The £28 million London Borough Grants Scheme currently supports more than 400 organisations, with individual grants ranging from between £5,000 and £500,000. It is funded and governed by all 32 London boroughs and the Corporation of London.
Unite believes that proposals by the London Councils’ Grants Committee (LCGC) to end ring fencing for specific projects and allow councils to redistribute funding locally will see existing projects closed down.
Doug Nicholls, Unite national officer for the not-for-profit sector said:
"Plans by the LCGC will let Londoners down and be another nail in the coffin of a strategic shared approach to solving some of the capital’s most entrenched social problems.
"A worst case proposal could see funding for 400 projects end on 31 March next year and future funds disappearing into the overall councils’ budgets with no ring fencing or guarantee that it would go to the voluntary sector to support the most disadvantaged."
Mayor Sir Steve Bullock, chair of London Councils Grants Committee, responded to the claim, saying:
"Circumstances are very different now to when the programme was last reviewed five years ago. In the light of these tough economic times, many boroughs feel that they are in a better place to decide how the money should be spent locally, especially as this will vary from borough to borough.
"We are reviewing the grants scheme to make sure that the money is being used in the most effective way for voluntary groups and boroughs alike.
"Among the things we will be looking at will be whether a pan-London grants scheme is the best way of spending the money, or whether it would be more beneficial for the money to be spent locally by one or more boroughs in a region."
The LCGC is expected to make a decision on the future of the scheme on 25 November, following the end of the current consultation process.
http://www.fundingcentral.org.uk/newsview.aspx?RF=NEWS&WCU=DSCODE%3dOTSS...
Many people asked yesterday what we knew of the outcome of the London Councils Leaders' Committee on 14 December, which discussed the future of London Councils' grants programme. In a nutshell:
- They agreed the Grants Committee recommendation, ie Category A services to be funded to the end of their current contracts and all others (in B and C categories) to be terminated by the end of June 2011. Individual boroughs were urged to consider quickly whether they will continue to support the work that is being decommissioned by London Councils, and, if they need more time, to engage London Councils for extended periods of support while they make their own decisions.
- There were many comments from the Leaders that their decision was about the importance of boroughs determining locally what their priorities are, as well as about the tough cuts that London boroughs are facing and hard priorities about their own services.
- There was a commitment from Sir Steve Bullock (Chair of the Grants Committee) that in the new year he will ask the Grants Committee to start talking about a longer view on commissioning than the current cycle - a strategic discussion.
- The decision has to be endorsed by boroughs by the end of January but this is seen as a formality.
If you want to see the papers that went to the Leaders Committee, you can find them all via www.londoncouncils.gov.uk/committees.
On 28 January 2011, Mr Justice Calvert-Smith allowed a judicial review challenge of London Councils’ decision to cut £10 million of funding from voluntary sector organisations in London.
The challenge relates to London Councils’ plans to cut £10m from the £26.4m in funding provided by London Councils to voluntary sector organisations in London.
The Judge held that London Councils’ consultation process was flawed and that they had failed to meet their statutory equality duties. He quashed all the funding cut decisions for the 200 plus projects and he said that London Councils must re-run the process, this time with full equality impact assessments.
The claim was brought by Pierce Glynn, solicitors, on behalf of service-users of one of the charities affected by the cuts.
Click here for Pierce Glynn press release
http://www.edf.org.uk/blog/?p=9241
Also refer http://www.dls.org.uk/rights/News/2011/february/2.html
This story was also covered by Pink News http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2010/10/07/campaign-begins-against-potential-c...
London Council grants award is about £1.6m – LGBT community and £600K HIV/AIDS as shown, indirectly their maybe a cross over into other areas of issues.
Service No. Organisation Total London
Councils Grant
29 Age Concern London £920,000
07 Central London Arts Ltd £222,016
33 Consortium of Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Voluntary and Community Organisations £240,000
16 CVS Hounslow/ West London Network £357,816
61, 63 Galop £256,116
33 Kairos in Soho £160,000
30 PACE £190,475
52 Stonewall Housing £300,436
http://www.grants.londoncouncils.gov.uk/search/?org=&kw=lgbt&theme=&st=&bid=&grant=&so=org&submit=Search
Service No. Organisation Total London
Councils Grant
38 Hillingdon Law Centre £283,264
46, 48 & 51 Terrence Higgins Trust £209,471
24 The Food Chain £141,696
http://www.grants.londoncouncils.gov.uk/search/?org=&kw=HIV&theme=&st=&bid=&grant=&so=org&submit=Search
London councils re consultating on how to spend the £28million pounds given that 7.5m people reside within London this equates to about £3.50 being spent per person, given that a council tax D is about £1200.00 is this cost effective and proporationate?
and
London set to lose at least £355 million this year through government cuts Released on 21 June 2010
London’s local and regional government is set to lose at least £355 million this year as a result of the funding cuts already announced, research by London Councils has shown.
The analysis was carried out to gauge the true impact to the capital of the £1.166 billion cuts in funding for local government recently outlined by the government. The impact could be greater as the research doesn’t include any announcements that may be made in tomorrow’s budget.
Its findings show that the capital’s local authorities are set to lose £169.3 million – more than double previous estimates. This is through the combined reductions in general area based grants, funding for achieving Local Area Agreement targets and through other funding streams like Local Authority Business Growth Incentive grants and Housing Planning and Delivery grants.
With the Greater London Authority (GLA) set to lose £185.6 million it means London’s local and regional government is set to lose at least £354.9 million.
However, London Councils fears that the capital could lose even more funding as the government still have to outline how schemes like Building Schools for the Future will be affected by the cuts.
http://www.londoncouncils.gov.uk/media/current/pressdetail.htm?pk=1084
also refer http://benefits.tcell.org.uk/forums/london-councils-commissioning-priori...
http://benefits.tcell.org.uk/forums/consulting-future-role-and-scope-gra...