New £ 4m fund is launched but many charities miss out
HUNDREDS of Glasgow charities will miss out on vital cash under the controversial Communities Fund – but up to £ 4million will be given to struggling groups.
Councillors have agreed to award more than £ 14m to 74 citywide projects, with another £ 33m to be handed out to local schemes next week.
But 134 third- sector organisations have been knocked back by Glasgow City Council.
The new Communities Fund process will now be reviewed to “learn lessons” ahead of the next funding round in 2023.
It will consider “whether the council is the right body to manage a discretionary grants process”.
A new £ 4m transitional support fund has been agreed to help some groups who missed out on the money.
These include the advice sector, violence against women organisations, communities of interest and equalities groups.
Councillor Jennifer Layden, city convener for community empowerment, equalities and human rights, said she was
“aware of the anger and the upset” caused.
“I deeply regret that. This was never the intention.”
Protests were held outside the city chambers after many groups, including Citizens Advice Bureaux and law centres, discovered they were set to miss out.
The Communities Fund was designed to replace the old Integrated Grant Fund, which Ms Layden said had been “closed to the vast majority” of organisations. She added an “independent review” should now make “recommendations for moving forward”.
Labour’s Martin Rhodes said there had been a “flaw in the policy”.
“The approach of this fund is one that would fit more easily with a charitable trust, dispensing funds to good causes.
“Rather than a local authority looking to work in partnership with third sector providers to deliver services across the city. “Having one pot into which a whole range of organisations bid competitively for money will inevitably result in the lack of a strategic approach.”
Sector partnerships in the North East, North West and South of the city will decide where the remaining £ 33m is awarded during meetings next week.
A Labour amendment, adjusted by the Greens, was accepted by Ms Layden.
It added the transition fund “should match the length” of the current Communities Fund and a report on the review should be delivered by September next year.
City treasurer Ricky Bell said the transition fund had been set
up to help those “most severely impacted by the pandemic and the resulting lockdown”.
Additional funding has also been identified for arts organisations.
Mr Bell added the new fund can be delivered before the end of September, when many groups without funding would need to make staff redundant.
However, he said it will not be enough to support all the
organisations who have been unsuccessful with Communities Fund bids.
New Glasgow Labour leader Malcolm Cunning said the announcement was required as there are “systematic” problems with the Communities Fund.
“We feared that this would happen, and it has, and it would have happened without Covid.”
Senior officers will speak to third sector groups to understand their needs and a report, recommending how the transitional fund should be used, will be presented on September 17.
Council leader Susan Aitken confirmed talks are ongoing with the Scottish Government about the need for more third- sector support.
“The old models of funding aren’t sustainable as demand grows in our communities,” she said.
“The pot available for the council to put into non- statutory services isn’t growing.”
Mr Cunning said part of the solution was “adequate funding of local government”.