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London Councils Grants consultation 2013/15
London Councils has launched a new consultation on future priorities for its grants scheme and is inviting responses.
This is a public consultation about its future grants programme and its review of the potential equalities effects on the protected groups as part of its duties under the Equality Act 2010.
In June 2010 the London Councils’ Leaders’ Committee announced a review of the grants programme with a view to establishing which services would now be more appropriately commissioned and delivered at a local level. This reflected the increasing move towards decision-making at a local authority area level and the overall pressure on public resources. It was anticipated that the review would lead, over time, to a significantly reduced London-wide scheme. An extensive consultation was undertaken in 2010, and this was further supplemented in 2011. The review and consultation resulted in new principles and priorities for the London Boroughs Grants Scheme.
The principles and priorities agreed in December 2010 were:
Principles
* Commissioning services and not organisations
* Commissioning fewer services but resourcing them better
* Continuing a genuinely London-wide programme defined as:
o genuinely pan-London front line services
o infrastructure support to service providers
o capacity building for service providers
o voice and representation services
o services where the mobility of clients is key to delivery (domestic violence, homelessness etc)
o services that are particularly specialist.
Priorities
* homelessness
* domestic violence
* poverty
* high impact crime
* specialist services
* generic second tier
* services that voice needs
* health (specialist conditions)
The Grants Committee has suggested that reductions in budget would continue to be necessary to achieve further substantial reductions in the programme. In May 2011, the Grants Committee reviewed the budget in the context of financial constraints and making decisions locally. Each of the 105 commissions now funded by London Councils is scheduled, subject to the continued availability of funds, to be funded until the end of their funding agreements in 2012/13.
London Councils has now agreed its budget for 2012/13, with an overall level of expenditure of £12.5 million for the Grants Scheme in 2012/13 (inclusive of £1 million ESF income). This compares to a total expenditure of £20.767 million for 2011/12. This sum is sufficient to continue to fund each of the 105 commissions up to the end of their fixed term current funding agreements in 2012/13, at a cost of £5.3 million. It is also sufficient to fund approximately 80% of this current portfolio of commissions after the end of their fixed term agreements and until the end of the 2012/13 financial year.
To find out more about the consultation, and to respond, go to the London Councils website London Councils Grants consultation 2013/15
Papers relating to London Councils grants programme priorities for 2013-15 have now been published.
Recommended priorities are as follows:
• tackling homelessness amongst individuals and households through direct services and/or developing new ways of working with partners to generate housing and accommodation and access services
a. early intervention and prevention of homelessness
b. emergency accommodation and advice services
c. support services that promote new ways to prevent homelessness and access to accommodation
• preventing violence against women and girls and assisting women and girls affected by violence to access emergency services and access to services by women and girls at risk
a. prevention
b. emergency accommodation and advice and support for people and organisations
c. services that support women and communities affected by forced marriage and harmful practice
• tackling poverty by promoting access to employment and training drawing on opportunities for match funding provided by boroughs working with London Councils and the European Social Fund
a. preparatory training and support to improve access to employment and further training opportunities for people not eligible for the Work Programme affected by long term conditions
• providing support to London’s voluntary and community organisations enabling those organisations gain access to funds, skills and resources to provide effective services to communities
a. services that support voluntary and community organisations deliver effectively and including opportunities for front-line services to gain from funding opportunities
b. Services that achieve efficiencies through delivering services jointly through partnerships or mergers.
A significant number of current commissions are recommended for extended funding until March 2013, on the basis that they may meet these new priorities.
However, a number of commissions for services providing advice and representation for discrimination and tribunal cases, and services to support advocacy schemes and legal advice to promote take-up of direct payments & benefit entitlements for people with disabilities and carers are not currently recommended for extensions.
This could see the Asylum Support Appeals Project, Inquest Charitable Trust, Lambeth Law Centre, Law Centres Federation, Organisation of Blind African and Carribeans, Disability Law Service, Tower Hamlets Law Centre and VoiceAbility all losing valuable funding.
The Grants Committee agreed with officer recommendations insofar as setting new principles and priorities for the London Councils grants scheme 2013-15, as well as recommendations for funding extensions (or otherwise) on 24.05.12. Next up, the Leaders Committee will be asked to ratify these decisions at their AGM on 12.06.12.
New priorities are homelessness, violence against women and girls, poverty (related to ESF funding only) and some second tier support - the only advice-specific commissions possible appear under the first two priorities on the face of the papers I have seen.
In terms of the funding extensions, it’s a car crash for what little front-line advice provision has been funded by LC until recently. The following commissions all fail to be recommended for extension funding as officers say that it is clear they don’t meet the new principles and/or priorities:
• Asylum support appeals project (advice and representation service – discrimination & tribunal cases)
• Inquest Charitable Trust (advice and representation service – discrimination & tribunal cases)
• Lambeth Law Centre (advice and representation service – discrimination & tribunal cases)
• Law Centres Federation (advice and representation service – discrimination & tribunal cases)
• Organisation of Blind African and Caribbeans (support advocacy schemes and legal advice to promote take-up of direct payments & benefit entitlements for people with disabilities and carers)
• Disability Law Service (support advocacy schemes and legal advice to promote take-up of direct payments & benefit entitlements for people with disabilities and carers)
• Disability Law Service (advice and representation service – discrimination & tribunal cases)
• The Sickle Cell Society (support advocacy schemes and legal advice to promote take-up of direct payments & benefit entitlements for people with disabilities and carers)
• Tower Hamlets Law Centre (advice and representation service – discrimination & tribunal cases)
• VoiceAbility (support advocacy schemes and legal advice to promote take-up of direct payments & benefit entitlements for people with disabilities and carers)
I know that Disability Law Service has already registered a formal complaint against the recommendations, and I hope that the London Advice Forum, which Lasa convenes, will agree today to send a broad letter expressing serious concerns about the decision making process.
The papers explaining the decisions make repeated reference to the widespread impacts of welfare reforms and legal aid cuts across London, as well as rising personal debt and high unemployment, with 60% of respondents rating specialist services as important or quite important - so it is mystifying why specialist advice services are being cut in this way.
London Councils Leader’s Committee met on 12 June to look at the revised principles and priorities for their grants scheme 2013-15, as well as the recommendations on funding extensions.
All recommendations were unanimously agreed to, so the information regards the advice services not having their funding extended, as noted above, still applies.
They have now launched a short consultation, closing date 6 July 2012, “inviting views on the specifications for each service that it is proposed will be commissioned from April 2013 to deliver the agreed funding priorities of the grants programme 2013/15.
Final specifications will be published in early August 2012 when organisations will be invited to make an application for funding to deliver the commissioned services.
1. Homelessness - 1.AB Early intervention and prevention
1. Homelessness - 1.C.1 Youth homelessness
1. Homelessness - 1.C.2 Support services
2. Violence against women and girls - 2.A prevention
2. Violence against women and girls - 2.B.1 Helpline and coordinated access to refuge provision
2. Violence against women and girls - 2.B.2 advice, counselling etc.
2. Violence against women and girls - 2.B.3 Refuge provision
2. Violence against women and girls - 2.B.4 Support services
2. Violence against women and girls - 2.C specifically targeted services
3. Poverty
4. Providing Support to London’s VCO’s
For more information, click here Short consultation: London Councils draft specifications for services to be delivered under the Grants Programme 2013/15