News updates

We're carbon neutral

May 2021

Cordis Bright has revamped its Environment Policy and Action Plan. As part of this, we are committed to minimising our environmental impact and where we cannot do this to purchase carbon offsets. Taken in combination, we self-certify that we are now a carbon neutral research and consultancy company.

Some of the steps include:

• Continuing to use renewable energy to power our office.
• Minimising travel by encouraging the use of online engagement.
• All Cordis Bright catered events to be vegetarian.
• Committing to buy refurbished or pre-loved equipment where possible.
• Buying Gold Standard carbon offsetting.

If you would like to see a full copy of our Environment Policy and Action Plan then please drop us a line.

Cordis Briefing: April 2021

April 2021

Extracts from the Cordis Briefing held on 22 April 2021

The Briefing covered:

• Results of the annual Cordis Viewfinder survey
• Council Tax and the Social Care Precept
• NHS White Paper

Here is a link to the video of the viewfinder section of the briefing.  

Cordis Pulse: April 2021

April 2021

A number of publications this month marked a year since the first national lockdown in the UK. They took the opportunity to reflect on the impact of the pandemic and to look ahead to the future. For example, Buttle UK published a report looking at the impact for children, young people and families who were already struggling.

Linked to the above, we were pleased to see an article in the Guardian this month about the Covid Financial Shield project. Cordis Bright are the evaluation partner of this project which is a pilot scheme in London aiming to improve physical, mental and financial wellbeing for people with long-term health conditions by providing dedicated financial support and advice. We look forward to publishing findings about this vital and often overlooked area and the results of the Covid Financial Shield project soon.

Barnardo’s See, Hear, Respond evaluation

April 2021

Barnardo’s See, Hear, Respond evaluation

April 2021

Barnardo’s appointed Cordis Bright to provide an independent process and impact evaluation of See, Hear, Respond (SHR), a £7.25m programme funded by the Department for Education to support children and young people adversely affected by COVID-19 and the ensuing lockdown. The purpose of SHR was to bring together a consortium of national and community-based charities and other partners to offer a range of online, face-to-face, group and detached youth work, including support to help children reintegrate back into education. 

The evaluation included consultation with more than 100 programme stakeholders and delivery partners, consultation with children and young people, parents and carers, an E-survey of children and analysis of needs, activity and outcomes data collected via the charity partners. The evaluation findings included:

• Implementation of SHR: The SHR programme was collaboratively designed and implemented at pace, including agreeing a model of support, implementing the necessary governance, accountability and programme management infrastructure, commissioning a network of providers, establishing a range of referral pathways; and setting up performance management systems.
• Effective identification of children and families requiring support: Between June and November 2020, SHR worked with over 43,000 children. Stakeholders reported that the partnership model was critical to success, with many grass roots organisations providing a critical link to families and communities.
• Effective delivery of support: SHR successfully met or exceeded its targets for the number of packages of support delivered and children supported by each work strand. A range of factors contributed to this achievement including the responsiveness of the programme and the experience, expertise and diverse range of partners included in the SHR network.
• Good quality support: Feedback from children and families and delivery partner case closure forms indicates that the support provided by SHR was appropriate and of high quality. Stakeholders reported that SHR’s mixed economy of organisations, work strands and support packages meant that children and families could engage in a variety of ways tailored to their needs.

Further, a range of evidence suggested that in the short-term SHR has had a positive impact on children, young people and families, including:

• Children felt more supported.
• Children experienced reduced feelings of isolation or loneliness.
• Children were successfully supported to reintegrate to education.
• Children were supported to access additional services and community support.

As well as these outcomes, the evaluation also identified key learning from the programme about the impact of COVID-19 on children and families and the role that the VCS can play in supporting outcomes by working collaboratively, which may be useful for those interested in developing similar initiatives.

To access the full evaluation report please click here.   To access the evaluation report executive summary please click here.  

For further information about this evaluation, please contact Joshua Butt E: JoshuaButt@cordisbright.co.uk or Stephen Boxford E: StephenBoxford@cordisbright.co.uk

Parental conflict and substance misuse

April 2021

This report is a literature review examining the links between parental conflict and substance misuse and the impacts on children’s outcomes. Three sections investigate:

• The impact of parental conflict and substance misuse on children
• Interventions for addressing parental substance misuse and conflict and their relative effectiveness
• What characteristics of effective practice can be identified across interventions?

In addition, the review identifies where gaps exist in the evidence base and where these may need to be supplemented for the UK context.

View the report here. 

Cordis Pulse: March 2021

March 2021

This month we were pleased to see the report by the Children’s Commissioner Still not safe: The public health response to youth violence. It suggests that although Ministers have committed £35 million to Police and Crime Commissioners to set up Violence Reduction Units (VRUs) across 18 police forces, insufficient attention has been paid to the need for agencies in other areas to adopt both a safeguarding and public health response, working in partnership with local police forces. This has meant little work to incentivise, and crucially, monitor and oversee the implementation of action taken by public health bodies themselves and by children’s services.

This Children’s Commissioner’s report suggests that the vast majority of local authorities do not have a sufficient grip on the drivers for youth violence in their areas, nor do they have a cogent strategy to reduce risk factors in vulnerable cohorts. We have been working with clients in this space and are aware of good practice in this space. In addition, we worked with the LGA on developing a resource: Public health approaches to reducing violence.

Cyber Essentials Plus

March 2021

Cordis Bright’s digital security has been given a clean bill of health as our hardware, systems and online security networks received accreditation at the level of Cyber Essentials Plus. This scheme was instigated by the Government’s call for a benchmarked organisational standard in cyber security. Our systems were rigorously scrutinised by a third party and our successful certification demonstrates to clients that their data is always protected at the highest level of security.

For further information please click here.

Sunderland All Together Better evaluation

March 2021

In this case study we explore our work to evaluate Sunderland All Together Better.

City & Hackney Integrated Care Programme

March 2021

In this case study we highlight our work with City and Hackney to provide evaluation and development support for their Integrated Care Programme. The work is led by Cordis Bright in partnership with PPL and COBIC. For further information about this collaboration visit Sonder.

Vacancy for Researcher

March 2021

To find out more about this vacancy please click here.