Area Based Grant - The Herefordshire Partnership

Area Based Grant

Area Based Grant

Area Based Grant is made up of a collection of grants which were previously allocated as discrete grants to organisations in local areas. This revenue funding is now going direct to local authorities who are free to use this non-ringfenced funding as they see fit to support the delivery of local, regional and national priorities in their areas. It is important to recognise that Area Based Grant is not new money and in many cases has historically been used to support services for the community.  It therefore poses a challenge to ensure this funding is targetted on addressing the identified priorities for Herefordshire while ensuring that essential services are maintained.

Area Based Grant for Herefordshire
The Area Based Grant (previously known as the Local Area Agreement Single Pot) has grown and the number of funding streams included within it has increased significantly, as has the funding from £2.4 million in the Single Pot in 2007/08 to £15.6 million in the Area Based Grant for 2010/11.

 

Area Based Grant is managed and monitored through the six Policy and Delivery Groups who are tasked with ensuring that funding is used to address identified priorities.  Groups are encouraged to work together to add value, ensure that activity really makes a difference to the local community.

 

As ABG is made up mainly of historic funding streams it has been a challenge to identify funding which can be freed up to address identified priorities.  In 2009, in order to bring some flexibility into how the ABG is allocated, the Board and Management Group agreed a top slice methodology which ensures that funding is available to reallocate against priorities.  New grants coming into the ABG continue to be allocated in full for the first year to allow time for adjustment in service delivery.

 

 In 2010 it was agreed to take a 6% top slice from the overall ABG, which realised £776k revenue for reallocation back to the Policy and Delivery Groups.   One million pounds of capital funding from the LPSA2 Reward Grant was added to this and groups were asked to put forward proposals outlining how this funding could be used to really make a difference.

 

Based on the agreed formula ABG allocations in April 2010 were

 

	94% Allocation	Flexible Pot Revenue	Capital Funding
Children's Trust	£3,637,471
Economic Development Partnership	£1,174,897	£271,000	£250,000
Environment Partnership	£68,150
Health and Wellbeing Partnership	£3,768,796	£194,000	£50,000
Safer Herefordshire	£1,093,452	£116,000	£500,000
Stronger Communities	£1,352,589	£194,000	£200,000

 

Supporting People Grant (£5.3 million), which was brought into the Area Based Grant in 2009 continues to be managed and allocated outside of the Policy and Delivery Group framework, overseen by a dedicated the Supporting People Transition Board.

 

In June 2010 reductions of £1.15 million in Herefordshire Area Based Grant were announced.  These reductions were mainly in the area of Children and Young People but also affected Road Safety Grants, Home Office Grants, Cohesion and Supporting People Administration grants.

 

In order to accommodate these reductions, a comprehensive challenge exercise took place between Policy and Delivery Groups, who were asked to identify which areas of their funding could be freed up for reallocation.  The results of this process identified £1,354,170 of unallocated revenue funding which was agreed by the Management Group at their meeting on 6^th October.

 

Following the agreed adjustments the Area Based Grant available to Policy and Delivery Groups in October 2010 was

 

	Revenue allocation	Capital Allocation
Children's Trust	£3,581,724
Economic Development Partnership	£616,879	£250,000
Environment Partnership	£54,861
Health and Wellbeing Partnership	£3,400,211	£50,000
Safer Herefordshire	£446,954	£500,000
Stronger Communities	£977,589	£200,000