MD2713 Young London Inspired Phase 2 - My London

1.1 In September 2017 under cover of MD2171 the Mayor approved expenditure of up to £1.7m over three years for the Young London Inspired (YLI) programme. The programme received funding of £833,000 from the Big Lottery Fund (now The National Lottery Community Foundation) and, at net cost to the GLA of £883,000, delivered three programme streams: Team London Young Ambassadors, Microgrants and a grants fund. The YLI programme aimed to enable a London-wide environment where all young people are encouraged to take part in volunteering and social action through the different activity types. It also aimed to offer a supportive programme structure where young people at risk of mental ill health can receive the positive wellbeing benefits of engaging in community action.

Young London Inspired Phase 2 Programme (My London)

1.2 Since 2018, the grants strand of the YLI programme has funded 40 organisations. During this time, awards have included 29 one-year grants of between £5,000 and £15,000 and four multi-year grants of up to £50,000 to organisations focussing on volunteering and social action programmes with young people from target cohorts that may be at more risk of developing poor mental health in the future.

1.3 To date, 680 young volunteers have been engaged across the programmes. 75% of these young people are new to volunteering and are from groups that face increased barriers to participation, such as young carers, young people who are NEET (not in employment, education, or training), and young people involved in the criminal justice system. Evaluations to date show that 67% of young people reported improved wellbeing as a result of taking part in these programmes. 75% of young people taking part were from Black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) backgrounds. 208 young people reported that they would continue involvement with the charity beyond the funding and a number of organisations committed to continuing their social action programmes and providing more opportunities for young people to volunteer.

1.4 Expenditure of up to £872,000 for the Phase 2 of the YLI programme was approved under cover of MD2591. This included the receipt of £435,000 matched funding from #iwill (administered by the National Lotteries Community Fund) to deliver over three years, at a net cost to the GLA of £437,000.

1.5 With the onset of Covid-19 and the subsequent re-prioritisation of GLA budgets, it is now proposed that the GLA will contribute £533,000 over three years (beginning in 2021/22) from funds allocated to support young Londoners. The programme will still benefit from the £435,000 of match funding that has been committed from The National Lottery Community Foundation #iwill fund and was approved by MD2591. In addition, £47,000 remaining from the YLI budget approved by MD2171 (joint GLA and #iwill funding) will also be incorporated in the Phase 2 budget. This takes total expenditure to £1,015,000.

1.6 The second phase of YLI has been developed in response to the growing concern around young people’s mental health due to the impacts of Covid-19 and puts frontline youth sector organisations at the heart of developing models of youth engagement for young people in their communities. There is a range of evidence that indicates the positive benefits volunteering can have on wellbeing and which is consistent with the findings from our existing programme as set out above in paragraph 1.3 above.

1.7 This new four-year programme is addressing a “gap in the market” with regards to providing funding for groups that work with vulnerable young people to develop volunteering programmes. It also recognises the importance of multi-year funding for the sector with a focus on designing sustainable solutions. Specific funding has been allocated in the final year to ensure this work can continue past the funding period.

1.8 This work will be delivered in areas that have been identified as having particular needs based on the impact of Covid-19, Serious Youth Violence (SYV), economic deprivation and unemployment, and lack of young people's infrastructure. Team London have worked with the Violence Reduction Unit (VRU) in developing the programme, and worked closely with the GLA Intelligence Unit to compare key indicators of the needs of young people and strength of the youth sector across all boroughs in London. This has enabled identification of where the My London approach could have the biggest impact both in supporting young people and strengthening the youth sector. The three areas that have been selected (each target area being a pair of neighbouring boroughs) are: Lewisham and Greenwich, Hillingdon and Ealing and Barking and Dagenham and Redbridge. These boroughs all fall into the top ten areas of London with high levels of young people who are NEET, vulnerable young people, looked after children, young carers and young people in the criminal justice system.

1.9 Models of collaboration in the sector often favour larger organisations who have capacity to invest time and resource up front, and without funding, to build and manage a collaborative proposal. For the YLI phase 2, My London programme we are taking the innovative approach of funding and resourcing collaborations in two stages with the aim of funding three Collaborative Groups (each with a lead recipient), made up of up to five organisations (a mixture of grassroots and medium sized organisations) from the target areas.

1.10 Stage One (as described in paragraph 1.12) funding will enable medium sized and grassroots charities to take part and give them the resource to build a collaborative model and lead on youth engagement in their area. Stage Two (as described in paragraph 1.14) will invite applications for funding towards their projects following the successful completion of stage one. There will be a funding agreement with the lead recipient per each stage of the programme.

1.11 Expenditure will be as follows:

Stage one

1.12 In stage one each Collaborative Group will identify one lead recipient who will enter into a funding agreement with the GLA for this stage. This organisation will be responsible for coordinating the initial group funding bid and distributing group payments to the organisations. They will also manage the relationship with the design lab delivery partner (as detailed in paragraph 1.18) and commission additional capacity building support that the group identifies. Over this period each Collaborative Group will have monthly facilitated design meetings with the design lab partner and collaboration meetings supported by a GLA officer. By the end of the period we expect each Collaborative Group to have improved joint working and have developed a proposal for youth social action in their area.

1.13 Criteria will be developed to ensure a fair application and award process, with appropriately experienced GLA officers evaluating applications. The three successful lead recipients will each be awarded funding of up to £37,000, however it may be decided to allocate the ratio of funding differently if it would be of more value to the programme, or if Collaborative Groups have fewer members. For this development stage there will be £10,000 for each lead recipient and they will provide £5,000 to each organisation they are collaborating with. £7,000 will also be awarded to each recipient to be ringfenced for capacity building support during the design lab period.

Stage two

1.14 In stage two each lead recipient will submit a proposal of their programme model to the GLA. Subject to the proposal meeting the overall intentions of the programme, each lead recipient will be awarded funding of up to £200,000 to deliver their local model with their organisations over the following two years. Towards the end of the two-year period, the Collaborative Groups will be provided with support to enable them to plan for sustainability of their programmes. To support their sustainability planning an additional (up to) £10,000 will be allocated to each lead recipient for capacity building support.

1.15 It is important to ensure that throughout the delivery period the Collaborative Groups continue to take a wholly asset based approach, and to also ensure that there is space for the reflection and learning that will allow them to develop and adapt their programmes to best meet the needs of young people over the two years. To support this, the lead recipients will each receive £6,000 over the course of the delivery years (2022/23 and 2023/24) to support ongoing collaboration meetings and group development. This will fund staff time for attending collaboration meetings over the two years, and room hire. This additional fund will be awarded at the end of the design lab year.

1.16 A series of learning events will bring together all Collaborative Groups (15 organisations) to share learning and provide peer support. We have allocated a budget of £8,000, over two years for these learning meetings to fund room hire catering and any potential external speakers. This process will be managed by the GLA lead officer.

1.17 A procurement exercise will be completed to secure an organisation to deliver the design lab element of the programme to the value of approximately £60,000 over 12 months. Their responsibilities will include using their specialist expertise to facilitate the Collaborative Groups in designing local models which will be used to engage the target groups of young people in social action. They will also conduct regular meetings with the recipients and their organisations to help analyse the gaps in provision and explore further needs of the community.

1.18 A procurement exercise will also be undertaken to appoint an organisation to deliver the evaluation aspect of the YLI phase 2 programme to the value of approximately £45,000, completing their evaluation with a final report at the end of the programme. They will work with the Collaborative Groups to define the evaluation criteria that will be used to measure the impact of their models. They will conduct interviews with the Collaborative Groups, the participants, and collate and analyse the findings and monitoring data.

1.19 This Decision seeks approval for expenditure of up to £533,000 for the phase 2 of the YLI programme. This includes GLA expenditure of up to £241,000 in 2021/22, £229,000 in 2022/23 and £63,000 in 2023/24), totalling £533,000. As approved under cover of MD2591, the #iwill National Lottery Community Fund will provide match funding totalling £435,000 and this decision notes the reprofile of this, now consisting of £20,000 in 20/21, £254,000 in 21/22 and £161,000 in 22/23. £47,000 remaining from the YLI budget approved by MD2171 (joint GLA and #iwill funding) will be spent in the current financial year. Receipt of funding from #iwill is contingent upon the GLA providing match funding of £533,000.

2.1 YLI phase two will develop and test ways of embedding good practice in involving young people in social action, particularly targeting those who are at risk of mental ill health (e.g. refugee and asylum seeking young people, young people engaged in the criminal justice system, looked after children, young carers, young people with learning or physical disabilities, young people who are NEET and young people who identify as LGBTQ+).

2.2 Number of beneficiaries – we will work with each Collaborative Group to set their own key performance indicators (KPIs) on the number of young people reached through their local models. Grant funds awarded in the YLI programme to date have supported young people on a £500:1 ratio. Using this as a benchmark for the new programme, we would expect each Collaborative Group to reach approximately 400 young people over the course of the programme (i.e. a total of 1200 young people). However, this number will vary depending on the design of the model, the needs of the young people and the level of intensity of the proposed programme. As this work is being delivered to improve the wellbeing of young people, it is important to note the potential ‘social return on investment’ for the programme. The benefits of this work would support young people in a range of ways which aim to reduce the need to access services e.g. mental health support, youth offending team support and other statutory interventions.

2.3 Supporting recovery missions:

• A New Deal for Young People: by supporting place-based access to youth provision, by providing platforms for youth voice, and by promoting the strong link between youth workers, youth activities and positive mental health;
• Mental Health and Wellbeing: by increasing access to opportunities that support positive mental health and wellbeing for young people most at risk of adverse mental health; and
• Building Strong Communities: by strengthening local networks, enabling social action and amplifying young Londoners’ voice to shape recovery in their communities.

2.4 Programme Outcomes: Collaborative Groups will be asked to ensure that their programmes they design include KPIs based on set indicators from our outcomes and evaluation framework. We will set parameters for the KPIs to ensure Collaborative Groups include targets in the following areas:

• reaching vulnerable young people more susceptible to developing mental health issues;
• achieving positive wellbeing outcomes for the young people involved;
• positive outcomes for the community, including building resilience post Covid- 19;
• working with young people under 14 years of age;
• incorporating youth voice;
• developing a model that is sustainable; and
• contributing to the health and resilience of local civil society.

2.5 This will help to ensure that programmes achieve the following overall outcomes for young Londoners:

• increased opportunities in London for young people from vulnerable backgrounds to gain positive wellbeing benefits from volunteering and social action;
• improved practice in involving vulnerable young people as volunteers in target areas;
• improved collaborative working between youth organisations working with vulnerable young people in specific geographical areas;
• sustainable models of volunteering for young people in target areas; and
• increased knowledge of how a funder can support sustainable volunteering initiatives consolidating learning that can be shared with youth organisations and other funders across London.

2.6 The lead recipients will sign funding agreements with the GLA which will clearly outline terms of funding, outputs and outcomes and expectations which will be used as a monitoring framework.

3.1 Under section 149 of the Equality Act 2010, as a public authority, the GLA must have ‘due regard’ of the need to: eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation; and advance equality of opportunity and foster good relations between people who have a protected characteristic and those who do not.

3.2 Team London‘s projects aim is to ensure that all Londoners can access opportunities and indeed by doing so support other Londoners equally throughout the city. These projects particularly promote equal life chances, reducing barriers to social mobility and demonstrating improvements in social integration and effective community engagement. This will involve working with young people and under-represented and disconnected Londoners to connect them, through volunteering and initiatives, with education, training and the world of work.

3.3 Team London commissioned research to look at the barriers and challenges involved in getting Londoners to participate in volunteering. This is to support work on reward and recognition and to ensure that volunteering and social action programmes are structured in a way that is as appealing and accessible as possible. The Survey of Londoners showed that volunteering and social action participation improves social integration, and so increasing accessibility of programmes will improve rates of social integration experienced by volunteers.

3.4 The work also embraces London’s diversity and fosters good relations by connecting Londoners from a variety of backgrounds together in support of commons causes.

3.5 Team London has tasked itself with growing the numbers of volunteers from multiple backgrounds and communities in the capital, and with enabling young people from diverse and deprived backgrounds and protected characteristics to become involved in volunteering and social action.

3.6 This programme will specifically target young people with protected characteristics. A key goal of this programme is to advance equality of opportunity between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic and persons who do not share it. In particular they will target young Londoners from more diverse and deprived backgrounds who might experience significant barriers to participating in social action and volunteering, looking at how to overcome these barriers and motivate and reward young people in ways that support them to grow. These goals will be built into the project at the development stage and collaborative groups will discharge their projects.

3.7 Team London programmes provide flexibility to those who have specific needs such as a disability or special educational needs, by ensuring that any content and delivery is adapted to meet different needs and where required, support equipment will be made available. Physical access to learning will be considered and arrangements will be made where required.

Key risks and issues

4.1 The following table sets out the key risks and issues for the project:

Links to Mayoral strategies and priorities

4.2 As outlined in para 2.4 above, these activities link into the Recovery mission priorities and are supporting pieces of work that can start immediately.

4.3 This work will also support objectives set out in a number of statutory strategies:

• the culture strategy and the sport and physical activity strategy recommend supporting Londoners of all ages to volunteer and to take action to improve the city. By working with communities and civil society groups across London to encourage active participation, ‘My London’ will support this objective;
• volunteering, or participation, is one of the three pillars in the Mayor’s social integration strategy and the strategy outlines a commitment to ‘improve volunteering and social action opportunities, to increase participation, particularly among groups of Londoners who are less likely to be engaged.’ Encouraging more Londoners to get involved in volunteering for, and connecting with, others in their community also supports the aims and objectives of the equality, diversity and inclusion strategy and the health inequality strategy;
• inspiring young people to foster valuable life skills by becoming active citizens in their local area, and bringing communities together builds on the recommendations in the skills strategy. ‘My London’ also provides increased opportunities to support young Londoners to build skills to engage with the job market and the world of work; and
• providing non-medical, community-based activities that people could be referred to for improved health and wellbeing (social prescribing) linking to the health inequalities strategy.

4.4 There are no conflicts of interest to declare for any of the officers involved in the drafting or clearance of this decision form.

5.1 Approval is sought for expenditure of up to £533,000 as match-funding, to deliver phase 2 of the Young London Inspired programme.

5.2 The expenditure will be funded from the Mayor’s Young Londoner’s Fund (which currently sits within the Education and Youth team) and allocated to the Team London and Community Sports Unit. Below is the breakdown per financial year, including updated match-funding income profile:

5.3 Future years’ budgets are indicative and still subject to the GLA’s annual budget setting process.

6.1 Sections 1 to 2 of this report indicate that the decisions requested of the Mayor concern the exercise of the GLA’s general powers, falling within the GLA’s statutory powers to do such things considered to further or which are facilitative of, conductive or incidental to the promotion of economic development and wealth creation, social development or the promotion of the improvement of the environment in Greater London; and in formulating the proposals in respect of which a decision is sought officers have complied with the GLA’s related statutory duties to:

• pay due regard to the principle that there should be equality of opportunity for all people;
• consider how the proposals will promote the improvement of health of persons, health inequalities between persons and to contribute towards the achievement of sustainable development in the United Kingdom; and
• consult with appropriate bodies.

6.2 In taking the decisions requested, the Mayor must have due regard to the Public Sector Equality Duty; namely the need to eliminate discrimination, harassment, victimisation and any other conduct prohibited by the Equality Act 2010, and to advance equality of opportunity between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic (race, disability, gender, age, sexual orientation, religion or belief, pregnancy and maternity and gender reassignment) and foster good relations between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic and persons who do not share it (section 149 of the Equality Act 2010). To this end, the Mayor should have particular regard to section 3 (above) of this report.

6.3 Officers have indicated in this decision form that the contribution of £338,000 amount to the provision of grant funding and not payment for services. Officers must ensure that the funding is distributed fairly, transparently, in accordance with the GLA’s equalities and in a matter, which affords value for money in accordance with the GLA’s Contracts and Funding Code. Officers must ensure an appropriate funding agreement is put in place between and executed by the GLA and the recipients before any commitments are made.

6.4 Officers must ensure that they comply fully with all applicable GLA HR/Paid Service protocols in respect of any staffing proposals.

6.5 The design lab and evaluation services required must be procured by the Transport for London Commercial team who will determine the detail of the procurement strategy to be adopted in accordance with the GLA’s Contracts and Funding Code. Officers must ensure that appropriate contract documentation is put in place and executed by the successful bidders and the GLA before the commencement of the services.

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