Group 8 (Gareth -recorder) - 'Elves in the night' - funding for infrastructure in a time of famine by Cumbria CVS

2024-11-27 12:21:08 UTC

It's getting harder for local authorities and funders to justify.

2024-11-27 12:24:27 UTC

As a chief officer we've got 1500 members, so we have to be careful about what we can provide. I'd love to be able to do lot's of projects but projects can only be part of what we do. It's that 'Elves in the night' there's all this work that goes on behind a charity in terms of making sure you comply with the Charity Commission and safeguarding, there are a lot of hoops to jump through and boxes to tick and I think, because of these increased procedures, that's putting people off

2024-11-27 12:26:46 UTC

We make good use of our volunteers and we couldn't run without them but, for example, if I look back to last year, we now have to do body person's approval and chaperones. We do performing arts competitions but we now need a council approved chaperone as part of their group.

2024-11-27 12:29:29 UTC

Myself and my staff members, we've become approved chaperones but I've got people phoning up saying, 'what's this about chaperones' sometimes it's too much responsibility and people don't want to do that. This is going into our second year of needing chaperones. They thought it was going to be more straight forward but I don't think they realised how much paperwork and time it was going to take.

2024-11-27 12:30:42 UTC

There's increased regulation, it's harder for volunteers to just turn up. The infrastructure needs growing.

2024-11-27 12:32:22 UTC

All of the Third Sector work keeps people out of acute services.

2024-11-27 12:34:59 UTC

We (Cumbria Young Farmers) recognise we've got some real challenges ahead. If you look back at our history, we were set up to prevent rural isolation, in the Great Depression, labour was very cheap and it was set up to give people training, those things really ring true today.

2024-11-27 12:35:43 UTC

In a famine situation for their own funds, passing on money without getting a direct monetisable effect for the council, is difficult

2024-11-27 12:37:19 UTC

There's something called the Social Value Engine, what this means is, young feed in what you do and it comes out with how much money has been saved in another service by doing what you do.

2024-11-27 12:38:19 UTC

It would be really good to do as an exercise.

2024-11-27 12:39:16 UTC

You can go to a funder and say, 'if you give us this, this is what we can do for you...'

2024-11-27 12:42:36 UTC

The reason I said this (the question) is that it affects the funders as much as the services.

2024-11-27 12:42:41 UTC

My question this afternoon, is the same as this but on the flipside.

2024-11-27 12:44:34 UTC

If you look back at charities 50 years ago, it was like 'yes the cheques in the post', councils have moved to this model of community panels but that's really not going to work for us as an organisation. How do we as an organisation with 25 clubs across the county, we can't get direct funding in that area and nobody wants to give us funding from the other pot.

2024-11-27 12:44:58 UTC

There doesn't feel like there's anywhere to go.

2024-11-27 12:46:01 UTC

County council used to have, as well as the area committee method of accessing funding, they used to also have strategic grants.

2024-11-27 12:47:20 UTC

It is increasingly difficult for the local authority to just give money.

2024-11-27 12:48:17 UTC

Grants were put in place when the council stopped delivering a youth service. You have a statutory responsibility to deliver youth provision.

2024-11-27 12:48:59 UTC

It is a bit of a fallacy that you are being given a grant to do what you want with it.

2024-11-27 12:50:55 UTC

The 'hunger games' system is being passed on from local authorities to the Third Sector

2024-11-27 12:52:06 UTC

There are some interesting things about collaborative funding. Key organisations in the room can go 'there is about this much funding available for this area, how can we divide that up.'

2024-11-27 12:53:03 UTC

It doesn't feel like there is anybody central in Cumberland or Westmorland & Furness that I can go to.

2024-11-27 12:54:01 UTC

Since LGR it is difficult to know who to go to. These little hubs will be giving grants every so often...

2024-11-27 12:54:47 UTC

There might only be two people from Appleby so their hub is not going to fund something.

2024-11-27 12:55:49 UTC

There is a bit of a loss of corporate memory since LGR.

2024-11-27 12:57:31 UTC

The last time we were here, everybody wanting something called a Com-pact. National Government is now talking about a Civil Society Covenant which is probably what people wanted the Com-pact to be.

2024-11-27 12:58:16 UTC

If I'm giving Westmorland one tranch of information and Cumberland another, it's double the work.

2024-11-27 12:59:12 UTC

For a year or two before Covid, we all needed a revamp because it was a bit like 1980s corporate culture.

2024-11-27 13:02:14 UTC

It's a question of marketing, you have to present me with something that describes what you're going to do with the funding

2024-11-27 13:03:25 UTC

We need to look at how we give the council the information in a way that is helpful and engaging

2024-11-27 13:04:12 UTC

In terms of youth work grants, the council needs to show that it is doing its statutory duty.

2024-11-27 13:06:28 UTC

The councils seem to have lost their budget lines in LGR.

2024-11-27 13:06:55 UTC

What we need is someone who can translate what people do into local authority speak.

2024-11-27 13:08:13 UTC

If there was a communicator in there it would help, it's things like sharing the office decision making template. How does this contribute to the council plan, the climate etc. knowing those boxes people have to fill in is quite useful.

2024-11-27 13:09:15 UTC

It's about accountability as well.

'Elves in the night' - funding for infrastructure in a time of famine

2024-11-27 14:33:27 UTC