FCR03 - Financial Savings 2024/25 - Community Engagement
| Title | FCR03 - Financial Savings 2024/25 - Community Engagement |
|---|---|
| Council Resource | Finance and Corporate |
| Aims and Objectives | To assess the impact of reducing staffing levels within the Community Engagement Team. The Council engages in community planning including a formal Community Planning Partnership that involves and engages communities as members. There also has to be a Local Outcome Improvement Plan - focussed on inequalities and looking at the Scottish Government National Outcomes. In South Lanarkshire, this is called the Community Plan 2022-2032. We also share a duty with other CPP Partners to deliver the Outcomes of this plan and report on it annually. We coordinate the partnership both in its governance and in the delivery of the Community Plan. An additional duty we share with CPP partners is to develop locality plans in areas of ‘stubborn inequality’. The partnership has identified 12-13 SIMD neighbourhoods ranked in the worst 10% or above and had created and reports annually on 10 Community Plans. 2 Further Neighbourhood Plans are in development and a final plan is to commence next year. We also have a duty to keep all of these plans under review and report on them annually. Through the CPP, the team provide a vital link with partner agencies, as well as helping them to make direct contact with the departments and key officers of the council that are best placed to deliver on these plans. Other statutory work relates to the Child Poverty Act 2010. There are 19.5 FTE in this area and a budget of £0.868m. The saving would be a 50% reduction in budget in year 1. The staffing implications would be a reduction of 9.5 FTE Grade 2-5. This unit delivers minimal work beyond the minimum required to meet those statutory obligations so this saving will result in a reduction in the work we do with communities more generally and a reduction in the quality and volume of the work carried out to meet our duties relating the Community Planning. It is very specifically going to affect our ability to deliver on Tackling Poverty both as the Council and as a Community Planning Partnership. Statutory obligations mean it will be impossible to withdraw or reduce from some specific areas of service, notably support provided for Community Asset Transfer (which is also a priority in terms of rationalising of council assets), work in support of the Community Planning Partnership and period products. For this reason, the saving would be required from community engagement activities – in essence, reducing this to core activities such as neighbourhood planning, with fewer non-statutory engagement projects and limited capacity building support for communities. There are no other Council services supporting community development or capacity and skills building for community organisations that are not youth or family focused. A consequence of this could be reduced engagement and consultation with the communities and a reduction in community empowerment development in areas of persistent inequality. |
| Conclusion | The Service currently supports engagement activities across all protected characteristics. the impact of reducing staffing levels within the Community Engagement Team is likely to is a potential for negative impacts on the protected characteristics of age, disability, and sex. Statutory obligations will continue to be delivered. The potential saving is £0.430m. The impact of this proposal will be monitored and reported through the regular committee reporting process. Approved with amendment at the Council meeting on 21 February 2024. Amendment reduced the saving to £0.215. |
| Completion date | 21 February 2024. |
| Contact Email address | equalities@southlanarkshire.gov.uk |