Ward Empowerment Fund

1. Introduction

1.1 A Ward Member Empowerment Fund (‘the Fund’) allows members to be innovative in formulating proposals for the benefit of residents in their ward. It enables members to build partnerships with local groups and organisations and target funding to kick-start initiatives and support smaller groups which often miss out on financial support to allow them to function effectively. 1.2 The Fund exists to enhance the capacity of members to undertake their community representation role. The Fund does not form part of the Scheme of Members’ Allowances.

1.3 There is an expectation that members will share their experiences of the outcomes of ward-based projects and other uses of the Fund with other members of the Council.

1.4 For wards with multiple Councillors, applications will be considered by all ward members together to agree funding.

2. Scope

2.1 The Ward Member Empowerment Fund Policy (‘the Policy’) is built on a set of agreed principles and an understanding that awards from the Fund are made at the discretion of the Council and will be dependent on the availability of the level of funding available in the ward. The viability of the Fund will be monitored as part of the ongoing budget monitoring.

2.2 A consistent, customer focused process is required, with relevant assessment and evaluation procedures, and appropriate monitoring systems in place.

2.3 The Council must ensure proper, prudent and effective use of public money and awards are based on the principles set out in this Policy.

2.4 The Fund can be used for the following groups with a North Northamptonshire focus and connection. The funding sought must take place in the target ward:

1. Voluntary and community groups
2. Not for profit organisations
3. Parish and Town Councils
4. Schools / Parent Associations (in relation to their non-statutory wider community role)
5. Formally Constituted Groups
6. Community Groups/Associations
7. Charities
8. Community Interest Companies
9. Community Benefit Societies

2.5 Funding is not available for general charity donations.

3. Declarations of interest

3.1 The Council’s Code of Conduct, the Nolan Principles and usual rules on declarations of interest apply to the application of the Fund.

3.2 Members must not place themselves in a position where their honesty and integrity may be questioned and should exercise their responsibility for the stewardship of the council’s resources properly.

3.3 If a member has a private or pecuniary interest in a proposal it is essential that they declare it on the application form to ensure appropriate transparency. No funding will be given when a member directly benefits financially from the award. If a pecuniary interest is declared advice from the Monitoring Officer must be sought before payment is made.

3.4 When a declaration of interest is made, the Head of Democratic Services will be consulted and if necessary, the Monitoring Officer. If as a result a conflict is confirmed, and there is no other ward Councillor who could fund the project, the council will not be able to determine the application. In multi-Councillor wards, the Councillor declaring a conflict of interest, would not take part in the decision making.

4. Pre-election periods

4.1 In the year of a local election, no requests for funding, payments or publicity relating to this scheme will be accepted after 15th February.

4.2 In the event of a by-election for a local member, a hold will be placed on applications during the pre-election period.

5. End of financial year

5.1 All applications for funding in a non-election year must be submitted by the first Friday in March.

5.2 Any applications received after this date will not be processed. Members are encouraged to spread their applications across the financial year to prevent delays in payments in the run-up to the financial year end.

5.3 If the allocated funding has not been used by the end of a financial year, then they will be moved into the general revenue budget of the Council. The Funds will not be rolled over into the next financial year.

6. Use of fund

6.1 The Fund will be aligned to the wards and the number of members within the ward rather than on an individual member basis. This will operate as follows:

• Single member ward - £2,000
• Two member ward - £4,000
• Three member ward - £6,000

6.2 The Fund will not be assigned to individual members but will be assigned to the ward and will require the support of each member of the ward to make the application. The Funding will not be released unless there is agreement by all members of the Ward to support the application.

6.3 The basic funding requirement is based on established need. The overarching principle is that of meeting local needs which have been identified and prioritised by the Council or by others but acknowledged by the Council.

6.4 All activity must meet the following basic requirements in order to be provided with funding:

1. have a clearly identified need that enhances their community representation;
2. enhances the economic, social and environmental well-being of the ward or part thereof; and
3. can deliver outcomes which meet this need.

6.5 One or more wards can also join with an adjacent ward or wards to fund a project, provided it can be shown that the project benefits residents from both or all wards concerned, also up to a maximum of £6,000 in a single financial year.

6.6 Annual funding allocation will be available from the 1st April each year apart from in an election year where it will be available from 1st June.

6.7 Each application must be a minimum of £200 or more. The exception to this is in relation to the cost of printing material for the benefit of the ward. If members want the Council to undertake printing on their behalf, then this will chargeable, and their allocated funding will be used. Printed material cannot promote the individual member or members or be party political.

7. Funding restrictions

7.1 Anything published using financial support from the Fund must not include any reference to political affiliations, use political slogans, expressly advocate policies as being of a particular political party or directly attack policies and opinions of other parties, groups or individuals.

7.2 Members should also not raise unrealistic expectations to potential beneficiaries prior to a decision being made, nor should they incur expenditure themselves and then seek to recover their costs from the Fund.

7.3 No publications or events shall be funded which are issued or held during the period between the notice of an ordinary Council election and the election itself (the pre-election period), nor will support be given during such period in relation to a ward in which a by-election is to be held. For other local or parliamentary elections, the prohibition relates to any event or publication which gives, or could be misrepresented as giving, any publicity whatsoever to a candidate at the election.

7.4 Funding must benefit a group of people, not an individual.

7.5 Any request where the beneficiary has received or is set to receive funding from any other North Northamptonshire Council grants scheme for the same financial year will be refused.

7.6 The Fund must not be used as a provider/funder of services when another public service provider cuts a service.

7.7 No publications or events shall be funded which are designed, or appear to be designed, to influence local people in deciding whether or not to sign a petition or vote in an election.

7.8 Members cannot access the Fund directly or transfer funds themselves. All payments are made by officers and are subject to the Council’s usual internal controls on expenditure.

7.9 The Fund may not be used for any purpose for which the Council could not itself incur expenditure and must not contravene Financial Procedure Rules or the Councillor Code of Conduct.

7.10 The Fund may not be used for any purpose which would breach the Council’s Constitution or be in contravention of the Council’s policy framework.

7.11 The Fund may not be used for expenditure which would be in breach of any statutory provision relating to elections and referendums.

8. Eligibility

8.1 In order to manage the Fund applications in a fair and equitable manner, the Council has established eligibility criteria with which all applicants must comply.

8.2 Beneficiaries can only make one funding application to the Fund per financial year from the Council.

8.3 Beneficiaries cannot apply for additional funding towards existing projects funded by the Council. Applications for annual events such as fetes/festivals/carnivals made in different financial years will be considered as separate projects for the purposes of this criteria.

9. Application process

9.1 All applications must be submitted by the Lead Ward Councillor with the confirmed consent of the other Ward Councillor(s) where there are multi-Councillor wards. on the online form along with any required supporting documentation. The online form may be updated from time to time (in accordance with this Policy) by the Stronger & Safer Communities Service.

9.2 Members should always use the latest version issued by the Grants Team part of the Stronger & Safer Communities. Support is available from the Grants Team should it be required, via email to [email protected]

9.3 The Lead Ward Councillor will be required to sign a declaration that the funding meets the requirements of the Policy and does not contravene the restrictions set out within it. Where the Ward Members wish to pool the ward Funds with another ward for the benefit of the communities, they will all be required to sign the declaration.

9.4 Consent must be obtained from the recipient organisation or service area before an application is submitted. As the policy requires agreement by the members of the Ward it is expected that Ward Councillor must be notified prior to the application being submitted.

9.5 The Recipient must provide invoices, quotations, and receipts to accompany a request for funding from the Fund.

9.6 A flowchart of the application process is attached at Appendix A.

10. Assessment and decision

10.1 Assessment and awards will be made on a rolling basis; there is no application window.

10.2 Once an application has been received the designated Officer will acknowledge this within seven (7) working days. As part of this acknowledgment the Member will be informed:

1. if the application is eligible for assessment
   and
2. if there is any mandatory information missing

10.3 Following a due diligence process, the Head of Democratic Services will approve the use of the Funds. Where the funding requirements are not met an explanation will be provided to accompany the refusal.

10.4 Where a member sponsoring an application is also a member of the beneficiary group/organisation to which the funds will be directed, the Head of Democratic Services will consult with the Monitoring Officer before making a decision to award funding, to ensure there is no perception of bias.

10.5 Where a member sponsoring an application is a trustee or board member of the beneficiary group/organisation, the application is likely to be rejected.

10.6 The Members and Head of Democratic Services will be expected to follow the timescales and process for a funding approval as per Appendix A.

10.7 Applications will be processed within six weeks of receipt of the application. Once an application is approved the Ward Member and the beneficiary will be notified by email and details will be recorded on the decision register, published on the council website.

10.8 Records of expenditure will be maintained, reports compiled and published from time to time.

10.9 The Council gives no undertaking that Member Empowerment Funding under this scheme will be available in future financial years. This will be subject to funding availability and Council priorities.

10.10 If an application is unsuccessful there is no right of appeal.

11. Review of the policy

11.1 The Policy will be reviewed at least once a year by the Director of Law and Governance (Monitoring Officer). The viability of this Fund and the associated Policy will form part of the annual budget monitoring.

12. Related policies and procedures

12.1 The Fund will be supported with working procedures, guidance notes (‘How to Apply’ guide) and an application form. All documentation will be aligned to ensure that applying for Ward Member Empowerment Funding is easy and straight forward for the applicant.

13. Monitoring and transparency

13.1 All fund applications, decisions and remaining balances will be monitored. The awards will be published on the Council website.

13.2 All assessments of Fund applications will adhere to this Policy.

13.3 The assessment of the Fund applications will be undertaken by the Head of Democratic Services and must be able to justify recommendations made, and the rationale. Each decision made to allocate funds will be published on the council’s website.

13.4 Members are discouraged from making proposals for funding where they are a member of the group/organisation making an application to prevent any perception of bias, especially where the members are in a leadership/board position. Such proposals will be considered on a case-by-case basis by the Head of Democratic Services, in consultation with the Monitoring Officer.

14. Complaints and comments

14.1 The Council is always keen to hear feedback from beneficiaries; both positive and negative. If a beneficiary wishes to leave feedback on how their application has been dealt with, details of the process can be obtained from the Grants Team at [email protected]

14.2 If a beneficiary wants to make a formal complaint they can use the Council’s complaints process - details are available at North Northamptonshire Council’s website (northnorthants.gov.uk).

14.3 Any enquires relating to this Policy should be addressed to:

• Community Funding, North Northamptonshire Council
• Email: [email protected]
• Telephone: 0300 126 3000

15. Adherence to the Public Sector Equality duty

15.1 A public authority must give ‘due regard’ to:

1. Eliminate discrimination, harassment, victimisation and any other conduct that is prohibited by the Act.
2. Advance equality of opportunity between people who share a relevant protected characteristic and persons who do not share it.
3. Foster good relations between people who share a relevant protected characteristic and people who do not share it. 15.2 Further details about equalities monitoring can be found on the council’s website and in the Equalities privacy notice.

16. Data protection implications

16.1 A Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA) is a process to help you identify and minimise the data protection risks of a project. The Council is required to undertake a DPIA for processing that is likely to result in a high risk to individuals.

16.2 The Council has considered the data protection implications of processing information relating to the Member Empowerment Fund. This processing is compliant with the provisions in the Data Protection Act 2018 and the UK General Data Protection Regulations (UK GDPR). Further details of how personal data is processed and kept securely can be found in the Members Empowerment Fund Privacy Notice on the council’s website - www.northnorthants.gov.uk

17. Terms and conditions

17.1 Recipients must agree to the Terms and Conditions included.

17.2 Any allocation of funding will be deemed to be a grant.

Glossary of terms

Appendix A - Application process

Complete the application form along with any supporting information and submit.

Application will be considered by the Grants Team and will undertake due diligence.

The Head of Democratic Services will review the application to determine if this meets the criteria for approval. If approved notification will be provided to the Ward Member, followed by the recipient.

On receipt of a signed agreement between the recipient and Council, a payment will be made to the recipient's bank account.

The Grants Team will ensure that there is monitoring and feedback and will liaise directly with the recipient.