Agenda item

            The Committee considered the undernoted report:

1.0       Purpose of Report/Summary of Main Issues

1.1       The main purpose of this report is to advise members on the outcome of a second call for proposals to deliver activity that will meet the aims of the Integrated Advice Partnership Fund (IAPF) and seek their approval to award funds for delivery until 31st March 2026.

2.0       Recommendation

2.1       Members are asked to

·            approve funding for the bids received from organisations that are part of existing advice consortia; and

·            to consider and agree if the remaining unallocated IAPF budget can be used to recruit a dedicated staff member (who would be employed by one of the Lead Partners) whose role would be to co-ordinate the services offered by all BCC funded advice services. 

3.0       Main Report

3.1       Members will recall that officers advised in November 2024 of additional temporary funding from DfC through the Integrated Advice Partnership Fund for activity in 2024/26. The objective of the fund is to ‘Improve the uptake of free, independent regulated debt advice through a collaborative partnership approach’.

3.2       Following committee approval, members sought proposals from existing Lead partners within each advice consortia for projects that would meet the aims of the scheme. Advice Space (formerly Citizens Advice), submitted a project proposal and was awarded funding of £82,497 for delivery of a citywide project in January 2025, which will include delivery in central and east Belfast.

3.3       Members agreed that council would invite further applications from all BCC funded advice organisations to allocate the remaining budget of £165,756.62. The deadline for submission of applications was 12th March 2025. The table below shows bids that were received by that date;

Officers have assessed these proposals and recommend that each is awarded funding as they meet the aims of the fund and scored highly against each of the agreed success criteria.

3.4       The total allocation for these projects is £119,652.87. This leaves an amount of £46,103.75 that has not been allocated. All partners within each advice consortia have had the opportunity to present proposals and there is no indication that any further proposals will be submitted if a further call was to be opened.

            Members may recall that council undertook an independent Review of BCC funded Advice Services which completed in December 2024. One of the key recommendations was that council should explore ways to enhance the current consortia model including efforts to increase co-ordination amongst existing delivery partners.

3.5       Members are asked to consider and agree if the remaining unallocated budget from IAPF can be used to recruit a dedicated staff member (who would be employed by one of the Lead Partners) whose role would be to co-ordinate the services offered by all BCC funded advice services. This would meet the key aim of the Integrated Advice Partnership Fund, which is: ‘to test proposals which focus on enabling better integration of funding/services, collaboration for early intervention and prevention to increase the reach of debt advice. This approach is grounded in collaborative advice partnerships; connecting services to improve the uptake of debt advice reach via an integrated approach.’

3.6       At the time of writing, officers have not concluded consultation with all lead partners and consortia to identify the organisation best placed to employ this staff member, a verbal update on this process can be provided at committee. Funds are currently only available to fund this post until 31st March 2026; if approved it would be introduced on a pilot basis and its effectiveness evaluated with a view to being funded on an ongoing basis through available advice funding if the post proves to be effective.

Financial and Resource Implications

3.7       The administration of this fund will be conducted by existing staff, there is no financial impact for council as 100% funding is being provided by DfC. The allocation for Belfast is as listed below.

Members will know that advice funding is allocated on an area basis and members agreed in January that they would use the agreed allocation model for each consortia. The table below shows the percentage of the remaining budget that should be allocated to each area. However, given that no bids from central and east were received and that the entire budget has not been used, it is recommended that members provide the full requested allocation to each of the bids received. It is also worth noting that the Advice Space proposal which has already been funded covers all areas of the city; the north bid will also cover the Court DEA (Shankill) and that the South bid will also include Lisnasharragh. 

            The Committee noted the contents of the report and approved the funding of the bids received from the organisations within the existing advice consortia; and agreed, in principle, that any in-year underspend be redistributed equally across the four providers identified within the report, subject to officers ascertaining that capacity existed within the aforesaid organisations to deliver the proposed service in 2025/26.

            It was noted that an update report in the above-mentioned matter would be submitted for consideration.