North Yorkshire Council

Corporate and Partnerships Overview and Scrutiny Committee

9 June 2025

Localities Service Funding

1.0 PURPOSE OF REPORT

1.1 The report provides an overview for Members in relation to the Localities Service expenditure and how the range of programmes delivered by the Localities Service is funded.

2.0 BACKGROUND

2.1 At the meeting of the Committee on 3 March 2025, when an overview of the work of the Localities Service was considered, Members requested further information in relation to the expenditure and funding sources for the range of programmes delivered by Localities.

2.2 The Localities Service comprises of three teams: Communities, Parish Liaison and Local Devolution, and Migrant Programmes. The Communities and Parish services are funded through a mix of Council base revenue budget and external funding sources. The Migrant Programmes services are funding exclusively from national funding programmes.

3.0 SUMMARY

3.1 The table below summarises the overall service expenditure and income across all three Service areas – paragraphs 4-6 outline each in more detail.

Localities Expenditure	2024/25 (£)
Communities	4,374,173.05
Parish Liaison and Local Devolution	23,049.00
Migrant Programmes	3,957,439.07

Localities – total Expenditure	8,354,661.12

Localities Income	2024/25 (£)	2025/26 (£)
NYC Base Budget	561,122.50	454,700.00
Public Health Grant	850,000.00	850,000.00
National Funding Allocations	6,058,429.91	3,411,150.11
Other	884,296.23	513,069.32

Localities – total Income	8,353,848.64	5,228,919.43*

* Excludes budget estimates for Migrant Programmes as national funding allocations

based on demand

4.0 COMMUNITIES SERVICES AND PROGRAMMES

4.1 The Communities Team deliver a range of services to support communities and the voluntary sector to work alongside the Council to contribute to preventative services, improving community resilience, reducing health inequalities and social regeneration.

4.2 This is achieved through the delivery of a range of programmes and projects such as: the Stronger Communities Programme (Inspire and Achieve Grants; coordination of the Holiday Activities and Food Programme; investment in Community Anchors; supporting cost of living projects); Community Partnerships; Community Infrastructure and administering the Shared Prosperity funding for community grants, digital inclusion and community buildings.

4.3 The tables below provide an overview of the funding and expenditure for this work for 2024/25 and the budgets where available for 2025/26.

4.4 Communities: Expenditure

Stronger Communities Programme	2024/25 (£)
Voluntary Sector Grants (Inspire, Achieve and CAOs)	731,121.97
Legacy District Council Grants	526,958.00
Headfirst Mental Health Grants & Training	19,492.28
VCSE Infrastructure Support	580,810.05
Cost of Living Events and Training	15,943.35
Sub-total	1,874,325.65

Other Programmes
Holiday Activity and Food Programme	1,410,570.00
SPF Digital Inclusion Grants	500,000.00
Village Halls and Community Buildings Grants	589,277.40
Sub-total	2,499,847.40

Communities: Total Expenditure	4,374,173.05

4.5 Communities: Income

	2024/25 (£)	2025/26 (£)
NYC Base Revenue Budget	561,122.50	404,700.00
Public Health Grant	850,000.00	850,000.00
NHS Income	210,602.28	248,846.72
DeFRA	15,943.35	27,870.11
Recharges	174,477.49	113,000.00
Stronger Communities Reserve	70,193.95	250,000.00
Dept for Education	1,410,570.00	1,420,280.00
Shared Prosperity Fund	500,000.00	975,000.00
Rural England Prosperity Fund		875,000.00
Combined Authority Mayoral Grant Fund	603,500.00	14,222.60

Total	4,396,409.57	5,178,919.43

4.6 The tables illustrate that the majority of expenditure managed by the team is drawn from external funding sources and is ring-fenced for the delivery of specific activities. Of the total spend in 2024/25, 12.8% (£561k) was funded through the Council’s base revenue budget, 19.4% (£850k) from Public Health and the remaining 67.8% from external funding sources.

5.0 PARISH LIAISON AND LOCAL DEVOLUTION SERVICES

5.1 The Parish Team delivers a range of services to support the parish sector such as Parish Liaison and the Parish Charter and also administer national Community Rights programmes including community asset transfers and devolving services.

5.2 This is a new service following local government reorganisation and as such a budget wasn’t set for 2024/25 until there was more information in relation to what requirements would be. The tables below provide an overview of the funding and expenditure for this work for 2024/25 and the budgets where available for 2025/26.

5.3 Parish: Expenditure

Parish Liaison and Local Devolution	2024/25 (£)
Website and small grants to parishes	23,049.00

Total	23,049.00

5.4 Parish: Income

Parish Liaison and Local Devolution	2024/25 (£)	2025/26 (£)
NYC Base Revenue Budget	0.00	50,000.00

Total	0.00	50,000.00

6.0 MIGRANT PROGRAMMES

6.1 The Migrant Programmes Team brought together a number of existing refugee and asylum seeker programmes alongside the Home for Ukraine programme to form a single integrated service and is positioned in the Localities Service.

6.2 The refugee, asylum and Homes for Ukraine programmes are all wholly funded through national funding programmes from the Home Office and the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government.

6.3 Rather than awarding Council’s with a fixed annual budget to deliver its duties, the national funding streams are all based on local demand and levels of activity and use a tariff per person across a menu of mandatory support requirements to passport funding through to local authorities. The tables below therefore outline expenditure across the migration routes but not budgetary information for 2025/26.

6.4 Migrant Programmes: Expenditure

Migrant Programmes	2024/25 (£)
UK Resettlement Scheme	1,166,029.25
Afghan Relocations and Assistance Scheme	15,485.42
Asylum Seeker Provision	151,840.50
Homes for Ukraine	2,624,083.90

Total	3,957,439.07

6.5 Migrant Programmes: Income

Migrant Programmes	2024/25 (£)
Home Office	1,333,355.17
Ministry for Housing, Local Government and Communities	2,624,083.90

Total	3,957,439.07

6.6 All refugee resettlement, asylum seeker and the Homes for Ukraine programmes are 100% funded through national government funding. Therefore, the budgets operate as ‘zero budgets’ and do not have any Council revenue base budget allocation.

6.7 SWIFT: In addition to the national funding programmes outlined above. The Council successfully secured funding from the National Lottery Reaching Communities Fund to further develop community-based projects and advice services for economic migrants.