Decision details

RESOLVED:

That District Executive:-

a.

Agreed to a one year funding agreement for the period April 2020 to March 2021, for Citizens Advice South Somerset and SPARK.

b.

Agreed to a one-off increase of £30,000 to the Grants Budget to:-

i.  Provide an additional £23,305 to Citizens Advice South Somerset to further mitigate against the effects of the removal of the County Council core grant.

ii.  Provide an inflationary uplift of £1,260 to the annual grant to SPARK

iii.  Fund an initial allocation of £5,435 as SSDC’s contribution to the package of support work with the Citizens Advice as described in Section 5.1

c.

Agreed that the funding of CASS beyond 2021 would be subject to the outcome of the package of support work described in paragraph 4b(iii) above.

d.

Agreed that the future funding of SPARK beyond 2021 would be subject to the outcome of a wider piece of commissioning activity to be determined in line with emerging council priorities.

e.

Noted that Access for All’s future was currently uncertain, and that until further investigative work had been completed on future sustainability, no commitment to funding was being sought.

Reason:

To confirm the funding of two strategic voluntary sector partners, Citizens Advice South Somerset (CASS) and SPARK for the period 2020-2021, and to note the possible closure of Access for All.