Health & Wellbeing - Staffordshire Parish Councils Association

Health and wellbeing are essential parts of everyday life and as the first tier of local government town and parish councils play a significant role in ensuring communities are more robust, healthier and thriving places to live.

Through the SPCA health and wellbeing project we have collated a number of resources and information sources to support town and parish councils (T/PC) working on the health and wellbeing agenda.

For further discussion on any of the links, materials or resources below please contact:
Andy Wheeler – Health & Wellbeing Project Officer, email: andy.wheeler@staffordshire.gov.uk

Health and Wellbeing Toolkit

To support T/PC wanting to address issues around health and wellbeing we have pulled together a toolkit below, consisting of information on funding, training, resources and relevant partner organisations for T/PC to be aware of when considering work on this agenda.

Resources & Partner Organisations

Better Health Staffordshire – The aim of Better Health Staffordshire is to create a system network where partners and communities work collectively, over the long term to develop, implement and evaluate a shared vision and actions which tackle the causes of obesity and promote a healthy weight and an active lifestyle. There is a wealth of information on wider determinants of health and area specific information available via the Better Health Staffordshire website.

Centre for Ageing Better – As the national and local population becomes increasingly older, there are a number of things T/PC can do to enable their communities to become more age friendly. This online booklet provides an initial framework to consider.

Everyone Health Staffordshire – Everyone wants to be healthy and Everyone Health are here to help make that happen. Commissioned by Staffordshire County Council they offer free programmes proven to have long term benefits. The free 40-74 years health checks are a great example of something T/PC can coordinate in partnership with Everyone Health. For further information please visit their website here.

Homelessness – SPCA occasionally receive enquires from T/PC regarding homelessness or rough sleeping. Each District Council will have a housing team who will manage homelessness and details of such can be found on their respective websites. To keep things simple, there is a national website ‘StreetLink‘, which can be used by anyone in England and Wales to send an alert about someone who is sleeping or preparing to sleep rough.

Alerts are sent to outreach teams, who go out mostly at night to connect people sleeping rough to local support services. StreetLink complements existing outreach work by alerting teams to people they haven’t seen before.

To use StreetLink to send an alert, visit their website here

National Association of Local Councils (NALC) – Host a useful health and wellbeing page and an informative resource containing example case studies and links to information for T/PC on H&W matters, visit – Health and wellbeing (nalc.gov.uk). Case study resources via – Health and wellbeing case studies

Neighbourhood Planning & Health – Norfolk County Council Public Health have created a very useful Health in Neighbourhood Planning Guide which, although Norfolk focused, will be of great help to Staffordshire T/PC looking to include health themes and activities within their neighbourhood plans. Available here.

Network of Wellbeing – Are a Devon based charity that have some really interesting online content to help inspire and inform on wellbeing, see their five ways to wellbeing page for further information. Their Improving Wellbeing in your Community article is also insightful.

Staffordshire Connects – Search and find help and support in your community Staffordshire Connects

Staffordshire County Council Health and Wellbeing Strategy – A useful reference resource when planning potential work to show alignment with the County wide strategy, which funders may favour, visit – SCC Health and Wellbeing Strategy.

Staffordshire Observatory – A useful website for gaining data and insight into Staffordshire’s people and places. The resources available on this site will enable the accessing of census data at ward level, as well as a number of other local and county based insights, visit Staffordshire Observatory. Also available is a mapping tool showing information on boundaries and indices of deprivation, among other things.

Support Staffordshire – Exist to support Staffordshire based communities, individuals and organisations to work in collaboration to bring about positive change in their community by actively encouraging Social Action. They provide a host of information, support and training to the voluntary sector and lead on a number of health and wellbeing initiatives. Visit their website here.

The Kings Fund – Share publications on community health and wellbeing and have a useful ‘Creating Healthy Places’ publication, derived from the NHS healthy new towns programme. This is a useful resource for those looking to include health and wellbeing within a Neighbourhood Plan, visit – Creating Healthy Places.

Thrive at Work – Is a workplace wellbeing commitment with criteria and guidelines on creating a workplace that promotes employee health and wellbeing, focusing on key organisational enablers of health and promoting healthy lifestyles. If you have 5 employees or more and are based in the West Midlands, Thrive can support your organisation through a free wellbeing programme. Further information can be found here – Sign up to Thrive!

Throughout the year and in partnership with The Wellbeing Project, Thrive run a number of free wellbeing related webinars which SPCA members can access.

Together Active Staffordshire – Are an independent charity who use physical activity as a tool to improve the lives of Staffordshire residents. They run a number of initiatives and programmes and would be a useful consultee if considering any physical activity initiatives. They have a helpful blog page and links to further resources around physical activity. Visit their website here.

Tree Planting Schemes – There are a number of national schemes to source no or low cost trees for communities to plant in public spaces. Below are a couple of initiatives to consider.

The Woodland Trust Sakura Cherry Tree Project

Winter Resources – Staffordshire County Council have produced some useful ‘staying well this winter’ resources, see below.

Staying Well Winter Guide Staying Well Winter Poster
Funding Opportunities

This section details information on funding opportunities that could support the development and delivery of health and wellbeing initiatives.

Active Together Staffordshire – As mentioned in the resources section, ATS also host a useful funding page if planning any significant projects focused on physical activity.

Community Fund – Staffordshire County Council Councillors have small grant funding available to support a range of community activities and groups. Application can be submitted from 6 May – 3 November 2024 under three different themed headings. For further details visit the Community Fund page here.

Community Paths Initiative Fund – Looking to improve your local footpath network? Staffordshire County Council run a community paths initiative fund which provides funding for projects to improve or promote countryside access through rights of way. Grants of up to £2,000 are available, with the Community Paths Initiative match funding up to 50% of the total costs. Further details can be found here.

Heart of England Community Foundation – An independent grant making foundation in the West Midlands and Warwickshire. They manage a community fund which supports projects promoting positive change, strengthening communities & enhancing the natural environment. Click here for further details.

Support Staffordshire – SS have a useful funding page detailing various funding opportunities, some of which will be relevant for health and wellbeing initiatives.

Sport England – coordinate a few different funding streams with some encompassing broader themes of movement and physical activity. Visit their funding page here.

The Community Foundation – Host a number of funding streams for Staffordshire based organisations, certain stipulations will apply dependant on the funder and some will be relevant for specific wellbeing initiatives. The Community Foundation

The National Lottery Community Fund – The Community Fund distributes over £600m a year to communities across the UK. There are a number of open funding rounds, such as ‘Awards for All’, which will allow town/parish councils to apply for grants of up to £20,000. The National Lottery Community Fund

UKSPF – Districts across the county are benefiting from UK Shared Prosperity Funding and T/PC within these areas are eligible to apply. Certain health and wellbeing related work and projects will fall within the funding criteria. Further details can be found by checking your local district council website for the relevant UKSPF information and how to apply. The national funding prospectus can be found here
Training

Making Every Content Count – MECC training is designed to support learners to use their public facing roles to improve population health and wellbeing. Further information and how to book on to the free half day ‘MECC lite’ training can be found here.

Five Ways to Wellbeing eLearning – Although predominantly focused towards health professionals, similar to MECC mentioned above, this training is designed to support learning on engaging with clients/ patients/ service users about the things they can do to help improve and maintain good health. To access this free module click here.

Supportive Communities – Staffordshire County Council – This programme of work focuses on daily living advice and support for adults, and those working with adults. The Supportive Communities training offer is available online and includes a range of opportunities delivered by Support Staffordshire, such as the Strength-Based Conversations training. For more information on this training offer click here.

Thrive at Work – As mentioned above, throughout the year Thrive run a number of free wellbeing related webinars and training opportunities which SPCA members can access.
Local Case Studies

What Impacts Health

Health is greatly impacted not only by our behaviours but by the environment around us. The wider determinants of health are a diverse range of social, economic and environmental factors which influence people’s mental and physical health. This includes where we live, the local environment, our education, work and social groups. Often these factors are outside of our control yet directly impact on health.

Figure 1: the Dahlgren and Whitehead model of the main determinants of health.
Source: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/health-profile-for-england-2018/chapter-6-wider-determinants-of-health

Further Information

The SPCA Health and Wellbeing Project was launched in partnership with Staffordshire County Council, who recognise the strong leadership role town and parish councils can have in influencing population health. The project aims to champion the health and wellbeing agenda with our member T/PC and provide support to those working on this topic.

If your T/PC is enthused by improving the health and wellbeing of your local community please do get in touch with the project officer to share your thoughts, ideas and discuss opportunities, as we may be able to support with your endeavours.

Contact: Andy Wheeler – Health and Wellbeing Project Officer, email: andy.wheeler@staffordshire.gov.uk