When people hear the words, ‘Voluntary and Community Sector’, they often imagine small local organisations, run by volunteers, campaigning, or providing services such as lunch clubs for older people, or neighbourhood based activities.
Bristol City Council’s spreadsheet listing investment in Voluntary and Community Organisations shows that this year (2013/14) the Council grant funds and/or buys services from the sector to the value of £34,529,782.
The Council’s definition of Voluntary and Community Sector is broad in that its list includes a local group with an income of ‘up to £5,000’ and a Housing Association with an annual turnover of £49 million, (and many others in between).
The type of investment by Bristol City Council into the sector in Bristol breaks down as follows:
Contracts: £28,776,971
The organisations contracted to deliver services on behalf of the Council are providing a range of statutory and discretionary services. Services include:
· Preventing homelessness
· Independent living for vulnerable people
· Open access play activities for children and young people
· Improved mental health
· Enhancing the abilities of carers to care more effectively.
A number of these services are at risk in the current budget proposals.
We have listed the Council’s budget proposals and where possible added further notes to indicate where there may be an impact on a Voluntary and Community Sector service provider.
Grants: £5,752,811
The Council grant funds a number of organisations. Grant funding is often used to support new and innovative work with vulnerable communities, OR services that are more effectively carried out by a small, local organisation, for example:
Within this sum, the Council’s Community Investment fund this year, totals £2,300,000. Historically this fund has supported organisations working with vulnerable people in the most deprived areas of the city.
The current proposal is to reduce this fund by 15%, but to protect the element of the fund that supports advice services.
The result of protecting the advice services [which are, of course, important at this time] would mean that the remaining organisations supported by this fund may be facing a cut of 20%.
The vulnerable organisations are listed here.
Other grants include funding to organisations that are delivering:
As far as we can identify from the budget proposals, the only type of organisations in the Council’s list, NOT vulnerable to cuts at this time are grant-funded arts organisations.