Agenda item

            The Committee considered the undernoted report:

 

“1        Relevant Background Information

 

1.1       The purpose of this report is to:

 

1.2

·        To update members on the progress of the Community Development Grant Programme 2015/16 and outline challenges due to the delay in the Executive budget decision and a reduced budget allocation from DSD.

·        To seek approval to update the area allocation model for our Advice grants to reflect the latest demographic and deprivation data (as instructed by the Development Committee Feb 2012)

·        To consider any revision to the funding bands for the Capacity Building and Revenue funds. 

 

            Community Development Grant Progress

 

            At the Statutory Transition Committee (April 2014), members agreed to progress to an open call process for the Community Development Grant Programme 2015-2017 which is managed by Community Services.

 

1.3

§  Generalist Advice: currently funded through the 5 advice consortia across Belfast for the provision of generalist advice services. Support was provided to ensure that the programme encompassed the advice support models currently administered in Castlereagh and Lisburn.

§  Capacity Building Grants: funding leadership within the community development sector to build the capacity of local groups to meet needs.

§  Revenue Grants for Community Buildings: provide running costs for community buildings to enable groups to meet community needs.

 

1.4       Council has traditionally invested approximately £2.6m annually in support of local Community Development activity of which £1.568 million comes directly from the Department for Social Development (DSD) via their regional Community Support Programme.

 

1.5       In planning for the 15/16 CDGP, application has been made via our Service Convergence budgets to expand the programme to cover the extended council boundary as part of LGR.  Current grant aid and community development support in the Lisburn and Castlereagh areas differs from the historical Belfast Community Support Programme.  Committee have therefore approved this additional fund (£405,523) to extend our grant aid programme and community development support to address needs in the incoming areas.

 

1.6       The CDGP was to be aligned to the transfer of Urban Regeneration and Community Development functions and budget from DSD to Council however this transfer has been deferred to April 2016.  Given the delay, DSD will continue to manage the regional CSP however the allocation model has been reviewed to reflect the new geographies across the 11 Councils and will be revised in line with any agreed cuts in the DSD budget.  We have not yet received formal confirmation of the level of CSP grant to council for 2015/16.

 

            Process

 

1.7

·        The large grant process to date is summarised below:

·        3rd June 2014: Launch and open call for 3 large grants (Advice, Capacity Building & Community Buildings Revenue).

·        June/July 2014:  Workshops and support provided to potential applicant groups

·        11th July 2014:  Application process closed

·        August to November:  grants assessed, scored and ranked

·        December: Assessment process verified by panel.

 

            Small Grant Programme: This includes Summer Scheme Grants and Community Development Project Grants.  The BCC small grant programme was opened to application in November 2014 with a closing date of 21st January 2015.  A total of 182 applications (89 Summer Scheme and 93 Project) were received and are currently being assessed.

 

2          Key Issues

 

2.1       Generalist Advice Services

 

            Council currently administer an annual grant programme of £861,885 to consortia in north, south, east, west and central Belfast under its Advice and Information Services grant programme. This programme supports the consortia to deal with an average of 127,400 enquiries per year across the city. The current delivery of the programme is based on review recommendations made in 2012 and is partially funded through the Community Support Programme by the Department for Social Development as part of its ‘Opening Doors’ advice strategy.

 

2.2       The programme includes a formula for determining the percentage allocation of funding to the four quadrants and to central Belfast. This formula, which takes account of need (via the proxy of population and deprivation), was previously reviewed in 2012 to ensure it is up to date and based on available and credible data sets. 

 

2.3       In agreeing the area allocations which are currently applied, the Development Committee (Feb 2012) agreed a ‘Local focus’ model which focuses at the much smaller Super Output Area level and thus is more sensitive to pockets of deprivation.  The review would have resulted in a reduced budget allocation for East and West Belfast and council subsequently agreed a revised budget allocation to ensure that no area would receive less funding than they had previously obtained in 2011/2012. 

 

2.4       This resulted in an additional funding uplift of £36,000 p.a. being allocated and committee agreed that the option be applied for four years (with a review of the option in 2015). (See appendix 1)

 

2.5       Deloitte was contracted to complete the review (applying the most up to date statistics) in line with the timeframe for the open call for 15/16 grants.  The review was in light of the new council boundary, including, the increased numbers of SOA, population size and deprivation measures.  The report by Deloitte highlighted that;

     

a.      East will increase by seven SOAs and population by 16,776

b.     South by four SOAs and population by 7,986

c.      West by thirteen SOAs and population 25,523

d.     North is not receiving any new areas

 

2.6       Our total available advice budget for the city is yet to be confirmed however we have early indication that DSD will continue to ring-fence their advice funding within the CSP contract and expect the same level of match funding from councils.  Based on this assumption and the notional additional CSP allocation for the extended boundary, we can assume an estimated grant of £912,931. 

 

2.7       The preferred option proposed by Deloitte is to amend the 2012 formula to reflect population change and deprivation.  The revised allocation and variance impact is outlined in the Table below:

 

Area	Current % Allocation model	Budget Allocation 2012 based on % Allocation	Proposed Allocation Based on New Boundary	Proposed Budget Allocation based on 2015 Review	Variance from 2012 Allocation model
Central	10.00%	82,588.50	10.00%	91,293.10	8,704.60
East Belfast	13.39%	110,586.00	14.41%	131,872.88	21,286.88
North Belfast	28.87%	238,433.00	24.71%	225,904.78	-12,528.22
South Belfast	16.33%	134,867.02	15.37%	140,637.02	5,770.00
West Belfast	31.41%	259,410.48	35.37%	323,223.22	63,812.74
TOTAL	100.00%	£825,885.00	99.86%	£912,931.00	£87,046.00

 

2.8       Given the larger total Advice budget available, the revised allocation model shows an increase in the financial value of allocations in line with population growth in South, East and West areas of the city.

 

2.9       Committee may wish to consider whether the percentage allocation should stay consistent for central Belfast. It may be considered that the revisions to the rest of the model for population and disadvantage would not impact on the rational for a city centre service and thus this consortium might maintain their previous grant value.  Any saving could be then be used to offset and maintain the allocation for the north consortia which, based on the revised model, will reduce.  This approach would be in line with that agreed by committee in 2012.

 

2.10      Capacity & Community Buildings Revenue Grant

 

            Traditionally the volume and value of the applications received to the Community Development Programme has exceeded the amount of funding available. In order to maximise the utility of what is a limited programme budget, council have adopted a banding mechanism through which the level of grant funds are determined and allocated to individual proposals.  This approach offers a mechanism to spread our grant budgets so we might support as much eligible activity as possible whilst ensuring we meet targeted outcomes and have a reasonable breadth of programmes supported across the city.

 

2.11      Council have not yet considered an area allocation model for these grants or any of our Community Development grants other than that for generalist advice services.   

 

2.12      Current funding bands 

 

            The current bands for both programmes are outlined below:

 

i         Capacity Building Fund:  Groups should meet a threshold score of 65% to be recommended for funding.

 

-       Band A- applicants scoring >80%, maximum grant £49,664.44

-       Band B- applicants scoring >70%<80%, maximum grant £33,109.63

-       Band C- applicants scoring >65%<70% , maximum grant  £27,591.36

 

2.13

ii       Community Buildings Revenue Fund:  Organisations are broadly classed according to the size of their building.  The size of the building, together with the proposed programme and anticipated community usage, will determine the maximum amount of running costs that will be funded.   A small neighbourhood facility based in a flat or a portacabin is classed as grade 1, Community Centres under 400m² are Grade 2, and larger community facilities are grade 3.

 

·        Grade 1 facilities receive up to £6,010

·        Grade 2 facilities receive up to £12,730

·        Grade 3 facilities receive up to £18,734

 

2.14      Programme from 2015

 

            As noted the Community Development Grant Programme benefits from significant annual levered funds from DSD.  Pending the new time-frame for the transfer of Urban Regeneration and Community Development, officers have been liaising with the Department to determine the level of funding which BCC will receive for the coming year. Initial conversations with DSD officials and pending formal notification of the outcome of the consultation on the DSD budget, suggests there may be a significant reduction and while this has yet to be confirmed, officers are working on an estimated reduction of 20%.

 

2.15      As noted above, early indications suggest that the element of the grant which is ring-fenced to support generalist advice provision will be protected at 14/15 levels and this will be conditional on a consistent level of BCC match funds.  This condition limits the remaining grant available for our other grant categories and corresponds to a 28% cut. The impact will be more profound if the level of additional CSP grant to reflect the extended boundary funding is less than anticipated.

 

2.16      Implications

 

            There are a number of implications as a result in the delayed notification of the level of CSP grant income and the likelihood that this will be somewhat lower than previous years.

 

·        The number of projects council funds may be reduced compared with previous years.

·        The grant allocation per project may be reduced.

·        Projects are unlikely to be allocated the amount requested in their application and this may impact on programme feasibility

·        Groups will not receive notification of Council’s decision before April 2015.

·        Groups will not be awarded contracts until April 2015, potentially leading to cash flow issues.

·        The level of services provided by community organisations may be reduced.

·        Some community facilities may not receive sufficient funding to stay open.

·        There may be an increase in requests for council services and support to help meet service gaps within neighbourhoods.

 

2.17      Proposed Changes to the banding mechanism for 2015

 

            The extended Belfast boundary has led to an increase in the number of community organisations requesting grant support.  Given this higher demand alongside the anticipated reduction in the total grant budget available, members may wish to consider the need for changes to the current bands.  Any such amendments are proposed as an opportunity to spread the limited grant pot in a transparent and equitable way so as a larger number of local organisations across a wider geography. 

 

2.19      It is proposed therefore that Council consider the following changes to funding bands which are outlined below:

 

219i.  Capacity Grant: 

            The table sets out the current funding band for capacity grants and suggest 2 further options.  The first reflects the full potential percentage impact of any projected cut in the DSD grant and the second represents a modified reduction of 15% which will have less impact on the related viability of those programmes which formed the basis of applications submitted.

 

     

	Current Grant award	25% Reduction	15% Reduction
	Maximum	75% of Current Maximum	85% of Current Maximum
Band A	£ 49,664.44	£ 37,250.00	£ 42,200
Band B	£ 33,109.63	£ 24,750.00	£ 28,150
Band C	£ 27,591.36	£ 20,500.00	£ 23,500

 

 

2.21      Committee may also wish to amend the base quality cut-off score which groups need to achieve to attract funding.  The existing bands are based on previous eligibility and scoring criteria. Any amended score for the new bands may be revised to take into consideration the new scoring criteria framework. By reducing the maximum grant level per band, we can fund a larger number of organisations, and thus more local community based services, while continuing to offer a significant individual grant contribution. Additionally, by reducing the threshold and band qualifiers, we will ensure groups with lower capacity, or those who are first time applicants to Council, will not be disadvantaged when compared to groups which have a higher capacity or a longer-term working relationship with Council. 

 

2.22      Officers would suggest reducing the threshold score to 55% alongside the reductions in the maximum grant available and would suggest the following bands.

 

o   Band A:   >70% 

o   Band B:   >65% and <70% 

o   Band C :  > 55% and <65%

 

2.23      ii.  Community Buildings Revenue: 

 

            Given the size of this grant it will not cover the totality of any centre’s running costs.  Members may consider whether we should apply a similar percentage reduction in the level of revenue grant or alternatively, given the lack of an inflationary increase since 2010 alongside the much lower individual grant award, committee might retain the current categories or offer a slight % increase to reflect inflation.  For example:

 

·        Grade 1:   up to £  6,500  (small community flats or portacabins)

·        Grade 2:   up to £13,000  (community centres under 400m2)

·        Grade 3:   up to £18,000 (larger community centres)

 

2.24      Summary

 

            Members will be aware that in the context of the current funding climate and the new areas within the extended council boundary, there is an increase in the number and value of applications received. 

 

2.25      As already referenced, officers are not yet in a position to confirm the total grant budget available for allocation and have outlined options to amend the current allocation models for members consideration.  Once budgets are confirmed, officers may need to amend the band allocations to reflect affordability and to offer a reasonable spatial spread of funded projects within the grant categories.

 

2.26      Members should also note that any proposed additional allocation to a particular grant category will adversely affect the total available grant for the remaining categories within the Community Development Grant Programme.

 

2.27      If agreeable, officers will apply the revised funding bands to the suite of applications currently under assessment and subsequently table specific funding recommendations for Councillor consideration in March (subject to confirmation from DSD of Council’s funding allocation) with a view to issuing letters of offer in April.  

 

2.28      As per point 2.25 above, if our assumptions in relation to the total grant budget available are inaccurate, officers request delegated authority to further review the allocation bands within the Capacity and Community Buildings Revenue categories, and amend accordingly but within the agreed principles set down in this paper.

 

2.29      The budget allocation for April 2016 following the transfer of Urban Regeneration and Community Development will not be determined until later this year.  Therefore it would be difficult to offer two year contracts to successful organisations without provision for contract review at the end of the first year.  It is therefore proposed that grant contracts should be for a period of 12months with an option to extend.

 

            Summary of Applications

 

            In advance of formal tabling of applications for consideration, the following is a brief summary of applications to the Capacity and Community Building Revenue grant categories:

 

·        84 groups have applied for Revenue funding totalling £1,118,205.   

·        30 Projects have applied for Capacity Building totalling £1,340,759. 

 

 

3          Resource Implications

 

3.1       None associated with this report.  A report confirming the total available CDGP budget and making specific recommendations for awards to generalist Advice Services, Capacity and Community Buildings Revenue grants will follow in March 2015.

4          Equality and Good Relations Considerations

 

4.1       There are no Equality and Good Relations Considerations attached to this report.

 

5          Recommendations

 

5.1       It is recommended that Members:

 

i         Note the progress of the Community Development Grant Programme and challenges faced due to budget delay and reduction.

ii       Note the implications of budget delay and anticipated reduction on Council’s ability to support community organisations and the potential impact on the level of local service provision within the city

iii     Consider the revised area allocation model for the generalist Advice Services grant programme.

iv      Agree the revision of funding bands, including the maximum grant allocation per band, for both the Capacity Building and Community Buildings Revenue grant programmes

v       Pending confirmation of the total budget available, agree that officers should further review the allocation bands within the Capacity and Community Buildings Revenue categories, and amend accordingly but within the agreed principles set down in this paper.”

 

            The Director of Development reviewed the main aspects of the report and referred specifically to the revised allocation in funding in relation to Generalist Advice Services.  He pointed out that there would be an increase in all areas with the exception of North Belfast which would see a variance of ?£12,528.22.  However, he suggested that the increase in the variance for Central of £8,704.60 could potentially be allocated to North Belfast, which would leave a shortfall of £3,823.62 which could be found from within Departmental budgets.  Therefore, North Belfast would receive the same budget allocation as it did in 2012 in the sum of £238,433.

 

            After discussion, the Committee approved the area allocation model for the Generalist Advice Services Grant Programme, subject to inclusion of those suggestions which had been made by the Director in relation to the Central and North Belfast areas.  The Committee agreed further to defer consideration of the provision of the funding bands in relation to the Capacity Building and Community Buildings Revenue Grant Programme to enable further information to be obtained.