Issue - decisions

Decision(s) taken:

To award a grant of £20,000 to the Cambridge Community Foundation Coronavirus Fund.  The funds are to be taken from the Anti-Poverty Fund.

Decision of:

Strategic Director 2

Date of decision:       

30 March 2020

Matter for Decision:

To agree a donation to Cambridgeshire Community Foundation so that small grants can be made to support local groups working to alleviate hardship issues linked to the Covid-19 pandemic.

A Cambridge Resilience group has been established, to connect, advise and support fourteen ward-based organisations. Each ward has an organisation identified able to receive funds, and there may also be city-wide calls on the funding, to support work relating to coronavirus.

This money was set aside in the Anti-Poverty Strategy for emergencies, but has not been allocated to any projects in 2019/20. Its intended use was the prevention and alleviation of poverty. There is now an urgent need to alleviate risks to people.  Making the fund available as grants through CCF will be an effective way of targeting people in crisis in the city.

Allocations of the anti-poverty grants are normally made by the Executive Councillor for Communities (with committee scrutiny) but these exceptional circumstances require an immediate response. Allocating funding to CCF means that funds can be made available quickly to groups to run mutual aid efforts across the city.

Any alternative options considered and rejected:

Officers considered the alternative option of running the grants programme ourselves, but decided that to combine funds with CCF allows more resource to be deployed and more quickly.

Officers considered whether this was an appropriate use of the anti- poverty fund reserve.  I decided that in these exceptional circumstances this is an appropriate response to immediate need. 

Reason(s) for the decision including any background papers considered:

An urgent decision under paragraph 2 of section 9, Council Procedure Rules was necessary.  The Executive Councillor for Communities was consulted and the Communities spokes was advised.

Conflicts of interest and dispensations granted by the Chief Executive:

None.

Other Comments:

None

Reference:

2020/OfficerUrgent/EnC/07

Contact for further information:

Suzanne Hemingway, Strategic Director 01223 457461 suzanne.hemingway@cambridge.gov.uk