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How we support and promote compliance with the Welsh Language Standards

The Welsh Language Standards that apply to the National Lottery Community Fund are divided into 4 categories:  

  • service delivery
  • policy making
  • operational standards
  • record keeping

Overseeing compliance

We’ve appointed a Welsh Language Officer at the Fund. This full-time position is mainly responsible for ensuring compliance with the Welsh Language Standards and is the contact for related matters.

You can contact them by emailing welshlanguage.advice@tnlcommunityfund.org.uk

We also have a translator at the Fund who understands the standards and has access to the email inbox.

The Welsh language officer and the translator are managed by the Wales Engagement Manager, who is part of the Wales Management Team.

The Welsh language officer reports to the Fund’s Wales Committee annually to provide an update on how we comply with the standards, as well as initiatives to promote and facilitate the Welsh language internally and externally.

Two committee members speak fluent Welsh and communicate in Welsh at our meetings using a simultaneous translator.

We’ve embedded the Welsh Language Standards in the Welsh Business Plan, ensuring all new programmes comply. The plan also notes the importance of bilingual services to provide high-quality customer service.

As well as reporting to the Commissioner’s Office on how we meet our Welsh standards, the Fund also includes updates on compliance with the standards in the annual report, which is submitted to the UK Government.  

We emphasise that ensuring compliance is everyone’s responsibility. In all job adverts across the UK, we include this sentence in the role profile:

If the role is based in Wales, or supports customers or colleagues in Wales, an understanding of Welsh language legislation and the Fund’s Welsh Language Standards is required.

We also:

  • introduce the standards and our Welsh language service as part of our corporate induction to all staff joining the Fund across the UK
  • include a language awareness module as part of the core training package, Workplace Essentials, for all staff across the UK to complete annually
  • offer staff the option to complete our core training in Welsh

To oversee compliance and uphold our operating standards, we have a procedure that ensures any new online systems for staff will be procured as bilingual systems, wherever possible. This ensures that staff can use these systems in either Welsh or English.

In line with our policy-making standards, we have a Welsh language policy for funding. Any research we commission will include standard requirements on the Welsh language within the agreement. For example, the ability to carry out research bilingually.

A clause about operating within the Fund standards and offering a bilingual service is always part of our tender documents, when it applies to us tendering to an external organisation to carry out research on our behalf.

Promoting compliance

To promote our compliance and service delivery standards, we use the Welsh Language Commissioner’s Working Welsh resources. This includes large vinyl logos to display on our doors, and lanyards and badges for our staff to wear.

We use Working Welsh resources digitally and virtually, both by using the logo on email signature templates and by putting the logo on the photos of our Welsh-speaking staff.

We often share social media posts promoting Welsh language projects and offering guidance on how to offer a bilingual service to make projects accessible to everyone in the community. We also use social media to promote Welsh language days. This includes Welsh Language Rights Day, the Welsh Language Commissioner’s campaign emphasising that Welsh speakers have the right to Welsh language services without having to ask for them.

Our blogs also offer advice on providing a bilingual service. We promote our Welsh language projects in our monthly bilingual newsletter to our email subscribers.

Supporting compliance

To uphold our compliance and service delivery standards, all our application forms for funding ask for the preferred communication language of the principal and senior project contact. These details are recorded on our grant management system and all subsequent correspondence will be in that language.

All our written materials are bilingual, with both languages published at the same time. These include:

  • newsletters
  • blogs
  • press releases
  • social media posts

For virtual meetings with customers or external stakeholders, such as funding events and project training, we offer separate sessions in Welsh and English where possible. We also hold a single bilingual event and use a translator when there are not enough Welsh speakers to hold a separate session.

In line with our policy-making standards, we seek the views of Welsh speakers and Welsh communities during the development phase of programmes. We also test the application materials with them before launching it. Consultation events in person or online are held bilingually, and Welsh speakers are encouraged to contribute in Welsh.

In line with our operating standards, we’re working more closely with the HR team to improve recruitment methods. And, we’ve seen a significant increase in the number of Welsh speakers we attract to work for the Fund. More than half of the Wales directorate staff are now Welsh speakers.

We have a dedicated Welsh page on our intranet, with information such as:

  • guidance on running successful bilingual meetings and events
  • bilingual email templates
  • processes for translating documents