London Councils recently invited responses to a public consultation about the future of its grants programme and its review of the potential equalities effects on the protected groups as part of its duties under the Equality Act 2010.

The survey closed on Friday 23 March.

View Grants Committee papers relating to this on the London Councils site Opens in a new window 

About us and our grant funding

London Councils represents all 32 London boroughs and the City of London Corporation, the Metropolitan Police Authority and the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority which all pay an annual subscription to cover the organisation’s running costs.

London Councils also provides a grants programme with the costs met by the London boroughs and City of London Corporation. The Local Government Act 1985 requires that at least two-thirds of the constituent councils (these being the 32 London boroughs and the City of London Corporation) must approve the proposed overall level of funding for grants to voluntary organisations and other costs incurred in making the grants.  The level of funding that each council contributes to the Grants Scheme is in proportion to the population of their respective borough.

Grants are made through commissions for fixed periods to enable delivery of efficient and high quality services designed to improve the lives of vulnerable people in London. The grants aim to deliver London wide services that do not duplicate what is best provided by boroughs, or groups of boroughs, and voluntary organisations working together. The commissions to deliver services meet the principles and priorities agreed by London Councils.

Background

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:
  • genuinely pan-London front line services
  • infrastructure support to service providers
  • capacity building for service providers
  • voice and representation services
  • services where the mobility of clients is key to delivery (domestic violence, homelessness etc)
  • 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.

A list of the current commissions can be seen at www.grants.londoncouncils.gov.uk Opens in a new window and shows the date when current individual agreement to provide services and grants will end.

Read more about the consultation process