Opposition urges Derbyshire council to rethink over £1m of funding cuts for community groups

Concerned opposition councillors claim a Derbyshire County Council Cabinet decision to withdraw over £1m of funding for 50 community and voluntary groups may place pressure on the council’s other services.

The Conservative-led council’s Cabinet recently approved the end of two types of handout by March 2025 including Adult Social Care Discretionary Grant Funding and Corporate Services and Transformation Discretionary Grant Funding amounting to £1.106m of funding cuts for community and voluntary groups.

However, Labour councillors Joan Dixon, Dave Allen, Anne-Frances Hayes, Ron Mihaly and Liberal Democrat Sue Burfoot have asked for the decision to be ‘called’-in and considered by a scrutiny committee at a meeting on December 2.

Labour Group Leader, Cllr Joan Dixon, said: “Grants to community groups such as luncheon clubs, befriending services and other groups that support the old and vulnerable are all being cut.

“And the Community and Voluntary Services which support these groups are also having their funding removed.”

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.

Derbyshire County 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.

The opposition councillors have challenged the Cabinet decision on the grounds that they believe the report into the matter was done quickly with budget savings in mind and not as part of a service redesign and that it was predetermined before a consultation.

They also argue the grants have been in place in some cases for many years and the Cabinet is unable to identify what the funding has supported and what its withdrawal will mean such as placing extra demands on other council revenue funded services.

Among the opposition councillors’ objections, they also claim the report makes no commentary on the prospects and success of any possible alternative funding options for the groups to pursue and that the Cabinet cannot be aware of which organisations may now close down with an impact upon the community.

The council has stated it will continue to work with its ‘partners’ 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 while ensuring it prioritises spending on statutory services which have to be provided by law.

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

Cllr Carol Hart, Cabinet Member for Health and Communities, said the council has pledged to work with ‘partners’ towards a longer-term sustainable future for funding to voluntary and community organisations.

And Cllr Natalie Hoy, Cabinet Member for Adult Care, has said the council has funded many of these organisations for up to 20 years but it is facing increasing financial pressures outside its control and it has to ensure finite resources are targeted at services that it is required to deliver by law.

The council is currently addressing saving measures to manage a budget deficit of over £39m for the 2024/25 financial year.

It has blamed reduced Government funding, the impact from the Covid-19 pandemic, inflation, 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 for its plight.

If the scrutiny committee decides that the Cabinet breached decision-making principles the Discretionary Grant Funding matter could be referred back to the Cabinet for reconsideration or it could be referred to Full Council if it is deemed that any budget and policy framework has been contravened.