Switch to single pot leaves social regeneration projects short of cash

The abolition of the single regeneration budget has left many
community and voluntary groups that run social regeneration
projects struggling to find funding, according to research by Urban
Forum.

Initial findings from the community and voluntary sectors’ umbrella
body, unveiled at its annual conference in Blackpool last week,
show that many groups find the new single-pot funding impossible to
access.

Urban Forum researcher Sarah Fishbourne told delegates that the
single pot, which is managed by regional development agencies, had
caused problems for those groups whose work did not have an obvious
economic benefit. The single pot replaced single regeneration
budgets and other regeneration funding streams in April.

The problem stems from the targets given to the RDAs, all of which
have an economic bias. Organisations providing advice services were
among those that had been particularly badly affected by the
change, Fishbourne said.

The research, sponsored by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister,
confirmed many of the fears raised by Urban Forum at the time the
replacement of SRB was announced.

Fishbourne said interviews with community and voluntary groups in
Yorkshire, Humberside, the North East and the North West had shown
that “there are already a lot of very contentious issues”.

She added: “Many groups are having trouble getting money from the
single pot, partly because they don’t know how to access it.” She
said this was exacerbated where local strategic partnerships were
not well developed and individual groups were having to approach
RDAs directly.

“The messages we are getting are that money is going to social
enterprise-type projects which can prove their economic worth. This
is not good if we want to build capacity,” Fishbourne said.

The forum is now working on a project that aims to change the RDA
targets so they do not disadvantage community groups working in
social regeneration. The research is due to end in March but may be
extended.

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