The Portfolio Holder for People & Places presented the report which outlined the proposed changes to the Council’s code of Practice for grant making, which focused on speeding up and making the process of applying easier. She also explained that there would be bi-annual meetings of officers involved to share best practice.  The People & Places advisory Committee had considered and supported the same report.

The Community Projects and Funding Officer advised that the proposed changes to the scheme guidelines would better adhere to the new code of practice and be in line with current processes, with particular attention to how the lower grant limit of £500 was raised to £1000 to allow the scheme to provide meaningful grants in the current economic climate. The assessment criteria for applications was also updated.

It was explained that further work would be undertaken with the support of the legal team to reduce the timescales of grant-making and would be a future report.

Public Sector Equality Duty
Members noted that consideration had been given to impacts under the Public Sector Equality Duty.

Resolved: That

a)    The revisions to the Council’s Code of Practice for Grant-making as detailed in Appendix A, be approved.

b)   The recommended actions as set out below, be approved

i)             The Council Code of Practice for Grant-making is amended as detailed in Appendix A to update it in line with current practices.

ii)           The new version of the Code of Practice for Grant-making is re-distributed to all managers and services that offer grants.

iii)          A meeting of all officers that deliver grant schemes is held twice yearly to share good practice and ensure consistency across Council teams.

iv)          To implement the amended Community Grant Scheme Guidelines attached as Appendix B.

v)            To amend the online application form to reflect these proposed revised Community Grant Scheme Guidelines.

vi)          To share the revised Community Grant Scheme with the voluntary and community sector via the Voluntary Sector Forum.

vii)         Collaboration between Officers, including those of Legal and Democratic Services, and Members, to understand if and how the appraisal process for the Community Grant Scheme could be migrated from Committee appraisal to another process, to enable the approval process to be more streamlined with a quicker turnaround.  This piece of work will include investigating the possibility of introducing two funding rounds per year for the Community Grant Scheme.

c)    The revisions to the Community Grant Scheme Guidelines as detailed in Appendix B, be agreed.