Warm Hubs were rapidly established in September 2022 in response to the cost-of-living crisis when there were concerns that residents would be unable to heat their homes and would be struggling over the winter months to afford other essentials such as food, travel and hygiene products. Since then, they have been meeting the unmet health and social needs of different cohorts of residents living in East and South Cambridgeshire.

Using funding from Cambridgeshire & Peterborough’s Integrated Care System, a total of 38 Warm Hubs across East and South Cambridgeshire have been led by volunteers, based in publicly accessible community buildings, providing free-of-charge, warm and friendly spaces for people to socialise over refreshments and to take part in activities. As a minimum, they have provided free hot drinks to those attending but many have also provided other food, such as soup and rolls, homemade cakes, toast and jacket potatoes. Activities offered have varied depending on local needs but have included jigsaws, newspapers/books and toys for children. Hubs have also started to build on these basic activities through community members sharing their own skills in digital support/IT, cooking skills and making/mending/swapping items/clothes.

People have been largely attending Warm Hubs for companionship and to make social connections. However, loneliness is a complex issue and attendees have also been found to be experiencing poor health, with many having specific vulnerabilities, such as disability or poor mental health. To enable community volunteers to give support to others, trust and confidence needs to be built between themselves and attendees. Hub volunteers have received training to give support through helping attendees find services critical to improving their quality of life and preventing further ill health, such as debt advice, housing and accessing health/care services.

The full Warm Hubs Evaluation Report is now available setting out all the benefits realised during the pilot phase.

Both Warm Hub volunteers and visitors have recognised that opening their doors and providing a warm welcome and an informal chat has had a massive impact for the good and has improved people’s lives over the last months; way beyond what was first anticipated. Volunteers now wish to continue to provide a year-round offer in their community. Working with its partners, Cambridgeshire County Council, South Cambridgeshire District Council and the Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Integrated Care System, Cambridgeshire ACRE is now able to support the evolution and sustainability of Warm Hubs into year-round community-driven ‘Community Hubs’.

Cambridgeshire County Council’s Care Together funding is being used to support this transition process with the East Cambridgeshire Hubs and South Cambridgeshire District Council are providing funding for the same in South Cambridgeshire.

The transformation has already begun; future planning sessions are being held individually with all volunteers and community hubs. These look at working with community leaders to bring out their talents and give them the mandate and confidence to lead and support others in their communities. Each Community Hubs’ volunteers are shaping their hubs around local community needs in terms of provision, attendee support and activities offered to those attending. Volunteers are being supported to learn about other opportunities for ‘people supporting people’ at a hyper-local level and to consider the best approaches for their own community.

This will not be a ‘one size fits all’ approach as project delivery will evolve with each community individually as they move forward. Cambridgeshire ACRE’s tried-and-tested supported volunteering approach allows communities to have ownership and to lead in responding to local needs but, at the same time, have the support available to connect them to service providers and other opportunities. Each community will be enabled to be responsible for their own hub in terms of planning its future and carrying out local fundraising to sustain activities.

To continue to help the Hubs feel part of a larger endeavour, each Hub we support will have the opportunity to use the new Cambridgeshire Community Hubs Network logo, to recognise its affiliation to the wider network of Hubs. The newly-named Cambridgeshire Community Hubs Network will give us the opportunity to join-up the Hubs across the two Districts.

Although the project will concentrate on supporting the already-established hubs, there will be opportunities for other communities to step forward and set-up hubs.

The full list of Community Hubs operating across East and South Cambridgeshire is available on Cambridgeshire ACRE’s website and via Facebook.

If you would like to discuss setting up a Community Hub in your community, please do get in touch.