Monday, 10 March 2008

First thing this morning, I talked with Sha-Lee (our Information Worker) to talk about the next stages of implementing CRM for monitoring the support we offer our members etc.

And then in the afternoon, I talked with Laura, our Volunteer Transport co-ordinator. She is working on a local strategy for transport and we talked about assessing needs, pricing, driver recruitment, promotion and monitoring.

As the name suggests, the Watford Volunteer Transport scheme relies on volunteer drivers to provide journeys for those who can’t access public transport. Back in 2002, the Government assessed that it cost 40 pence per mile to run a car. This meant that volunteer drivers could be paid 40 pence per mile to cover their expenses. Anything above 40 pence would involve a “profit” for the drivers on which they would have to be taxed etc. Today, six years later, after some of the steepest increases in petrol prices since the 1970s, the Government says that to run a car it now costs – 40 pence per mile. Unsurprisingly, it is becoming increasingly difficult to recruit volunteer drivers. If you know anyone with a car, some free time and a good heart, ask them to give us a call ...

Later in the afternoon I met with Francoise who supports or runs various local initatives and who wanted some help with legal and accounting queries.