The Church Urban Fund has this week launched ‘Just Employment’, a resource to promote excellence in employment by faith-based social action organisations and other community projects.

Produced in partnership with the Anglican dioceses of Chester, Liverpool and Manchester, Just Employment is available by registering on the CUF Xchange website, www.cufx.org.uk. The full resource includes a main guide, frequently asked questions and example case studies, as well as a library of documents that can be downloaded and customised for use by community organisations. These include suggested letters, contracts and policies and procedures, covering areas such as Health and Safety and Disciplinary and Grievance procedures.

“This is an important new resource for all projects working for change in their local community,” says Billy Dann, CUF’s National Programmes Manager. “Just Employment has been created by experts in human resources who regularly work with faith-based social action organisations. Just Employment will help small projects to follow best practice, whether they are employing people for the first time or are already employing staff and volunteers. We hope these materials will reassure small community and voluntary organisations giving them extra confidence as employers.”

The documents making up Just Employment were drawn up by an employment specialist and draw on the experience of staff working for the three partner dioceses. All the documents making up Just Employment will be subject to annual updates. There will be a supporting workshop for groups who wish to use the resources in Manchester on 9^th October.

Billy says: “Just Employment is part of our work to be more than just a grant-maker in the support we give to community groups. By connecting to the work we do through our Capacitybuilders funding, we can also help ensure that small faith based social action groups working in England’s poorest areas are linked into the Change Up strategy.” For more information or to download Just Employment, go to http://www.cufx.org.uk/.

EDITOR’S NOTES

For further details please contact:

Billy Dann, National Programmes Manager, on 020 7898 1091

Sara Stafford-Williams, Communications Manager, on 020 7898 1668

Just Employment

Just Employment can be downloaded from the CUF Xchange website, an initiative of the Church Urban Fund, at http://www.cufx.org.uk/.

Following a tendering exercise, the contract to produce the Just Employment resource was awarded to a partnership bid by the Dioceses of Chester, Liverpool and Manchester. This contract will run until 2010.

The Church Urban Fund and CUF Xchange

The Church Urban Fund is a charity supporting churches and projects tackling poverty and injustice in England’s poorest communities. Through funding local initiatives, sharing knowledge and raising awareness of social injustice, we work to bring about significant and lasting change. Other key areas of work include partnering with other organisations to tackle the causes of poverty, advocating on behalf of faith communities at national level and the development of research and resources to support the work of local initiatives.

Over the twenty years in which the Church Urban Fund has been working, it has awarded more than 4,800 grant totaling over £60 million to projects working in England's poorest communities. Find out more at www.cuf.org.uk.

CUF Xchange is an initiative of the Church Urban Fund (funded by the Cabinet Office) that aims to provide a platform from which faith-based social action projects can make themselves heard. The Xchange is a predominantly web-based network that brings community projects together to share best practice and concerns and to enhance their voice.