Agenda item

The Head of Corporate Services presented the Councillors’ Community Support Scheme, for the Group to consider and review.

The Group was advised that this was not a full review, as this took place in line with the electoral cycle. This year, it was hoped to phase out using paper application form, with Councillors being given appropriate training to help facilitate this change. The Head of Corporate Services advised that significant improvements had been made to the electronic form, which was easy and straightforward to use for both the applicant and Councillors, ensuring that the correct information was included, speeding up the process and so providing a good audit trail.

The Chair and members of the Group expressed concern that elderly and disabled residents, and those without internet access might be unable to complete a form, and this could stop people applying and asked what measures would be put in place to overcome that. The Head of Corporate Services confirmed that Councillors would continue to be able to complete the form on the applicant’s behalf, and members of the Council’s Customer Services team could also do that.

The Chair agreed with the principle but felt that the navigation process needed to be improved to make it easier to complete the form, and that should take place before completely moving over to using electronic forms.

The Chair felt that for one member wards the £1,000 budget was very limited and questioned if that could be increased; however, other members of the Group felt that this was an appropriate amount. It was suggested that it would be helpful if Councillors who were close to exceeding their budget could apply to use some of the unspent budget.

A member of the Group asked if there could be a way of logging that a Councillor had completed a form on behalf of an applicant, to ensure transparency, and once a form was completed, if a Councillor could be updated on progress, including when a payment had been made, and details of what funds they had left for the year. 

In answer to a question regarding a minimum turnaround time for applications, the Head of Corporate Services advised that this depended on the information that was submitted, with delays caused by incorrect or missing evidence having to be chased up.

Members of the Group questioned if there was a way to redistribute funds or roll them over to the next year if they were unused and the Head of Corporate Services clarified that any unspent money was returned to the Council’s reserves. Any changes to this process could be looked at when the next full review was undertaken before the next elections. 

A member of the Group stated that it was not easy for residents to navigate the website to locate the form and it was unclear what the scheme was called, and the Head of Corporate Services advised that this would be investigated and resolved.

It was RESOLVED that subject to the comments made, the Community Support Scheme as appended to the report be approved and that all applications received should be electronic.