Agenda item

Report of Senior Head of Community.

Cabinet lead member: Councillor Alan Shuttleworth.

(1) Process for awarding housing grants to be aligned with the community grants programme.

(2) Overall budget for community and housing grants in 2016/17 to 2018/19 to be £263,000 subject to final budget setting in each year.

(3) Priorities for the major grants programme and for housing grants 2016/17 to 2018/19 agreed.

(4) Priorities for the small grants programme 2016/17 agreed.

(5) Changes to the community grants policy to reflect the foregoing  decisions, as set out in the appendix to the report, agreed.

18.1 Cabinet considered the report of the Senior Head of Community.  The community grants programme was split between major grants which were awarded for a 3-year period for grants of more than £10,000 each year and small grants of up to a maximum of £10,000 which were awarded for one year only.  These grants were awarded in line with the community grants policy approved by Cabinet (last revised on 16 July 2014).  Housing grants had been paid for specific services to prevent homelessness in Eastbourne from grant monies received from the Department of Communities and Local Government (DCLG) previously ring-fenced for this purpose.

18.2 It was now proposed to integrate the process of awarding grants and although the homelessness grant from the DCLG was no longer ring-fenced, it was recommended that equivalent funding (at £58,500) continue to be used to deliver homelessness prevention services, with £2,000 being allocated to Eastbourne and Wealden YMCA for their work educating school students about the realities of homelessness and the balance allocated in line with community grants policies and procedures.

18.3 The current community grants policy referred to the budget of £180,000 available for major grants in recent years.  In practice, Cabinet had awarded major grants totalling £203,000 in the last 3 years to protect voluntary sector partners from reductions in funding.  The Grants Task Group had recommended that a budget of £203,000 be set for the next 3 years (2016/17 to 2018/19) in view of the continued financial pressures faced by the voluntary sector and to demonstrate the council’s ongoing commitment to the voluntary and community sector.  This would require an increase in the community grants budget from the current level of £240,000 to £263,000.

18.4 Funding priorities for major and housing grants should be for the provision of advice and financial inclusion services, youth engagement, homelessness and to those providing support for voluntary and community organisations.  These priorities were proposed on the basis that they contributed significantly to the council’s own corporate priorities and services and to those of its partners in the wider community.  In considering these priorities, the Grants Task Group had also taken account of alternative sources of funding available through East Sussex County Council health and social care commissioning grants prospectus, the Department of Work and Pensions and community safety/police and crime commissioner funding.  The group proposed a major and housing grants prospectus (appendix 1 to the report) giving more detail on the priorities under each of the broad headings.  This was designed to give voluntary and community organisations greater clarity on the outcomes sought by the Council and guidance on how the council would assess applications.

18.5 Priorities for small grants were agreed by Cabinet each year for the year ahead.  These priorities were changed from year to year to ensure a fair distribution of funding to different types of project and to ensure that emerging needs were reflected.  Priority was also given each year to projects which promoted inclusion and the needs of those communities and groups protected under the Equality Act 2010.  It was recommended that this policy remain unchanged.  For 2016/17 it was proposed that small grants be awarded on the basis of the following priorities: Promotion of digital inclusion, promotion of emotional health and wellbeing and services to children and families.

18.6 Resolved (key decision): (1) That the process for awarding housing grants be aligned with the community grants programme.

(2) That the overall budget for community and housing grants in 2016/17 to 2018/19 be £263,000 subject to final budget setting in each year.

(3) The priorities for the major grants programme and for housing grants 2016/17 to 2018/19 be agreed.

(4) That the priorities for the small grants programme 2016/17 be agreed.

(5) That the changes to the community grants policy to reflect the foregoing decisions, as set out in the appendix to the report, be agreed.