Croydon Council is having to make some difficult decisions in the wake of years of Labour mismanagement of the economy. With budgets under increased pressure, the Conservative Council has to ensure it gets absolutely the best value for money. As part of the corrective action which the new Government has had to take to address the budget deficit it inherited, Croydon Council has already had to accept in-year cuts in excess of £6m.
There has been a review of grant funding for organisations from the voluntary sector. This has included measures to ensure that every organisation that receives funding from the Council can demonstrate that it delivers definable, valued services to Croydon residents.
At Croydon Council’s Cabinet Meeting on 12th July, Cllr Vidhi Mohan, Cabinet Member for Communities, put forward a paper for revised funding for 2010/11. Members of the public, Conservative councillors and Labour councillors were given an opportunity to put questions to Cllr Mohan.
After the meeting, Cllr Mohan commented “We certainly do value the contribution of the voluntary sector, but we must ensure that Croydon residents get the maximum value from the grants given. We will be moving towards an approach where we commission services from voluntary organisations. Nevertheless, in order to ease the transition we have set up a fund of £350,000 to help organisations in the short term.”
“We have also ensured that the voluntary sector umbrella organisations (including Croydon Voluntary Action and the Croydon BME Forum) which enable much of the voluntary sector activity do continue to receive council support for their core activities. Indeed, it will be they which administer the £350,000 fund.”
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