£191,000 to be handed out in grants to 452 charities in Lancashire, but trail remains cold

“Satisfactory evidence” of the use of £67,698 of last year’s grants had been submitted to the county council within six months of the close of the 2023/24 scheme – 35 per cent of the total pot – with evidence relating to £123,416 of outstanding rewards.

However, an analysis of the initiative for the 2022/2023 financial year – twelve months after its end – showed that 83 percent of LMGS expenditure was ultimately accounted for.

Each year, county council members are allocated a budget of £2,000, which they can use to support projects within their area – although the amount was increased to £2,500 last year to fund local celebrations of the King’s coronation. County councilors use their discretion to decide which programs to support, based on requests from groups seeking specific assistance.

The authority is asking for evidence of how individual grants have been used – either after a recipient organization’s project has ended or six months after the money has been spent – to ensure the rules have been followed and that the money has been issued on the basis agreed by the government. member who awarded the prize.

If that information is not provided, the issuing county councilor will be notified and he or she will have to approve a future application from that group as they have failed to contact the authority – although nothing would stop them to do this.

A report recently presented at a meeting of the provincial council’s audit, risk and governance committee said the monitoring of grant funding is intended to be “proportionate” taking into account the size of the organizations delivering the receiving support and the resulting requests for retention. to “minimize” paperwork.

A spokesperson for Lancashire County Council told the LDRS: “These are small grants – usually just a few hundred pounds – to small community organisations, often run by volunteers.

“We send reminders to recipients requesting relevant documentation, but understand that it may sometimes take some time to get the information as these are not large-scale professional organisations.

“In some cases, community organizations come together for a single event or activity and awards are presented well in advance to facilitate planning.

“Regular updates are made to the Audit, Risk and Governance Committee to reassure councilors that the process is robust and there are no major concerns about the awards.

“Council members generally view the plan as very positive as it helps them support small local groups to make a big difference in their communities with relatively small sums of money.”

In the 2023/2024 period, the highest percentage of outstanding requests for evidence concerns the last month of the financial year – with 60 of the 65 projects supported by March 2024 having not yet provided the necessary information. However, details have yet to be submitted on the use of cash spent much earlier this year – with 119 of the 260 schemes funded between April and October 2023 still not reporting.

Josh Mynott, head of the county council’s democratic services, told committee members that groups that do not fully use the money for the purpose for which it was given typically return the balance to County Hall.

“Most organizations are very open and honest about it – they appreciate the money they get,” he said.

Any money not spent by a community group during the financial year in which it is spent can be returned to the relevant district councilor’s LMGS budget, while the majority of money not allocated by members from their annual allocations in instead it is used for the benefit. of children in care and recent care leavers.

Popular projects

The most common use of member grants in 2023/2024 was to fund community events – of which 172 received financial support. That was followed by the purchase of equipment (107 projects), sports and leisure activities (40), supporting community facilities (36), covering the costs of repairs and renovations (28), financing education projects (23), environment and climate change work (11), healthy eating initiatives (8), cost-of-living programs (4), projects for the elderly (3), and park and playground upgrades (2). There were 11 ‘miscellaneous’ activities.

Examples of some scholarships awarded by members last year:

***£370 to Kingsfold Football Club for training equipment

***£200 for a new food mixer for the Royal Voluntary Service Garstang Lunch Club

***£750 to Kirkham in Bloom for garden tools

***£200 for Preston City of Sanctuary to pay for a family day for sanctuary seekers

***£350 to Incredible Edibles in Burnley to pay for garden tools, plants and seeds

Subscribe: Stay in touch directly with the latest headlines from Blog Preston, join our WhatsApp channel And Sign up for our biweekly email newsletter. Both free and straight to your phone and inbox.