The Hampshire 2050, Corporate Services and Resources Select Committee met to discuss the County Councillor Grants Scheme, reviewing a report from the Hampshire 2050 County Councillor Grants Review Task & Finish Working Group and pre-scrutinising proposals for the scheme going to cabinet. The committee also reviewed and approved their work programme for the coming months.

County Councillor Grants Scheme Review

The committee reviewed the report of the Hampshire 2050 County Councillor Grants Review Task & Finish Working Group and pre-scrutinised the County Councillor Grants Review proposals going to cabinet. The County Councillor Grant Scheme provides a budget of £8,000 per county councillor to allocate to local projects, organisations and initiatives within their division.

The Task and Finish Working Group was set up to oversee and scrutinise the approach and outcomes of the County Councillor Grant Scheme Review. Councillor Rod Cooper, Chair of the H2050 County Councillor Grants Review Task & Finish Working Group, presented the group's report. The report supported the process undertaken to review the grants, and acknowledged that the process was thorough and appropriate. The report also stated that a County Councillor Grants Scheme should be in place as it provides an important mechanism for the County Council's strategic aims and objectives to be applied in a local context, but that there were clear opportunities to enhance the scheme, particularly in relation to the application criteria, the grant award process, and overall governance.

The Task and Finish Group took into account a range of evidence and insight as part of their discussions, including:

• Data and insight in relation to grant awards which had been made over the last 4 years.

• Feedback from all county councillors in relation to their thoughts and experiences.

• Data and comparative analysis on the operation of similar schemes in other authorities.

• The current grant criteria and process.

• The professional advice of officers involved in the administration of the scheme.

• The direct experience of Task and Finish Group Members.

The report noted that the group praised the methodology followed by officers in conducting the review.

The Director of Hampshire 2050 presented the County Councillor Grants Review, which was due to be considered at the cabinet meeting on 23 September 2025. The review included three options for the future of the scheme:

1. Cease the scheme.
2. Continue the scheme with no changes.
3. Continue the scheme but implement changes.

The recommendation of the Director of Hampshire 2050 was to discontinue the scheme with immediate effect, noting the discretionary nature of the grant scheme and the County Council's significant budget deficit. The report noted that the total annual budget for the County Councillor Grant scheme is £654,000, including IT licensing costs, and withdrawing the scheme would contribute towards addressing the County Council's overall budget deficit.

The report recognised that the County Councillor Grants Scheme is widely used and supports a diverse range of projects, most of which deliver benefits to the local community. However, the scheme is a discretionary activity of the County Council and there is no legal requirement for the expenditure. It has been identified through the review that the grants do not generally support the statutory activity or services of the council, and their removal would align with the council's current strategic focus of returning to the delivery of its core purpose.

The report also outlined the changes that would be required if the scheme were to continue to make it as efficient and effective as possible. These included:

• Reducing the annual budget per councillor by £3,000, from £8,000 to £5,000.
• Introducing a maximum limit of £1,000 per application.
• Ensuring that organisations cannot apply for grants over multiple years for the same purpose.
• Ensuring that grants for Parish Councils do not support normal business operation or projects that can be revenue funded or funded through alternative sources like the Community Infrastructure Levy.
• Enhancing the visibility of grant awards for members by introducing a live, regularly updated spreadsheet on the Member Portal.
• Ensuring that grants for time-specific activities are awarded before the event takes place.
• Ensuring that all projects supported through the scheme clearly acknowledge County Council funding in all promotional materials.
• Updating the relevant webpages, Member portal and documents to reflect the revised grant criteria.
• Introducing tighter governance to make sure criteria is adhered to, including adding a feedback form to the process and introducing spot checks on applicants for quality assurance and audit purposes.
• Amending the application window to run from June to December, instead of June to March.
• Launching a Power App that will provide greater functionality for officers, making it easier for them to review and update information and extract data for reporting purposes.

The report concluded that the County Councillor Grants review offered a valuable opportunity to gain deeper insight into the County Councillor Grants Scheme, and that the findings confirmed that the scheme is widely used and supports a diverse range of projects. However, the review also identified concerns with the scheme and areas where it could be improved, linked both to the scheme criteria and operation.

The committee supported the recommendations being proposed to cabinet in the attached report.

Work Programme

The committee discussed and agreed the work programme, which would be prioritised and allocated by the Chair of the Hampshire 2050, Corporate Services and Resources Select Committee in consultation with the Directors of Corporate Operations, Hampshire 2050 and People and Organisation. The work programme included the following items:

• Annual Complaints report
• Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman determinations
• Climate Change Annual report
• Annual update on work of Hampshire Community Safety Strategy Group
• Solent Cluster presentation on decarbonisation¹
• Learning, Skills, Improvement Plan (LSIP)
• End of Year Financial Report
• Medium Term Financial Strategy
• Scrutiny Protocol