Network access provider Openreach (BT) has today announced that a further 94 rural villages and towns have been added to their UK roll-out plan for 1Gbps capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband ISP technology over the next 2 years and all of them will be in Northern Ireland.
 
The latest announcement forms part of the operator’s on-going commercial deployment in N.Ireland, which recently extended coverage to 360,000 premises (up by 100,000 since January 2020 alone) and aims to reach 525,000 premises (60% coverage) by March 2021. By comparison today’s update includes a build programme that will run even longer, until March 2022.
Overall, 124 locations across NI have now been included in Openreach’s build programme and the company is currently covering 750 premises every day. The fact that all of this is being done via a commercial project is important and reflects some of the operator’s recent advancements in civil engineering, which have helped to bring the per premises cost of deployment down to a more manageable level.
 
To support the build programme, they have also announced that they are recruiting over 100 apprentice engineers across the region between now and March 2021. Our new recruits will be joining the team at a really exciting time and if anyone is interested in applying, they can find out more on their website.
https://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2020/07/openreach-add-94-rural-villages-and-towns-to-fttp-broadband-plan.html
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A new funding opportunity for eligible groups in the voluntary, community and social enterprise sector opens on Monday morning! 💷
The call is to help fund core running costs of eligible organisations. Groups who successfully applied for earlier funding (call 1 2020/21) for core running costs will not be eligible to apply again in this call. Applications open at 9 am on Monday 8 June and close at 12 noon on Friday 26 June.
For more info and details on how to apply, visit: https://bit.ly/2XBhisw
For queries on capital or revenue grants email: fap@armaghbanbridgecraigavon.gov.uk or tel: 075 1560 7480.

Charity Commission Annual Reporting: Until otherwise advised, no charity will be penalised for missing its annual reporting deadline. This means that no charity will be marked as in default on the register of charities if they fail to meet their annual reporting deadline.
However if charities find they cannot meet their reporting deadline they should contact the Commission as soon as possible via email to admin@charitycommissionni.org.uk to keep them updated on your situation. You will not receive an acknowledgement to this email but your correspondence will be noted for their records.
 
During the current COVID-19 emergency, charity trustees are having to cope with serious financial challenges that will have a major effect on their charities and those who depend on them. Many charities are facing the double challenge of a sudden fall in income with an increase in demand for their services. The Charity Commission has prepared guidance for charity trustees, especially of smaller charities, who may not have access to professional financial advice.
The guidance sets out some practical steps charity trustees can take to manage their charity through these financial difficulties and, if necessary, plan for the uncomfortable possibility that your charity may not survive this crisis. In the guidance you will find information on:

• assessing your charity’s current financial situation
• identifying when your charity is at risk of running out of funds
• developing a recovery plan
• charity trustee liability
• what to do if your charity cannot continue to operate because of the impact of COVID-19

The guidance is available on the COVID-19 guidance page of the Commission’s website https://www.charitycommissionni.org.uk
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