Welcome to the KDP Bulletin.
 
FCC Scottish Action Fund
The FCC Scottish Action Fund provides grants of between £2,000 and £40,000 to not-for-profit organisations for the following types of projects eligible under Scottish Landfill Communities Fund (SLCF).
They can provide funding towards the Objects of the SLCF:

• Land Reclamation (Object A)
• Community Recycling (Object B)
• Public Amenities and Parks (Object C)
• Biodiversity (Object D)
• Historic Buildings (Object E)

All grants require applicants to secure a contributing third party (CTP) payment. This is a very specific payment required to be paid to the landfill operator and should not be confused with match funding. 
Closing date – 2nd June 2021.
Visit the website for more information.
 
Social Enterprise Academy
The Social Enterprise Academy is offering a series of short online programmes through Just Enterprise, that are designed to help sustain, develop and grow organisations in Scotland:

• Leading Remotely – 31 March & 21 April
• Rebuilding Income Streams – 31 March & 21 April
• Managing Change – 1 April & 22 April
• Leading Growth for Aspiring Leaders – 16 & 23 April, 14 & 21 May, 11 & 25 June

Third Sector Growth Fund
A new £30 million fund is being established to support small businesses within the third sector, helping them to grow as Scotland recovers from the impacts of coronavirus.
The fund will be designed to respond to a need for third sector organisations to access loans to help grow and explore new forms of social investment and finance. It will also help support the sector to meet the challenge of the pandemic and to become more sustainable in the long-term.
The Third Sector Growth Fund will have three elements:

• The Social Catalyst Fund
• The Circular Economy Fund
• The Social Impact Venture Portfolio 

Further details of the funds and how to apply will be published later this Spring.
 
CLAN Cancer Support
CLAN invite you to their virtual stakeholder’s meeting, which will take place on Wednesday May 5^th at 11am. This coincides with the grand opening of their new resource centre in Banchory Town centre. 
The meeting will be an opportunity to have a virtual tour of the centre, meet the staff and volunteers and take part in a Q&A session.
The invitation is extended to all members of the K&M community.  To be added to the invite list, please email your contact details to helen.hasnip@clancancersupport.org.
 
Kincardine & Mearns Welfare & Wellbeing Network
Kincardine and Mearns Welfare & Wellbeing Network (KMWWN) aims to improve the health, wellbeing and welfare of the people of Kincardine and Mearns, in cooperation with community groups, third sector, public sector and local businesses.
The group is a hub for information sharing and networking amongst members.
If you wish to get involved, contact the Kincardine and Mearns Community Planning Group – lesley.robertson@aberdeenshire.gov.uk.
 
Bank of Scotland Foundation – Invest
The Invest Grants Programme for 2021 will have a theme of Financial Vulnerability. The programme will provide funding to charities to help vulnerable people across Scotland manage various financial issues, including those who were already facing significant difficulties with their finances before the pandemic, and those who are now accessing charity support services for the first time as a direct result of the pandemic.
The next deadline is 1^st April 2021.
Visit the website for more information.
 
People’s Health Trust – Health Lottery Scotland, Active Communities
Health Lottery Scotland is funded through a society lottery, designed to raise money to address health inequalities in Scotland. Active Community projects need to be designed and led by local people and support their neighbourhood or community to come together to address an issue that is important to them. Projects will create stronger connections between people by supporting them to meet up regularly (weekly, fortnightly or monthly, for at least one year). They will benefit people who experience greater social and economic disadvantage than people living in other parts of the country in either: – small and local communities, for example, involving residents living in a few streets, an estate, a small village or – communities of interest (a group of people who have shared experiences, characteristics or common interests) who wish to come together to address specific issues.
The next deadline is 14^th April 2021.  More information can be found here. 
 
KDP is here to help in any way we can.  Please let us know how we can support you or your organisation.  We will continue to share information and guidance in our Bulletins, however, due to the speed of change and quantity of information, the most current details will be found on our Facebook page (@kincardineshiredevelopmentpartnership).
 
Should you wish to get in touch, our contact details are as follows:
Jacky Niven              Development Officer                       jniven@kdp.scot
Margo Titmuss         Office/Windfarm Admin                  officesupport@kdp.scot

All of this information was correct at time of writing. 

Doorstep Crime

We’ve recently received reports of workmen going door to door in a number of areas.

One homeowner in the Formartine area agreed to work after being misled into thinking the workmen were working on behalf of the Council. The homeowner received no paperwork and the work was left unfinished. The workmen tried to bully the homeowner into paying for the work. Other residents in the Deeside area have encountered workmen with the classic approach of ‘doing work nearby’ and having ‘spare’ tarmacadam which they can tar your driveway with rather than waste it.

Our advice is not to deal with uninvited traders, don’t enter any negotiations with them, remain polite but firm, ask the workmen to leave and not return. Any ambiguity in the clarity of this message might be taken advantage of by these rogue traders, so please be clear about it. If you’re looking for essential work to be done, obtain several quotes from reputable traders, choose the one which you’re happiest with and try to ensure that the workmen abide by the COVID-19 guidance at all times.

Please also note that we are entering the time of year when doorstep crime starts to increase, so remember the old maxim – if in doubt, keep them out!

Scams

 i) A local resident recently received an e-mail apparently from Royal Mail with the subject line ‘Update delivery address. We’ve missed you’. It also contained the official Royal Mail logo and generally appears quite convincing. The e-mail urged the resident to click on a link in the body of the message to start the process of re-arranging delivery of a parcel for a surcharge of £3. Despite its plausibility, this e-mail is a scam (possibly from Belgium) which appears to be aimed at harvesting consumers’ bank or card details for later attempts to steal from them. It may also be the precursor to a brushing scam, which we’ve highlighted recently.

Our first observation is how Royal Mail would have the resident’s e-mail address? Also, redelivery attempts by Royal Mail do not incur further charges if the correct postage was paid by the sender; if delivery cannot be achieved, then the Postie will leave a notice through the resident’s letterbox advising where the parcel is being stored and when it can be collected. Finally, was the recipient expecting a parcel? A little analytical thinking can be useful when dealing with these e-mails.

Remember too, hovering the computer curser over the sender’s e-mail address can show another and if it differs from the address first on view then treat the e-mail with caution; don’t click on any hyperlinks in the text or download attachments and don’t enter any personal or banking details. Lastly, look for cues in the text like the recipient being addressed in an impersonal manner, awkward grammar and spelling mistakes.

ii) Another resident was called on his landline at home and advised by a foreign sounding male who spoke poor English that there was a problem with his BT internet router. The resident had received a number of similar calls from various numbers and, as his internet service provider is not BT, he immediately recognised it as a scam and did not divulge any information but hung up. He then reported the matter to BT and Trading Standards. Others may also receive similar calls.

iii) HMRC lawsuit scams continue to be reported. These are phone scams which advise recipients that Revenues and Customs is filing a lawsuit against them or have a warrant out for their arrest unless an immediate payment is made. These scammers use threatening tactics to obtain money from victims who are often elderly and vulnerable people. While the phone number may sometimes be suspicious, scammers are now able to mimic genuine phone numbers, making it even harder to recognise a scam call. HMRC has issued the following guidance to prevent people from getting caught out:

• Recognise the signs. Genuine organisations like banks and HMRC will never contact you out of the blue to ask for your PIN, password or bank details.

• Stay safe. Don’t: give out private information, reply to text messages, download attachments or click on links in emails you weren’t expecting.

• Take action. Forward suspicious emails and details of calls claiming to be from HMRC to phishing@hmrc.gsi.gov.uk and texts to 60599 or contact Action Fraud on 0300 123 2040 (England) or Police Scotland on 101 if you suffer financial loss.

Further advice on protecting yourself from scam calls can be found here: https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/scotland/consumer/phone-internet-downloads-or-tv/stopgetting-nuisance-calls-and-texts/ 

Aberdeenshire Council have access to TruCall call blockers which are free and available to vulnerable residents. If you believe someone in your house may be eligible then please get in touch.

Other Matters

We’re also aware that prize competition websites are growing in popularity. We’ve received several enquiries regarding prize competition businesses and have passed some concerns regarding local sites to the Gambling Commission for consideration.

Prize competitions and free draws can be run for commercial or private gain and can be used as a way of offering prizes or promoting a product. They’re free from control under the Gambling Act 2005 and aren’t enforced by the Gambling Commission.

You don’t need permission or a licence from the Gambling Commission or local licensing authority (Council) to run genuine prize competitions or free draws if they meet the requirements of the Gambling Act 2005. However, it is easy to cross the boundary and in fact be offering an illegal lottery.

Neither Trading Standards nor the Gambling Commission approve prize competitions or free draws or help develop them. The Gambling Commission does monitor prize competitions, free draws and lotteries and may act if they view competitions are actually illegal lotteries.

If you’re considering setting up a prize competition, we would strongly advise that you seek legal advice beforehand. If you don’t meet the requirements of the Act, it’s likely that you’ll end up running an illegal lottery. Lotteries are regulated under the Act and generally cannot be run for commercial or private gain.

If you are entering prize competitions, please ensure you have read the terms and conditions carefully and are happy with them before purchasing tickets.

Organisers of competitions and free draws should also be aware that although they fall outside the remit of the Gambling Act, there are other rules and regulations in place that they need to consider when developing and running their schemes. These include unfair trading and consumer protection laws as well as advertising rules and tax implications, so legal advice is essential.

Contact For urgent Trading Standards matters, contact Aberdeenshire Council’s Trading Standards at 01467 537222. For non-urgent enquiries, please contact Consumer Advice Scotland at https://www.consumeradvice.scot/ or on 0808 164 600.

Contact Police Scotland on 999 if you need urgent assistance or 101 for non-urgent matters.

For more information about scams please visit Friends Against Scams at https://www.friendsagainstscams.org.uk/

Please direct any media queries to news@aberdeenshire.gov.uk or 01467 538222 during office hours.

Register and get your tickets at:

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/…/a-reporters-guide-to…