Agenda item

            Following her declaration at the start of the meeting in relation to this agenda item, the Chairperson, Councillor Verner, left the meeting and the Deputy Chairperson, Councillor Garrett took the Chair.

 

            The Committee considered the following report:

 

“1.0      Purpose of Report/Summary of Main Issues

 

1.1            The main purpose of this report is to:

 

·        inform Members that Council has received the Letter of Offer for the Community Support Programme 24/25 from the Department for Communities (DfC). 

·        advise Members that the Chief Executive has accepted the Letter of Offer, subject to Council approval and seek approval for him to accept subsequent Letters of Variance on behalf of the Council.

·        seek Members’ approval to issue further payments to funded organisations upon their completion of monitoring and relevant administrative checks.

·        seek agreement from Members on the option to allocate the additional funding provided, based on the detail provided in the report. 

 

2.0       Recommendation

 

2.1       Members are asked to:

 

·        Note the funding allocation of £2,575,577.30 presented in the Letter of Offer from the DfC for the 2024/25 financial year.

·        Note that the Chief Executive has accepted the Letter of Offer, subject to Council approval and seek approval for him to accept subsequent Letters of Variance on behalf of the Council.

·        Agree their preferred option relating to the Community Support General additional funding.

·        Agree the proposed additional funding allocation for; Community Support General, Advice Grant, Welfare Reform Mitigations Extension-Tribunal Representation, Welfare Reform Mitigations- Face to Face Advice and Social Supermarket

·        Approve the progression of funding payments, where appropriate, following completion of due diligence requirements based on the proposals.

 

3.0       Main Report

 

            Background

 

3.1       Members will be aware that the Department for Communities (DfC) provides an annual grant to Council through its Community Support Programme (CSP) Letter of Offer. This funding provides an element of the budget towards Capacity Building and Revenue for Community Building grants as well as Generalist Advice.

 

3.2       The CSP also provides 100% funding for other elements of activity such as Social Supermarkets and Welfare Reform Mitigations.

 

3.3       At March Committee, Officers advised that the Community Support Programme (CSP) Letter of Offer for 24/25 had not yet been received by Council from DfC. Therefore, Members granted approval for officers to progress funding agreements and provide 50% payments for the Capacity Building, Revenue for Community Building grants and Generalist Advice. 

 

3.4       Council received the CSP 2024/25 Letter of Offer from DfC on 3 July 2024.  There is an increase to this year’s funding across several elements. A breakdown of the allocation for 2024/25 in comparison to 2023/24 is attached at Appendix 1

 

            Social Supermarket Funding

 

3.5       Members may be aware that Social Supermarket funding was considered at a Special SP&R meeting on 28th June 2024. Members were advised at this meeting that DfC had indicated that the total allocation for Social Supermarkets would be £672,687.77 in 24/25.

 

3.6       SP&R agreed to provide an additional council allocation to provide the maximum amount of funding recommended to successful applicants. Further detail is provided in Appendix 2. The figure in the LoO is slightly less than indicated, £672,650.06, but this will have no impact as it can be covered through existing budgets.

 

            Additional Funding by CSP Heading

 

3.7       Table 1 illustrates the available budgets created under each heading by combining the additional allocation CSP increase and 5% Unrestricted Funding (Non-Recurrent).

 

3.8       Table 1

 

CSP Heading	Additional Funds 2024/25
1.   Community Support General	£81,786.34
2.   Advice Grant	£59,946.84
3.   Welfare Reform Mitigations Extension Tribunal Representation- Appeals	£6,942.02
4.   Welfare Reform Mitigations Extension Face to face Advice	£11,738.96

 

            Proposed Allocation of Additional Funds

 

3.9       It is proposed that additional funding for elements 2-4 should be allocated using the agreed approaches. Further detail is provided in Appendix 3. Members are asked to agree the proposed allocations for the 3 elements i.e.  Advice Grant, Welfare Reform Mitigations Extension Tribunal Representation- Appeals and Welfare Reform Mitigations Extension Face to face Advice.

 

3.10      Members are asked to consider and agree their preferred option for allocating the additional funding provided under the Community Support General heading (£81,786.34) as outlined in Table 2. Further detail on the organisations funded through Capacity and Revenue awards is provided in Appendix 4.

 

            Table 2

 

Option	Description	Pro	Con
1	Allocate all the additional funding to the 87 Revenue Funded groups.  Each group will receive a non-recurrent payment of £940.	·     Revenue funding supports running costs in community buildings. Applicants have highlighted the impact of increased  running costs which this award would help to address.  ·     Revenue applicants receive an annual award of up to £20,000. This is a lower value than the award to Capacity applicants which is up £50,000 and therefore Revenue, applicants are more impacted by increased costs and this option would provide an additional award targeted at  those who receive less funding.	·     Capacity funded organisations do not have access to these additional funds yet are also experiencing increased costs.
2	Allocate the funding to Revenue and Capacity funded groups.  130 organisations will receive a non-recurrent payment of £629	·     Revenue and Capacity organisations will receive additional funding to meet their running costs and provide services.	·     This option does not take into account the difference in the annual level of funding to both Revenue and Capacity applicants.

 

            Financial Implications

 

3.11      All awards listed in Appendices 3 & 4 can be made in line with existing budgets for 24/25. Members should note that the Capacity and Revenue awards which are multi annual awards from 23/26 were enhanced with a £1.4 million additional Council allocation. As previously advised, this allocation will have to be provided in 24/25 and 25/26 financial years.

 

            Equality or Good Relations Implications

            and Rural Needs Assessment

 

3.12      This will be considered throughout, and any appropriate issues highlighted to Members.  Any amendments to existing scheme or new scheme will be considered in the context of any equality/good relations and rural needs considerations.”

 

            During discussion the Members agreed Option 2 as the preferred option and agreed to progress on this basis.  Following a query, the Members noted that the allocation of revenue grants was currently being reviewed and that consideration of removing the £20,000.00 cap per organisation would be considered as part of the review.

 

            The Committee:

 

·        Noted the funding allocation of £2,575,577.30 presented in the Letter of Offer from the DfC for the 2024/25 financial year;

 

·        Noted that the Chief Executive had accepted the Letter of Offer, subject to Council approval and granted approval for him to accept subsequent Letters of Variance on behalf of the Council;

·        Agreed Option 2, as the preferred option relating to the Community Support General additional funding, to allocate funding to Revenue and Capacity funded groups with 130 organisations receiving a non-recurrent payment of £629.00;

 

·        Agreed the proposed additional funding allocation for Community Support General, Advice Grant, Welfare Reform Mitigations Extension-Tribunal Representation, Welfare Reform Mitigations- Face to Face Advice and Social Supermarket; and

 

·        Approved the progression of funding payments, where appropriate, following completion of due diligence requirements based on the proposals.

 

At this stage in proceedings, the Chairperson, Councillor Verner, returned to the Chair.