Failed challenge leaves 50 community groups facing over £1m of Derbyshire council funding cuts

Derbyshire County Council’s controversial Cabinet decision to withdraw over £1m of funding for 50 community groups as part of a budget savings plan is back on track after it has been upheld despite a challenge from opposition councillors.

The Conservative-led council’s scrutiny committee dismissed the challenge at a meeting on December 2 from opposition councillors that the Cabinet decision had breached decision-making principles after they had called it in to be considered.

Scrutiny committee chairperson, Cllr Kewal Singh Athwal, who recorded a majority vote and decision of no breach, said: “I believe no breach has taken place and I think procedures have been taken in a timely manner. Some are painful but they are very necessary but I feel there has been no breach.”

Labour councillors Joan Dixon, Dave Allen, Anne-Frances Hayes, Ron Mihaly and Liberal Democrat Sue Burfoot had asked for the decision to be ‘called’-in and considered by the scrutiny committee at a meeting in the hope it would eventually be reconsidered by the Cabinet or Full Council.

The opposition councillors believe the report into the matter was processed too quickly with budget savings in mind and not as part of a service redesign and that it was pre-determined before a consultation.

They argued the grants have been in place for a long time and that the Cabinet had been unable to identify what the funding has been supporting and what its withdrawal will mean especially for other council funded services.

And they also claimed the report failed to fully address alternative funding options and understand the possible outcomes for organisations in terms of which may now close and what that will mean for the community.

Cllr Dixon told the meeting: “What we have in this paper isn’t a service redesign. It is a financial improvement to balance the books in Derbyshire and the process has been made in haste and for that reason the process is fundamentally flawed.”

But the Cabinet decision to end two types of Discretionary Grant Funding including Adult Social Care Discretionary Grant Funding and Corporate Services and Transformation Discretionary Grant Funding by March, 2025, was upheld and this means community and voluntary groups now face £1.106m of funding cuts.

Stopping the Adult Social Care grants will affect 30 community and voluntary groups which currently receive annual grants totalling just over £722,000 to support work including advocacy, training, befriending and social activities.

The council has been providing Discretionary Grant Funding to eleven voluntary sector organisations for befriending support and it has been providing a discretionary grant to seven voluntary sector organisations to support social inclusion activity.

Some of these organisations include Mencap, Borrowbrook Homelink, Age UK, The African Caribbean Community Association and well-being charity The Bureau.

The council has also supported luncheon clubs and the Bolsover Woodlands Enterprise, self-advocacy organisation Our Vision, and Our Future for people with learning disabilities, and it has funded ten voluntary and community sector infrastructure organisations.

In addition, ceasing the Corporate Services and Transformation Grants means a further 20 groups that receive just over £333,000 will be affected.

These include voluntary and community groups where funding supports the black, minority and ethnic sector, and has helped with training and guidance and specialist advice for groups including Derbyshire Law Centre and Citizens Advice Mid Mercia.

The council has stated that out of the total 50 organisations, seven will be affected by both changes under Adult Social Care, and Corporate Services and Transformation.

Liberal Democrat Cllr Burfoot said she thinks the decision is ‘short-sighted’ and will have ‘far-reaching consequences’ for the most vulnerable.

And Labour Cllr Kevin Gillott said: “This will have a big impact on the community and understanding that impact and its effect on other services has not been assessed.”

The council has stated it will continue to support voluntary and community organisations but it has had to consider whether it can afford to keep awarding discretionary grants with no legal obligation when it needs to prioritise spending on statutory services which it has to legally provide.

However, it has still allocated £50,000 of funding to support continued engagement with groups that help the council meet its own legal duties around equality and partnership-working.

Reform UK Cllr Philip Rose said: “I think there has been a breach. The worry is all the grants are being withdrawn which is more about saving money and suggests a lack of understanding on the impact that will be made.”

But Cllr Carol Hart, Cabinet Member for Health and Communities, told the scrutiny meeting the council does support the Community Voluntary Service and it has given £230,000 of grants towards the CVS to help deliver some of the council’s services.

She argued the decision to withdraw the discretionary funding has been part of a long process which was being considered before the Covid-19 pandemic and that it has been difficult to say what the impact will be on each organisation because they are each organised in different ways.

Cllr Hart said: “A consultation was carried out correctly but it was something that was not a surprise and we have had public meetings and I disagree it was done at pace because this is something that has been going on for some time.”

She added that ‘nobody wants to take the funding away’ from the community and voluntary groups but it is discretionary funding and the council is having to make savings.

Cllr Hart said: “We gave them pre-warning that discretionary grants were in danger. It’s certainly something that has not been done at pace because a lot of work has gone into it.”

Scrutiny committee chairperson, Cllr Athwal, agreed with and confirmed the scrutiny committee’s finding and decision by a majority vote that there was no breach in the Cabinet’s decision making principles.

The council is currently addressing overall saving proposals to manage a budget deficit of over £39m for the 2024/25 financial year after blaming reduced Government funding, the impact from the Covid-19 pandemic, inflation rates, higher prices for fuel, energy and materials, rising costs, meeting the cost of the national pay award and the growing demand for adults’ and children’s social care services.