Warm spaces

The Warm and Welcome Spaces Programme 25/26 aims to support residents through cost-of-living challenges and provide somewhere friendly for residents to sit, socialise and receive access to cost-of-living support.

This Charter is to provide delivery partners with information about the standards and requirements of becoming Warm and Welcome Space providers, supported by Chorley Together and Chorley Council.

We recommend that the warm spaces grant is suitable as an enhancement to existing provision, and will be unlikely to sustain new activity without other funding sources being sought.

• The Provider will display on all their publicity any ‘Warm and Welcome Spaces’ branding and ‘Making it Happen in Chorley’ branding as provided by Chorley Council.
• The Provider will offer at least 1 hour provision per week. If the provider is enhancing existing provision, this can be 1 hour of current programmed activity advertised and badged as a Warm and Welcome Space, or 1 additional hour outside of current programmed activity.
• Provision should run between 1st September 2025 and 31st March 2026.
• The Provider will offer free access to their space including free/low-cost access to refreshments or a meal.
• The Provider will, wherever possible, offer residents the opportunity to charge their devices and access Wi-Fi for free.
• The Provider will agree to utilise and/or distribute any guidance and support documentation provided by Chorley Council to residents, signposting into relevant support services where applicable.
• The Provider will agree to allow support services to attend their Warm and Welcome Space activity to provide guidance and signpost residents into relevant support.
• The Provider will refer to their own policies and procedures in terms of health, safety, safeguarding and food hygiene. Providers should seek support from Chorley Council to meet these requirements where needed, and at the earliest opportunity.
• The Provider will agree to the monitoring requirements as detailed below and return them in a timely manner; failure to do so may result in funds being withdrawn.
• The Provider will send a representative to attend the Warm and Welcome Spaces Network meetings, which will be held every six weeks during the duration of the programme
• The provider will register the provision on the warm welcome website and ensure details are kept up to date

Terms and Conditions

• The Provider will ensure that the funding is spent on services in Chorley and for the benefit of Chorley residents.
• The Provider is expected to comply with all applicable laws including but not limited to health and safety legislation.
• The Provider is expected to comply with all equality legislation (including the Equality Act 2010 and relevant Codes of Practice and Human Rights Act 1998)
• The Provider will follow all GDPR legislation, regarding data collection and data storage.
• The Provider should consider maintaining adequate insurance in an insurance house of repute in respect of employment and public liability claims and shall produce evidence of such insurances to the Council on request.
• The Provider will comply with all safeguarding legislation, including having a safeguarding policy in place and obtaining DBS disclosure for staff / volunteers where appropriate.
• Notwithstanding any other term of this agreement, the Provider hereby gives its consent to the Council to publish this agreement in whatever form the Council decides.

Monitoring

• Providers will be required to report data monthly as specified on the monitoring document that providers will receive. .
• Providers will follow their own written procedures for data protection in terms of collection and storage of data, so GDPR rules are not breached.
• Providers will be required to complete and return a Warm and Welcome Space case study. As a provider you can choose who you complete this with and in what format it is recorded (we can accept written or video case studies).
• If appropriate, Chorley Council may attend to interview some of the residents accessing the space to use on our social media channels.
• If data isn’t returned in a timely manner monthly, Chorley Council have the right to remove said space from the scheme and ask for any remaining monies to be returned as soon as possible.

Grant Funding

Providers signing up to the Warm and Welcome Spaces Programme will be eligible to receive a one-off grant payment of upto £1,000. Providers accessing this fund must:

• Meet the requirements of the Warm and Welcome Spaces Charter, Terms and Conditions and Monitoring requirements.
• Spend the funds between September and 31st March 2026, to enhance their Warm and Welcome Spaces provision in line with the Charter, and for the benefit of Chorley residents.
• Respond to changes to the emphasis and requirements of the Warm and Welcome Spaces Charter, Terms and Conditions and Monitoring requirements as the programme progresses.