Content

DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST MADE FOR ITEM:

 
None

 

RESOLVED:

 
That Cabinet:

 

Agreed for additional
budget to be secured to fund running costs for the building from
April 2026 – March 2028 equating to the sum set out in the
Exempt Part B report to allow Rising Green Youth Hub to continue to
operate from the current location.

Noted the content of
the report.

 
 

Reasons for Decisions:

 
Rising Green Youth Hub
located in Wood Green opened in August 2022. Capital works and
three years of running costs until March 2025 were funded
predominantly from Strategic Community Infrastructure Levy funding
(SCIL) alongside Neighbourhood CIL. A budget for dilapidation costs
was not factored in as part of the development of Rising Green
Youth Hub.
 
The costs of youth
staffing have been met through use of the payments by results
funding achieved through the Supporting Families Programme (SFP)
which is due to end in March 2026. There will be no further funding
available from this point.
 
Following CIL funding
ending in March 2025, officers have been able to utilise funding
from the Family Hubs Programme and SFP grant reserves within the
service to fund the sum set out in the Exempt Part B of this report.
 
From April 2026, there
will be no further funding available for both staffing and running
costs for Rising Green Youth Hub. An organisational review of Early
Help services (Children Centres, Youth Service and Family Support)
will be completed over this year to achieve MTFS savings of
£505k by the 1 April 2026. This will involve restructuring
services to provide a reduced ‘Early Help Offer’
incorporating the lost revenue for staffing at Rising Green Youth
Hub.

 

Alternative options considered
 
The options for Rising
Green Youth Hub are:

 

agree for growth funding to fund running costs for the building
from April 2026 – March 2028 equating to the sum set out in
the Exempt Part B report and seek to enter a new lease with the
Superior Leaseholder of the premises, from the expiry of the
existing lease in May 2026 to March 2028, to allow Rising Green
Youth Hub [RGYH] to remain in the premises. This is the preferred
option as there is no viable alternative service provision at this
stage, however the ongoing lease costs are unbudgeted and therefore
will require savings to be made from other services across the
Council.

agree for recurring growth funding from March 2026 to fund running
costs for Hub to operate from new premises from lease expiry in May
2026. This will enable the youth hub to relocate elsewhere within
Wood Green beyond May 2028. 

close Rising Green Youth Hub by May 2026.
 
Officers explored
whether further funding could be provided from CIL. However, the
corporate approach, including from Finance, is to focus CIL
allocation on projects within the current capital programme which
means.

a)   
CIL allocations should help reduce capital borrowing costs to the
council,

b)   
CIL allocations are generally on capital projects and not on
revenue as they are not sustainable. It was agreed an as exception
to fund revenue costs for Rising Green in 2020 that would not be
repeated again.

The Department of
Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) have increased funding allocating
£750,000 for local authorities to expand their current youth
offer via the Local Youth Transformation pilot. Twelve local
authorities were selected representing a range of geographical
contexts, two London boroughs have been invited, Islington and
Southwark. Haringey was not selected to participate therefore not
able to consider how this could contribute to future running costs
for RGYH.
 
DCMS also launched the
‘Better Youth Spaces Fund’ allocating £30.5m
for small scale capital projects of up to £100k. Forty-two
priority areas have been selected for applications. Haringey was
not invited to apply, however neighbouring boroughs Enfield,
Hackney and Islington have been. As Haringey was not selected to
apply, we are therefore not able to consider how this could
contribute to future running costs for RGYH.
 
Officers explored
whether they could utilise the Family Hubs grant funding to pay for
the running costs at RGYH. Four percent of the overall Family Hubs
Grant over 3 years can be used to fund capital costs for the four
Family Hubs that were opened between 2022 and 2025. This equated to
£200k for all four family hubs, with capital costs determined
as minor refurbishment works to improve accessibility for families
and infrastructure costs such as shared IT systems. No revenue
costs were provided for any of the Family Hubs. As Rising Green
Family Hub required little capital works due to it being a recently
refurbished building, officers were able to negotiate for some of
the capital allocation to be offset against the running costs for
RGYH. This was for 25-26 only with the remaining costs being met by
grant reserves within the service. The grant reserves balance will
be nil by April 26. The remaining capital budget for Family Hubs is
committed for capital works at Park Lane Family Hub which had to
relocate from Kenneth Robbins House, and equipment for young
children at both Muswell Hill Family Hub and Wood Green Family Hub
and therefore further negotiations on flexibility of using capital
funds is not an option.
 
Future funding has
been confirmed for the Family Hubs programme from 2026 for a
further three years. However, this will now be expanded to all
local authorities (LA’s) with no expectation for pilot LAs to
develop new Family Hubs, therefore there will not be a capital
allocation to draw down from April 2026. The vast majority of spend
within the Family Hubs Programme is ringfenced for commissioned
specialist services for children aged under 5 such as parent infant
psychology services and breastfeeding support, however the
expectation is that LA’s deliver a programme for 0 –
25-year-olds and their families making best use of existing
resources. There is regular scrutiny of spend and delivery of the
agreed action plan by the Department for Education through formal
monitoring meetings.