End of discretionary grant funding?
Is this the end of the road for voluntary sector funding in Derbyshire?
“The current county council cuts will decimate our communities and irrevocably alter the lives of our most vulnerable. Our sector has always been the safety net for those falling through the cracks of service criteria and health inequalities. What will happen now? How can we move forward in partnership with Derbyshire County Council when our capacity is slashed, or we cease to exist?” – Jacqui Willis, CEO of Derbyshire Voluntary Action.
It is potentially devastating news for voluntary organisations and community groups across Derbyshire.
Due to Derbyshire County Council’s financial situation, they are considering how to prioritise spending on services they are required to provide by law against those that they are not required by law to deliver.
The impact of this could be catastrophic for the voluntary sector across Derbyshire AND the thousands of people they support.
What do they want to stop funding?
The proposal is to stop adult social care grants, which would affect 30 community and voluntary groups. In total these currently receive annual grants totalling just over £722,000.
A further 20 groups would be affected by the proposal to stop corporate services and transformation grants. These receive grants totalling just over £333,000.
Seven of the organisations are affected by both proposals.
A 12-week consultation period ran from Tuesday 28th May 2024 until 20th August 2024.
Derbyshire Voluntary Action understand that there may be a delay in a decision from Derbyshire County Council which we had anticipated on 21st November 2024.
Derbyshire Voluntary Action receives £18,166 from Adult Social Care and £5,305 from the Corporate Services and Transformation grants scheme. These funds support our infrastructure work for 500+ member groups and the wider health and wellbeing voluntary sector across North Derbyshire.
Our infrastructure services include administering a small grants scheme, assisting voluntary groups in their development and partnership working, ensuring they have a strong voice, and enabling their active engagement in new health and wellbeing service initiatives.
We also offer a community hub in the centre of Chesterfield and deliver projects and training for small community groups across Chesterfield and NE Derbyshire, enhance physical mobility and neighbourhood connections, and provide training for small community groups.
Our Feeling Connected project combats social isolation by helping people to become more socially active. This project also supports individual looking to enhance their community impact.
If the DCC funding was to end it would be very difficult for us to continue that work or to participate in any infrastructure networks, emergency response forums or work collaboratively across sectors. The strength of our response to the pandemic and the cost-of-living crisis has relied upon these strong linkages.
Find out more about our response to the proposed cuts here.
We now know that Derbyshire Community Transport will have closed by the end of October. This is a devastating loss to our communities where so many have relied on their support for nearly 40 years. Chesterfield Care Group have put out an impassioned plea to help them find a way to provide their own transport links to their service users. If you can help then check out their GoFundMe campaign.
“Charities you are stronger than you think – we can get through this, we can get through this together” – Jane Parsons, Chesterfield Care Group.
If you are affected, as a charity, community group, volunteer, user, or otherwise we’d love to hear from you. Knowing and being able to show the impact of these decisions is crucial to being able to challenge them. Let us know, and together we can all stand against these cuts.