What legal obligations do our committee members have?

We have a comprehensive Information Sheet giving details, available upon request (free to those who subscribe to WRCC).

How does the Disability Discrimination Act affect community halls?

Village Halls are classified as service providers and as such should comply with the requirements of the Act. There is also a duty to be as fully accessible as possible. For up-to-date practical advice contact the Community Buildings Officer.

We want to use our church as a community building - where do we start?

Hereford Diocese recently produced a very useful toolkit which is a good starting point to help any group develop their church into a revitalised community building.

Can you help with financial management and accounting?

Cash-online.org.uk is a great resource for queries in connection with financial management. They have a jargon-buster to help you understand financial terms, an online copy of Managing Community Money (guide to financial management and accounting for small charities and community organisations, with special emphasis on running community buildings and employment issues) and a sample Financial Control Policy.

Our old hall is cold and difficult to heat, any suggestions?

Why not conduct your own Energy Efficient Audit. Download a very useful, and free, document from National Energy Action entitled 'Energy Efficiency in Community Buildings'.  Also look at the English Heritage brochure 'Energy Conservation in Traditional Buildings' which gives many useful hints and tips.

Our community wants to refurbish a hall, where do we begin?

Step by step practical guidance and help can be obtained from the Community Buildings Officer. Have a look at the Funds for Historic Building website for details of funding sources which specialise in historic buildings.

We need to do a Risk Assessment for our community building - where should we begin?

The Health & Safety Executive website has a very good section on village hall risk assessments which you will find useful.

We want to install energy saving lightbulbs - can we get funding to help with this project?  

The B&Q One Plant Living Grant Scheme may be able to help.

We are thinking of employing a cleaner. How much would we need to pay per hour?

From October 2009 the minimum hourly rate for workers is:
 - aged 22 and over, £5.80
 - aged 18-21, £4.83
 - 16 and 17 year olds, £3.57  

An Information Sheet about employing staff is available, free if you are a WRCC member.

We need some funding to assist with our hall's project?

Details of various funders are listed on the Funding page on this website. 

We are thinking about trading to raise income. Where do we start & what do we need to consider? 

Trustees need to be aware of the implications of this type of income stream. A very useful article appeared in the Guardian newspaper.

We are short of new volunteers to sit on our committee, what can we do?

The committee could make a list of what type of help is required (ie legal, accountancy, fundraising) and start targetting people in the local community with those specific skills. Consider volunteers to help the committee with specific projects rather than the committee feeling they have to do everything themselves. Grantfinder produced an interesting article about 'Engaging Volunteers' which you may find useful.

We want to run a Bingo Night for fundraising but is this type of gambling allowed?

There are two types of non-commercial gaming; prize gaming and equal chance gaming. Bingo can be played under either but the relevant conditions must be adhered to.  Our Information Sheet gives more details (free to WRCC members). 

Do we need to test our electrical equipment and, if so, how frequently?

The Health & Safety Executive have a very good guide to the maintenance of portable electrical equipment in low risk environments, which should answer all your queries.

Do you have example hiring documents?

We can provide model documents for hiring out your hall, together with advice for committee members on issues such as Health & Safety, Insurance etc.

Or use the Contact Us form to email the Community Buildings Officer for answers to your questions.