The Community Council Funding Review Working Group met to discuss options for the future financial support of community councils. The meeting's agenda included a review of previous minutes and actions, alongside detailed consideration of proposed changes to grant modelling and the terms and conditions of support grants.

Support Grant Modelling Options

A significant portion of the meeting was dedicated to exploring various models for distributing support grants to community councils. The report pack presented several options, including:

• Current Grant Payments: This model outlines the existing grant amounts allocated to each community council based on their population size and current funding structure. The total allocated under this model for 2026/27 was £56,073.
• Grant Payments Based on New Population Bands: This option proposed a revised structure for grant allocation, with new population bands and corresponding grant amounts. The total for this model was projected at £59,800, representing a variance of £3,728 from the current payments.
• Grant Payments Based on a Fixed Base Rate Plus Pence Per Head of Population: This model suggested a combination of a fixed base rate for each community council, supplemented by a per capita payment. The total projected cost for this model was £67,297, an increase of £11,225 compared to current payments.
• Grant Payments Based on a 10% Increase on Current Bands: This option explored the impact of increasing current grant amounts by 10%. The total projected cost for this model was £61,665, with a variance of £5,593.

The report pack detailed the specific grant amounts for each community council under these different models, highlighting the potential financial implications for each. For example, under the Grant payments based on new population bands model, Galashiels, with a population of 13,716, was allocated £1,958 under the current system, which would increase to £2,000 under the proposed new bands. Similarly, Hawick, with a population of 11,052, would see its grant increase from £1,958 to £2,000.

Support Grant Terms and Conditions

The meeting also scheduled a review of the terms and conditions for the annual support grant. A letter from Erin Coltman, Participation Officer for the Communities and Partnerships Team, outlined key points for community councils to consider when claiming their grants. These included submitting finalised annual accounts, a minute confirming agreement to the Code of Conduct for Community Councillors, and an evaluation form detailing the use of the previous year's grant.

The letter also reminded community councils that reserves should not exceed two years' annual support grant, unless ring-fenced for specific initiatives. It was noted that the annual support grant should primarily cover operational costs, with funds for other initiatives only being used once operational expenses are met. A significant change highlighted was that Annual support grant funding cannot be used to support third-party organisations through grants or donations. Instead, groups were to be directed to the Communities and Partnerships Team for alternative funding sources. The council also confirmed it would cover community council insurance premiums, at an additional cost of approximately £6,000 per year.

Action Tracker

An update on the Community Council Funding Review Working Group's actions was also scheduled for consideration. This included actions from previous meetings, such as working up example funding models, calculating grants based on per capita figures, and circulating papers on how support grants have been spent. The tracker indicated that several actions were complete, with others ongoing or scheduled for discussion at this meeting.