Following a period of recruitment, we are pleased to announce two new staff appointments at NACCOM. Paul Catterall will be joining the team in June as a full-time Network Development Worker, working alongside Dave Smith, and Angela Stapley is joining the team in May as a part-time Grants and Administration Officer.

Paul Catterall, who lives in Middlesbrough with his family, has served as the CEO of Open Door North East since 2009. Open Door North East is a Christian charity providing accommodation and other services to asylum seekers and refugees with a focus on the Tees Valley. Before this role, Paul worked as an integration officer supporting refugees in a local church and prior to that spent 19 years as a Landscape Architect delivering community and urban regeneration projects in local authorities in the West Midlands and North East.

Paul has been committed to NACCOM since it began, serving on the NACCOM steering committee since 2010 and as Treasurer to the Board of Trustees since 2015 (a role has now come to an end with this appointment).

Paul writes; ‘‘I am really excited to be joining the NACCOM staff team and am looking forward to helping existing and prospective members develop their ideas and capacity to provide effective accommodation solutions over the coming years. I have been working in the refugee and asylum sector since 2006 so have a broad knowledge of the issues facing those left with no recourse to public funding (NRPF) and of those granted leave to remain and making steps to independent living. At Open Door North East, I have personal experience of developing a cross subsidy model that now manages 38 properties both as a social letting agent and as a landlord, and which provides accommodation for asylum seekers with NRPF, refugees and more recently to other vulnerable migrants. In addition to housing I have personal experience of the development of a range of other complementary services including a night shelter, a hosting project and refugee move on and employability projects.

One of the many things I love about NACCOM is the passion our members have about the social injustices of the asylum system together with their creativity and willingness to share ideas in providing practical solutions to destitution. I am excited that I will be working directly with NACCOM’s founder Dave Smith, the National Director Hazel Williams and the rest of the NACCOM team to help develop practical housing solutions within our network and ultimately positive outcomes for those seeking sanctuary here in the UK.’

We are also pleased to welcome Angela Stapley to the role of Grants and Administration Officer. Angela, who is based in the North East with her family, will be joining the team in May and will be based in the Newcastle office with Hazel, supporting with the administration of the Guardian grants.

Angela currently works as a freelance grants assessor for the Sir James Knott Trust, and brings to the NACCOM role an excellent knowledge of how grants work within the wider charity sector. She is also an administration and finance worker at a local school and captains the Newcastle Girls Roller Derby team.

Angela writes; ‘I am really looking forward to joining NACCOM in May and hope my skills and strengths will complement the team. I’m excited and honoured to be part of an organisation which supports such a worthy cause.’

We wish both staff members well as they prepare to move on from their existing roles and join the NACCOM team in the next two months.