Who’s who at Association for Real Change?

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Association for Real Change

 Chris Bennett, Interim Managing Director

My main areas of expertise are in strategic planning and management, I also have an in depth knowledge of provider issues. This is fuelled by a close working relationship with other providers across Wales and England and an interest in Employment law, TUPE related issues and social care law. I also work closely with the Welsh Assembly Government in developing and shaping different aspects of policy relating to Learning Disability Services, which gives me an insight into the different aspects of policy development. Previous roles I have held in project management and commissioning, and planning through the closure of Ely Hospital, gave me further understanding of commissioners, their legal obligations, expectations and how they operate. Chris was formerly CEO of Perthyn.

ARC Scotland

James Fletcher, Director

Click here for details of the Scotland Team

ARC Northern Ireland

Leslie-Anne Newton, Director

Click here for details of the Northern Ireland Team

ARC England

Lisa Lenton, Director

Central Office (based in England)

Martin Anderson, Finance Director

Works from the Central Office in Chesterfield as the Finance Director dealing with all aspects of finance for the whole of ARC UK as well as Human Resources for the company.

Vicky Shirley, Operations and Governance Co-ordinator

Vicky joined ARC in 2003 and has undertaken several roles and is now responsible for the general running of Central Office, based in England, as well as being the PA to the England Director, Lisa Lenton. Vicky plans the member network meetings and events along with her colleagues and oversees communications going out such as Real People newsletter. Vicky also carries out the administration for the Board of ARC UK including being the PA to the ARC UK Managing Director, Máire Gallagher.

Association for Real Change England

Lisa Lenton, ARC England Director

Lisa was appointed as the ARC England Director in May 2015. Lisa originally joined ARC as the Learning & Development Manager in August 2014 before her appointment as Director.

Immediately prior to coming to work for ARC Lisa was based in Australia and her work there included managing government programmes to enable people with disabilities to secure work. In the UK Lisa has been a training manager for a Banking Group and a senior development officer for Nottinghamshire County Council’s Ready4work Team.

She was originally employed to deliver an ESF project for people with moderate to severe learning disabilities to gain work experience, once this was successfully completed she was appointed onto a permanent contract where she was responsible for managing DWP contracts and supporting individuals with disabilities into employment.  In the few months that Lisa has already been with us she has met with a lot of members and I know she is keen to meet up with everyone else.

Siân Anderson, Membership and Services Officer

I joined ARC England in September 2017 after finishing my studies, and I’m excited to have moved up to Chesterfield to begin this role. Whilst studying and volunteering I discovered my passion for the charity sector, and my belief that everyone should be able to have the same rights and opportunities in our society, so I’m really pleased to be channelling this into my work with ARC. I look forward to meeting ARC members old and new over the next few months, and working with you as we make a real difference to the lives of people with a learning disability.

Lisa White, Administration Assistant

I have been at ARC now for over 22 years. I do different tasks, people write what tasks they need doing in my book. I sort the post, test the fire alarms and emergency lighting and keep records of when these tests have been carried out.  I shred confidential documents,  photocopy, and scan documents as well as printing and putting together the Care Certificate packs.   I also use the computer and search the internet for various information related to my job.

England Learning and Development Team

Angela DeLiddiard, Qualifications Centre Manager

Angela joined ARC as the Qualifications Centre Manager in November 2016 but has also worked for ARC as a Development Officer (ARC Assessor and IQA) for 15 years. She has a wealth of knowledge and experience in Health and Social Care and the Learning Disability Sector, having worked and trained in the field of Learning Disabilities for the best part of 30 years since leaving secondary education.

Angela is keen to support all the organisations that access the Centre and to listen to their unique requirements in order to enable them to achieve a qualified workforce that promotes quality services.

As someone who started their own learning journey and development through a YTS (Youth Training Scheme) all those years ago, Angela is passionate about staff development and training within the workplace, which promotes the delivery of a high quality, person focussed approach for the individuals we ultimately support.

Margaret Webster, Learning & Development Co-ordinator

I joined ARC in April 2008 as the Training Consortiums NVQ Registrar.  My role now includes overseeing the Workforce Development Funding (WDF) and Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) administration; implementing new processes and supporting my colleagues Marion and Maria.  My main focus is the qualifications that ARC offers; learner registrations, claiming units and qualifications, issuing certificates, candidate records and archiving, together with a varied range of administration processes which keeps the department ticking!

Before I joined ARC I worked for several months with a training department at a local NHS community hospital where I gained my knowledge of NVQ administration.  My working background is primarily secretarial and personal assistant, followed by 3 years as a marketing assistant with a large ceramics company in Stoke-on-Trent before my move to Chesterfield.

Maria O’Grady, Learning & Development Administrator – Disclosure Service

I joined the ARC team in July 2017 to carry out the Disclosure Service role for the online DBS and AccessNI checks and the paper-based Disclosure Scotland checks.

Denise Adams, Learning & Development Administrator – WDF

I am the incoming WDF Administrator, who is taking over from Marion.  I am an experienced administrator and have worked for an Independent Specialist College (which was also a Charity) for the past 12 years, and although I enjoyed my job, I felt that the time had come for a change and a new challenge. I am really excited about becoming a member of the ARC team. I would like to wish Marion and long and happy retirement.

 Rod Landman, Regional Officer

Rod is based in Devon and is our champion for Mate Crime, a type of Hate Crime where people purporting to be friends take advantage of people with a learning disability, which was part of the Safety Net project that he managed. He is also our champion of the Helping Each Other project which supported a small number of young people with learning disabilities, who have experienced sexual exploitation, to develop their skills as trainers to go on and deliver awareness. Rod also delivers training courses on our behalf for MCA and DoLS, Supporting Medication as well as awareness workshops for staff on Self-neglect, Self-Harm and Sexual Exploitation of people with a learning disability.