Budget consultation guide – DRAFT

The current Bradford Council budget proposal would see over £1 million in funding cut from voluntary sector support in the next 3 years, starting with an immediate cancellation of VCSE support services. The funding, totalling £460,000 per year is used to ensure that charities, voluntary and community groups and social enterprises can continue to exist.

If the Council’s budget proposals go ahead, this would lead to an 83% cut in council funding for services that support the sector. This puts at risk:

• Development Officers (help with funding, governance, business planning, safeguarding, marketing, other 1:1 support)
• Information and news (Briefing Bradford, social media and website resources)
• Training and events (including Big Advice Day, Volunteers Week, Trustee Week)
• Volunteering support (recruitment, training)
• Networks and collective voice (Leaders, EDI, Young Lives, Health and Care, Supporting Communities)
• Activity to speak up for the sector and raise issues at strategic level
• Allocation of Council small grants (e.g. for prevention and early help)
• Brokering corporate support (including business volunteering, financial resource, pro bono support)

We encourage you to read the budget proposal document which can be found on the CBMDC website. The section relating to VCSE Infrastructure is 4.29 but the wider document covers other budget proposals and sets context. Do also read the Equality Impact Assessments before responding – specifically see the EIA linked to the VCSE Infrastructure proposal. 

When you are ready, we would ask you to think about:

• What Infrastructure Support you accessed / what we did for your group
• What impact this support had on your group and the people that you support
• What might have happened if our support wasn’t there, or what might happen in future if we’re not around to help
  • No Development Officer to ask questionsNo Briefing Bradford/resources all in one placeNo free training and eventsNo support recruiting volunteersNowhere to feed in collective voices
• Where would your clients/service users go if you were to close?
• What are the potential implications for the Council budget if your service or support was not available to residents?
• Any other comments you would like to make about the value of the support you have received.

Now you’ve read our guidance, you should head to bit.ly/haveyoursay-budget and complete your response. If you have any direct links to councillors, please also contact them to offer your feedback on the proposals.

If you’d like to attend an event to feed into the consultation, your last opportunity to do this is the Leaders Network Special on January 23^rd, taking place 10:00 to 12:00 at Fountains Church, BD5 0BQ.

If you’d like to attend one of our Area Network events to take part in a conversation about what future sector support might look like in light of this consultation, please look at our calendar and book. These take place from 1^st February.

You must respond by 17^th February, but we urge you to respond sooner than this if you can.

If you need any support with your response, please contact one of our Development Officers who will be happy to help.

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