PCD 1363 Developing Grassroots Provision in the VAWG Sector 2023/24–2024/25 - Round Two

PCD 1363 Developing Grassroots Provision in the VAWG Sector 2023/24–2024/25 - Round Two

This Decision sets out the proposed funding and commissioning approach to the second phase of the VAWG Grassroots Fund for financial years 2023/24 and 2024/25. 

Since 2020, the Mayor has invested £3m to the VAWG Grassroots fund (PCD559), aimed at supporting the resilience of organisations who focus on ending VAWG. Delivered in partnership with the London Community Foundation and The Social Innovation Partnership, the Fund has supported 41 London-based grassroots VAWG organisations, all run by ‘by and for’ minoritised communities, 75% of which are led by women of colour.  

It is the intention to build on the success of the VAWG Grassroots fund to date, to create a new 2-year fund for 2023/24 and 2024/25, to enable growth, and to improve accessibility to as wide a range of community groups as possible including to those who are black and minoritised, those with disabilities, neuro-diverse, LGBT+ and older people. This Decision is also to ensure appropriate resource is allocated to the Fund Manager to effectively engage and deploy the Grassroots Fund. The London Community Foundation are the existing fund managers for the VAWG Grassroots Fund and the intention is to retain their services, in reference to PCD 1196 Grant Administration Services Contract.

The total financial commitment for round two will be £1.7m in 2023/24 and £1.7m in 2024/25 for the Grassroots Funding pot and London Community Foundation (LCF) Fund Manager and Capacity Building fee. 

The Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime is recommended to:   

1. Approve 24 months funding for Round 2 of the VAWG Grassroots Fund for FY 2023/24 and FY 2024/25, to the total of £3,000,000. 

2. Approve issuing a contract variation to LCF via the Grant Administration Services contract (awarded under PCD 1196) with a value of up to a maximum of £400,000 for the management of the VAWG Grassroots Fund and the delivery of the capacity building programme; 

3. Delegate the approval of detailed arrangements for the disbursement of the Fund to the Director of Commissioning and Partnerships in consultation with the Chief Finance Officer; and 

4. Delegate authority to the MOPAC Chief Finance Officer to sign the variation to the Grant Administration Services contract with LCF

PART I - NON-CONFIDENTIAL FACTS AND ADVICE TO THE DMPC 

1. Introduction and background 

1. Since 2020, the Mayor has invested £3m in funding to the VAWG Grassroots Fund, up until 31 March 2023. The purpose of the VAWG Grassroots Fund is to nurture and enhance grassroot voluntary and community sector (VCS) providers who are supporting victims of VAWG in line with the Police and Crime Plan and VAWG Strategy priorities. Round one fund started on 1 April 2021 and is currently due to end on 31 March 2023. There is a fund management contract in place with London Community Foundation, LCF (Grant Administration Services Contract PCD 1196) from July 2022 to June 2025, who are responsible for the development and administration of the fund and capacity building. The fund management contract value was a total of £400,000. The funding pot was £3m, which was awarded to a total of 41 projects, with total grants ranging from £30,000 to £100,000 for single organisations and up to £120,000 for partnerships. 

2. The objectives of the VAWG Grassroots Fund include:   

• Support VAWG grassroots organisations to sustain their services;  

• Build the capacity of existing services for women and girls affected by VAWG; 

• Increase the accessibility of grassroots organisations best placed to respond to the needs of London’s diverse communities and women with no recourse to public funds for whom mainstream, generic provision is not always appropriate or safely accessible; 

• Fund services that are responsive to communities of protected demographic groups at a grassroots level and can reach survivors across borough boundaries.  Particularly in areas where there are gaps in provision and a specialist service may not be commissioned locally due to low density of users; 

• Develop networks of experts in services tackling VAWG to build overall sector capacity; 

• Support the voluntary and community sector to undertake robust performance monitoring and evaluation methods to demonstrate what difference the funding has made and what works. 

3. The VAWG Grassroots programme has shown considerable success. Key findings from the first year demonstrated that the grant supported the majority of recipients to: 

• improve organisational capacity 

• respond to increased need through developing new services 

• improve existing services 

• improve client access to services 

• co-develop services with clients where possible 

• strengthen existing partnerships and create new ones.  

4. A key to the success of the VAWG Grassroots Fund has been through the commissioning of Fund Managers, the London Community Foundation. The remit of the Fund Manager goes beyond the normal processes of simply administering grants and contract management responsibilities and extends to capacity building through the delivery of a learning programme. 

2. Issues for consideration  

1. Through developing a round 2 of the fund, MOPAC will increase the breadth and depth of specialist and locally tailored support that is available to victims in London, particularly those who are multiply excluded from accessing mainstream and/or statutory service support. 

2. The principles and rationale behind the programme remain, with Covid and cost of living impact creating additional need. Ring-fencing for funding particular groups (i.e. by and for) has been continued on other MOPAC programmes and received well on a national level. 

3. We are working at pace with the Fund Managers LCF to develop the next phase. We currently estimate that it will take approximately 3 months to launch and award grants for round two and the indicative timeframe would be to open in March 2023 and to allocate funding in June 2023. 

4. With the support of MOPAC, LCF submitted a bid to the 2 Year Home Office VAWG Support Services Fund 2023-2025 on the 27th January 2023, seeking to provide continuation grants for a cohort of existing Grassroots Recipients. If successful to the bid, MOPAC will provide match funding of £57,000 over the 2 years of the fund to support further learning and development for grantees. 

3. Financial Comments  

1. The draft budget for 2023/24 includes £1,700,000 per annum for the VAWG Grassroots Fund.  

2. This decisions seeks approval to allocate £1,700,000 across both 2023/24 and 2024/25, a total of £3,400,000. This is made up of £3,000,000 for grant funding and up to a maximum of £400,000 for fund management and the capacity building programme. 

3. The funding will be transferred in advance to LCF in instalments twice a year, in order to enable them to disburse the funding to its recipients, in line with the terms of the Grant Administration Services contract. Expenditure will be managed as part of MOPAC’s standard contract management processes, and LCF have their own robust financial management processes in place for grantees. 

4. Legal Comments   

1. MOPAC’s general powers are set out in the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act 2011 (the 2011 Act). Section 3(6) of the 2011 Act provides that MOPAC must “secure the maintenance of the metropolitan police service and secure that the metropolitan police service is efficient and effective.” Under Schedule 3, paragraph 7 (1) MOPAC has wide incidental powers to “do anything which is calculated to facilitate, or is conducive or incidental to, the exercise of the functions of the Office.” Paragraph 7(2) (a) provides that this includes entering into contracts and other agreements. 

2. Section 143 (1) of the Anti-Social, Behaviour Crime and Policing Act 2014 provides for MOPAC to provide or commission services “intended by the local policing body to victims or witnesses of or other persons affected by offences and anti-social behaviour.” Section 143 (3) specifically allows MOPAC to make grants in connection with such arrangements and any grant may be made subject to any conditions that MOPAC thinks appropriate. 

3. Under MOPAC’s Scheme of Delegation, the approval of business cases for revenue or capital expenditure of £500,000 and above, are for the DMPC. The strategy for grant giving, the award of individual grants, all offers made and the award of grant funding are also for the DMPC. The decisions in this report can be approved by the DMPC. 

4. Officers must ensure the financial Regulations and Contract Regulations are complied with. 

5. Commercial Issues 

1. The contract variation is allowed within the terms of the Grant Administration Services contract with LCF, approved through PCD 1196. 

6. Public Health Approach 

1. Grant awards and variations are informed by the Mayor’s public health approach to violence reduction and therefore part of MOPAC’s contribution to overall efforts led by the Violence Reduction Unit.  The public health approach to violence prevention is being led by London’s Violence Reduction Unit (VRU), which supports the MOPAC work through preventative programmes supporting young people. 

7. GDPR and Data Privacy  

1. MOPAC will adhere to the Data Protection Act (DPA) 2018 and ensure that any organisations who are commissioned to do work with or on behalf of MOPAC are fully compliant with the policy and understand their GDPR responsibilities. 

2. A full Data Protection Impact Assessment will be completed by all providers if required as part of the mobilisation for the services, to ensure that all delivery is fully compliant with the requirements of the GDPR.    

3. Equality Comments  

4. MOPAC is required to comply with the public sector equality duty set out in section 149(1) of the Equality Act 2010. This requires MOPAC to have due regard to the need to eliminate discrimination, advance equality of opportunity and foster good relations by reference to people with protected characteristics. The protected characteristics are: age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation. 

2. The Mayor’s VAWG Fund tranche 3, known as Developing Grassroots Provision in the VAWG Sector (or the VAWG Grassroots Fund) was established to provide two-year grant funding and a bespoke Learning Programme that has been co-designed with grantees on the fund, to strengthen, support and improve the resilience of grassroots ‘by and for’ organisations responding to VAWG in London. Delivered in partnership with the London Community Foundation and The Social Innovation Partnership, the Fund is currently supporting 41 London-based grassroots VAWG organisations, all run by and for minoritised communities, 75% of which are led by women of colour. 

3. Several recent reports, including the Mayor’s refreshed Tackling VAWG Strategy 2022 – 2025, have highlighted the difficulties faced by black and minoritised women, disabled women, LGBT+ people and migrant women when accessing services. Victims and survivors from these groups that can get support from ‘by and for’ organisations demonstrate considerably better outcomes.  

9. Background/supporting papers 

1. PCD 711 Mayor’s VAWG Fund Tranche 3 Developing Grassroots Provision in the VAWG Sector. 24 April 2020. 

2. PCD 1196 Grant Administration Services Contract. July 2022.