work with residents and concerned organizations to develop a really viable and acceptable plan for the library service. These proposals are not only detrimental to the communities across Barnet but they are financially unsound with the cost of implementation far exceeding the proposed savings; we encourage the Council to see sense and scrap these proposals.

Tower House is not just a day centre for us. This is where we've all grown very close friendships with each other and this will break up our friendship and harm our mental well being. There are no other services in the area like this for service users with so many complex needs. Some of us don't see any one in the week, so without our centre we would be totally isolated. Some of us are wheelchair bound and are being looked after by our partners or family. So coming to Tower House is a respite for our loved ones and a chance for us to be in a social environment. Some of us elderly, disabled from birth or disabled due to illness or injury. Please save our centre as this is a lifeline for us and we have nowhere else to go.

We finally have the Firstsite we dreamed of, a jewel in our midst, a beating heart of creativity in Colchester. The Board of Trustees at Firstsite are largely an outsider group who are not in tune with the current feeling and support for the huge achievements of both Anthony Roberts and the staff in creating a jewel in Colchester's creative community. They are dismissive of the community in Colchester and are about to destroy all that has been created by Anthony and his team. Please don't let this happen.

If the Northamptonshire Police Force Control Centre (FCC) which handles 999 and 101 calls as well as police radio transmissions is relocated from the Wootton Hall Police HQ in Northampton into another County, with it will disappear all of the local knowledge, experience and expertise that currently benefits both Police Officers and members of the public here in Northamptonshire. The local police union, Unison, believe that this essential part of front line policing should NOT be moved to a location remote from its parent Force, or put into the hands of the notorious G4S or any other private company who will run it as a business rather than for the benefit of the people of Northamptonshire. The staff of the FCC are rightly proud of the professional service they continue to provide, and it is to their great credit that they put their concerns for the safety and wellbeing of the vulnerable and distressed members of the public who will be affected by these changes before their own worries about job security and terms and conditions of service.

A group of Firstsite staff are leading a campaign to change the proposed staff restructure at the gallery, to enable the continuation of the positive changes that have begun to take place. We are calling for this rethink so we can protect jobs for people, particularly local people, instead of relying on volunteers to make up the majority of the customer facing staff. The cutbacks to the current staff structure will adversely affect the visitor experience and have a negative impact on the diverse and interesting programme of events, particularly within the learning department and the engagement of children and young people, currently one of the strongest areas Firstsite has with engaging with the community. The restructure addresses necessary financial savings that need to be made, but the proposed changes will result in short term savings, rather than creating a sustainable organisation that can generate income going forward. This will also perpetuate an unequal working and earning structure within the organisation. These changes will increase pressure on the remaining staff, many of whom already work outside of their job requirements, whilst offering a more than generous wage for the Director of the gallery.

Plans to reduce hours by 30% on an already stretched practice is unacceptable. When residents call for an appointment they are faced with a 2-3 weeks wait for appointments. There is also pressure being brought to get people to accept appointments at the Cressex health centre which is not easy to access and is on the west side of High Wycombe in Cressex Industrial Estate The Ryemead area population has increased in last 10 years by more than 1000+ and this will continue as more housing developments come on stream. Some 8 years ago it was identified there was an need for an additional “ 1.5 doctors” to meet the need of the new housing estates being build in the area but this wasn’t taken up by a doctors surgery. Lynton House is the only surgery in the Ryemead ward and its hours need to be increased not decreased to meet the local demand We are calling for this reduction is services to br reversed or to be scrutinized in light of the growing need in Ryemead for an increase in Doctors services at the point of need - in the local ward and community

Hello all We are a group of teachers at Lambeth College and would like to ask you to support us in our fight to keep our jobs and to encourage the government to save teachers’ jobs and to continue to provide affordable courses for the community. The government has already implemented cuts of 25% to FE colleges with plans to impose further cuts. We would like to ask you to support us in our campaign to stop the cuts to adult and further education. We would also like to ask you to supports us and urge the government to save teachers' jobs and to revise decisions that force teachers and students to bear the whole brunt of the FE cuts. Despite the disproportionately high salaries that senior managers receive, no senior management posts have been lost in the recent past or as a result of government cuts. In fact our principal has been awarded a 13% pay rise and his salary is now above 150k (he earns more than the prime minister) and a large number of senior managers get over 80k. It is strange how no one flinches at the fact that a college with a serious deficit and funding cuts of more than 25% on its budget can afford to pay management staff such salaries. An average lecturer gets 25 to 28k and has not had a pay rise for the past seven years. Teachers have to teach larger classes, some of them with more than 30 students in very precarious conditions, especially in the Brixton and Vauxhall centres. The equipment and facilities are decrepit and not fit for purpose. Management have now decided to make the equivalent of 8 full time posts in the ESOL department redundant. This is despite the fact that it lost 14 members of staff in July this year. The ESOL department recruited well over 2,000 students in September. It is the largest department of the college by far and there are still many students on the waiting list desperate for classes. Stand up to the cuts! Defend Adult Education! Sign the petition!