Agenda item

Purpose of report

To seek approval from Cabinet of the proposed revisions to the eligibility criteria of the SK Community Fund: Small Grants Scheme.

Decision

(1)       That changes to the eligibility criteria for the SK Community Fund Small Grants Scheme be approved, effective within the current funding round (round 26), which would close on 20 July 2022, subject to the following amendments:

-       the minimum grant allowed as part of the scheme reducing from £500 to £100

-       the removal of reference to an organisation not being able to apply for the grant more than three times and this being clarified to state that organisations can apply for the grant once every financial year

(2)       That the notification of awards be sent to local Members at the same time as the successful applicant in order that they are fully appraised.

Alternative options considered and rejected

The existing criteria of the scheme could have been retained, or further amendments proposed.

Reason for decision

The Small Grant Scheme was created following feedback from small and newly-formed voluntary and community groups who required small yet, to them, significant amounts of funding to carry out projects or help with the set up costs of their respective groups. Unlike the Community Projects or Community Events grants, through which groups could apply for up to 80% of their project costs to a maximum of £5,000, the Small Grants Scheme offered up to 100% of project costs to a maximum of £2,000.

In recent rounds of funding there had been an increasing number of applications to the Small Grants Scheme from groups and organisations that had substantial amounts of existing resources, as evidenced through information required as part of the application process. The Council’s Rural and Communities Overview and Scrutiny Committee had therefore recommended that the criteria be amended to ensure that groups who held financial resources of £10,000 and above were ineligible to apply for the Small Grants Scheme. Such groups would remain eligible to apply for the Community Projects and Community Events grant.

In response to the withdrawal of the Ward Member Grant Scheme for 2022/23, it was proposed that the lower minimum grant allowed within the Small Grants Scheme be reduced, with such an approach envisaged to encourage more applications from those who would have previously sought funding through their local Ward Members.

A copy of the revised proposed criteria for the SK Community Fund: Small Grants Scheme was appended to the report.

The following points were made by Cabinet Members during consideration of the report:

·         the minimum grant allowed should be reduced to £100 as opposed to £200 proposed in the report. It was anticipated that this would generate more applications as grants as low as £100 in value were often submitted through the previous Ward Member Grant Scheme

·         the criteria was not clear enough regarding the number of times community groups or organisations could apply for the grant, with reference in the existing criteria to no more than three times together with a limitation of only once per financial year

·         local Ward Members used to be more involved in the unveiling of plaques or publicity regarding the awarding of grants in their wards. This no longer happened and on some occasions it was claimed that Members were not even informed as to the award of a community grant in their ward. It was noted that notification of awards made through the fund was sent to all local Ward Members within two weeks after the closing date of each funding round by means of a newsletter

·         the Scheme needed to be as easy and accessible as possible for members of the community to use

It was noted that the cost of plaques was previously met from the fund itself and a decision had been taken after the first year of the Scheme to stop this process in order that the entirety of the fund could be used to benefit community groups.