NBTA to run Volunteer Caseworker training course in October

The National Bargee Travellers Association (NBTA) will be holding an online training course for Volunteer Caseworkers to join our dedicated team. There are three sessions within the training course. They will be held online on 20th and 27th October and 3rd November 2024 from 3pm to 6pm.

NBTA Caseworkers help boaters to deal with enforcement by navigation or other authorities. They also assist them to exercise their rights, such as access to healthcare and welfare benefits. Volunteer Caseworkers are at the heart of our organisation, turning knowledge of the law or policies and a commitment to boaters rights into a powerful tool to preserve and strengthen our community in the face of harassment, discrimination and exclusion. Recent years have seen an increase in enforcement from both the Canal and River Trust (CRT) and other navigation authorities as attempts to socially cleanse the waterways of liveaboard boaters – particularly those without a home mooring.

Equipped with in-depth knowledge of the law and current policy as it pertains to itinerant boaters, our Volunteer Caseworkers deal with around 200 individual cases a year – challenging CRTs unlawful enforcement notices, overturning licence restrictions and ensuring that vulnerable boaters or those with complex needs aren’t harassed off the water.

Becoming a Volunteer Caseworker isn’t just about fighting back for the rights of boaters. It’s also about fostering a spirit of solidarity and mutual aid within the tight-knit community that drew so many of us to the waterways in the first place. Life on the water is underpinned by community: looking out for one another, taking care of our collective home, and sharing space, experiences, information and friendship with an ever-changing array of neighbours. Through our Volunteer Caseworkers, the NBTA seeks to deepen these bonds of solidarity, and turn them into a form of collective power that can help all boaters to live with dignity and respect, and to celebrate and build our community.

The NBTA is not a charity or a service. We are a volunteer organisation – of boaters and for boaters – that seeks to harness, develop and preserve the vibrancy and diversity of our community so that we can continue to pursue our way of life joyfully together. We think that this life is worth fighting for. If you do too, then please sign up to our next Volunteer Caseworker training course and help us to celebrate and defend this special community.

There will be 3 x 3 hour online training sessions at 3pm to 6pm on 20th and 27th October and 3rd November 2024. As this is an online course, places are limited to between 8 and 10 participants. The course is online, so it is accessible from anywhere.

Sessions include: • What does an NBTA Volunteer Caseworker do? • Applicable law and NBTA’s take on it: Section 17 British Waterways Act 1995; Section 8 British Waterways Act 1983 • Section 13 British Waterways Act 1971; Equality Act 2010, Public Right of Navigation. • Nuts and bolts of doing casework around 6-month licences, refusal to renew without a home mooring, and Section 8 • Introduction to CRT’s Equality Act ‘reasonable adjustment’ process and practice • Scenarios and role play.

If you want to take part, please contact secretariat@bargee-traveller.org.uk or 0118 321 4128 with your:

1) Name
2) Email address
3) Mobile number

Together we are strong!