ST HELENS Together, which brought together St Helens' community response to the Covid-19 pandemic, has been shortlisted for a number of awards.

The volunteer portal has been recognised in the INetwork Innovation Awards 2020 and is a finalist in both the Partner Excellence Award and the Covid-19 Response Recognition Award.

The winners will be chosen through an online public vote and voting closes on Sunday, January 24.

Councillor David Baines, Leader of St Helens Borough Council, said: “St Helens Together was set up to support the people in our communities most in need last March, the response was far more unbelievable than we could ever have imagined. People who maybe had never volunteered before in their lives came forward to help others out, with everything from collecting and delivering food, prescriptions to taking dogs for walks or just giving someone some of their time to make a difference to their day.

“The key to its success was the people who signed up and we could not have matched them up to the help that was needed if it wasn’t for the work of Halton and St Helens Voluntary and Community Action and Team Kinetic who ran the volunteer portal.

“We are still working closely together now almost a year later and our volunteers are now doing everything from helping people in the community, to supporting our community symptom free testing centres and the role out of the vaccination programme.

“It is testament to their hard work that St Helens Together has been nominated for two awards which show partnership working at its best in the face of the toughest issue our borough has faced since the Second World War. Please help vote for St Helens Together as winning these awards would be a fitting tribute to the tremendous work our community has done in the last year.”

St Helens Borough Council’s Ways of Working (WoW) programme supporting the cultural transformation in a changing workplace has also been shortlisted for the Transforming and Innovating Public Services Award.

The voting closes this Sunday, January 24. To vote visit https://i-network.org.uk/innovation-awards-2020/ and click on the vote here button on the page to choose the awards and voting.