Do you want to be a Community Voice?
As a voluntary group, working in Kirklees, West Yorkshire Integrated Care Board – Kirklees Place has free virtual training available so you can work with the local NHS
The Community Voices programme, delivered by Voluntary & Community (VAC) on behalf of West Yorkshire Integrated Care Board – Kirklees Place, supports voluntary and community sector organisations to undertake training for their staff or volunteers to become an accredited ‘ Community Voice’ and then seek the views of the organisation’s members to inform health service changes. Community Voices is about capturing the views of residents, especially those who are seldom heard, specifically in relation to health. Community and voluntary organisations are so well placed in communities to engage with residents.
The NHS has a legal duty to involve local communities/communities of interest when health changes are being considered and the training provides the knowledge and skills needed to carry out engagement and consultation work on behalf of the NHS locally. The training is free and once trained volunteers will be able to give their community organisation the opportunity to be approved providers of engagement for the NHS locally with the potential to carry out paid work.
The training is spread over 4 sessions (currently delivered online). The training provides an understanding of how the NHS works and why the NHS is required to involve local communities in changes to services. It covers methods and approaches to engagement and consultation which can be useful skills for your own personal development and benefit your organisation and also key information about equalities and safeguarding. Participants are asked to complete a practical task asking service users to complete a survey.
The benefits of training as a Community Voice are:
– being offered opportunities to carry out surveys or run focus groups
– the opportunity to earn money for your organisation
– being invited to local events where you can meet with the people and organisations involved in shaping local health services.
The next virtual Community Voices training runs on the following dates:
| Community Voices Training 2026 – Online via Zoom | |
| Training Session 1 How the NHS Works | Wednesday – 28/01/2026 10am – 12:30pm |
| Training Session 2 Legal and statutory obligations for engagement. | Wednesday- 04/02/2026 10am – 12:30pm |
| Training Session 3 Engagement Methods & approaches | Wednesday – 11/02/2026 10am-12.30pm |
| Training Session 4 Equalities, Safeguarding and Evaluation and Certificates | Wednesday – 25/03/2026 10am-12.30pm |
All session are held online and last from 10am – 12:30pm . Attendees need to be able to commit to attending all 4 sessions.
If you are interested or want more information please email engagement@cvac.org.uk or visit the VAC website for more information https://www.cvac.org.uk/community-voices/.