Council have been called on to look into streamlining the application process for community group funding.
Councillor Joy Ferguson called on the Financial Assistance Programme (FAP) working group to ensure there is a continuous focus on the issue a recent monthly meeting of Armagh City, Banbridge & Craigavon (ABC) Borough Council.
And while Cllr Ferguson felt there was an ongoing need to look at ways to improve things, she stressed she fully acknowledged the review process which was recently completed to facilitate access to funding, and the mammoth work carried out year in, year out, by the small FAP team to allocate a total of £1m in funding to over 500 community groups.
The Banbridge DEA councillor stated: “Tonight, I’m requesting an information paper to be brought back to committee, to update on the progress that’s being made towards a more proportional, simple, user-centric financial assistance process that is totally focused on the community.
“ABC Council has distributed millions of pounds to local organisations through the Financial Assistance Programme to empower and develop our local communities.
“We have an amazing Financial Assistance team, small but mighty, hugely experienced, with unrivalled knowledge of community assistance, and currently there are a number of work streams that are ongoing to improve the simplicity and proportionality of the financial assistance process.
“However, tonight, I’d like to draw out a few examples of community experience, and encourage internal council thinking to pivot towards the lived experience of our processes, as told by community organisations who apply.
“Firstly, community organisations are saying the funding landscape is becoming fragmented, with an increasing number of fund types, with many opening and closing dates. Therefore, I’d like the information paper to update on the approved resourcing plans to support the Financial Assistance team.
“To improve community experience, we must ensure resources match the increasing demand for our funding, and ensure the burden of this workload does not fall on our Financial Assistance team or our community organisations.
“Secondly, I would like the information paper to consider the possibility of a review mechanism after application, so that community organisations who are ineligible due to minor mistakes, such as uploading the wrong supporting documentation or a missing signature on a constitution, are guided to rectify that mistake, rather than finding out months later they are ineligible, and never had a chance of successful funding in the first place.
“Community organisations who rely on funding deserve better, and a fair chance of success.
“Thirdly, through the forthcoming community consultation with organisations, we must ensure our current and future online systems are designed with simplicity in mind, and user-tested by community organisations to understand how practical they are.
“Community organisations are telling us about a number of situations where applications have stayed in draft format, with no alert that it wasn’t submitted, and that word count calculations are not directing to the question that it refers to.
“A bad online user experience will lead to community frustration, and we must pivot to a new perspective when it comes to our online systems.
“Lastly, Lord Mayor, over the longer term, I’d like to see some consideration of a rolling fund across a number of our key funds, i.e. funds that are not date-dependent.
“We do this for our large Capital Scheme, and further exploration of options would be helpful to understand if this was feasible across all of our funds.
“Achieving a simple process that balances our governance requirements is vital, and it’s where our community organisations want us to be.
“While improvement work is ongoing to reduce bureaucracy, I’d like this paper to think out of the box and place proportionality, simplicity, and a good online user experience front and centre, so our communities remain empowered to continue and deliver positive change from the ground up.”
Ald Mark Baxter contended the recent review process, carried out by the FAP working group in consultation with community organisations, had achieved precisely what the Alliance representative was calling for.
The DUP representative for Lagan River stated: “I appreciate that Cllr Ferguson has brought this tonight, because obviously it’s a very big part of what this council does, and we’ve celebrated giving out those millions of pounds over a number of years.
“But I suppose I’m a bit confused, because over the last six months to a year, we’ve just carried out a very extensive review of FAP, and there was a FAP working group that I sat on.
“What you’ve outlined tonight, we’ve actually been doing for the last six months. And I think at the last full council meeting we agreed those changes. We’ve made it more user-friendly, they adjusted the dates.
“There was lengthy discussions over many months about a full FAP review. So, I’m not sure [where] this is coming from, but to my mind, we’ve really just done this.
“And if Cllr Ferguson could be furnished with that information from last month’s council papers, maybe that would set her mind at rest as to the extensive amount of work that’s been carried out by officers.”
Cllr Ferguson insisted her call was based on recent feedback from community groups who are still finding it difficult to apply for funding.
She stated: “I acknowledge that there has been a huge amount of work done on this, and we appreciate the work that members have put in, but also officers.
“But we have to listen to our community organisations in this, and this is more about pivoting the thinking towards the actual experience which community organisations are going through, when they go through our processes.
“The improvements that have been suggested haven’t been implemented yet, and I think it’s important that we reassure our community organisations that this work is ongoing, which I have done through my words tonight.
“But we do need to ensure that we have an independent look at those improvements, and that community organisations do not say to us in any fashion that the user experience is not good enough, because regardless of lots of improvements that have actually been made to the system, they are saying that there are elements of it that are not working.
“So, my point tonight is that we need to take a step back, and for the improvements that will be made, that we ensure that they are proportional and that they are simple, and that no further community organisations say to us it is really difficult to get funding from the council.
“I appreciate we have to balance this with governance, but that is just the approach I think that we should take, and we should get that updated information on the progress made with that project, so that we’re fully furnished on that.”
Cllr Liam Mackle, responding to Cllr Joy Ferguson’s request for a more streamlined funding process, suggested the Alliance Party’s call for improvements was based on very limited feedback – essentially, as he implied, a handful of unnamed outside bodies.
The SF representative for Lurgan DEA stated: “I think it’s really disappointing that the entirety of the Alliance Party’s contribution to this council meeting tonight has been dictated by two organisations, not the community or not community organisations, two separate lobby groups, one earlier, one now.
“I wish they would go in and think about things for themselves.”
Cllr Peter Lavery (Alliance, Lurgan DEA) challenged the Sinn Féin representative over his claim: “I don’t have a clue what Cllr Mackle is talking about there, but it’s a reasonable request from Cllr Ferguson which I’m happy to second. I think it’s worthwhile getting this additional important information.”
Ald Mark Baxter reiterated his view that what Cllr Ferguson was calling for, had already been done: “I know the hour is late and tempers are maybe starting to fray, but this work has just been done. It’s just been completed. The information is there.
“And I can tell you this, the community groups were extensively [consulted through] questionnaires and surveys, and brought in in working groups.
“This work has been ongoing for six or seven months and we’ve just finalised the review. That was done after four or five years of review, or whatever. Are we saying that we need to do this again and carry out the piece of work that we’ve just finished?”
Director of Development, Community & Wellbeing, Paul Tamati outlined in detail the review process conducted to date, and acknowledged ongoing difficulties being experienced by some community groups in accessing funding.
The senior council officer commented: “Thank you members for your comments, and thank you, Cllr Ferguson, for your views. Through the FAP working group we have been undertaking a review of FAP and it’s been quite ongoing.
“Your suggestions about how community grants could be more accessible, and the process more user-friendly, are obviously welcomed, and we understand through the working group that some groups do find applications a wee bit challenging, and the team has been using feedback to inform the review of the Financial Assistance Programme.
“In fact, an action plan for in-year improvements has been included in the Department’s business plan for 2025/26, which was updated last month.
“The action plan includes a number of initial changes, some of which you will see that have already been made, but also outlines the work towards a more ambitious overhaul of the grants programme and supporting process.
“We know there’s probably still a wee bit of work to do around that. As you’ve noted, over £1m of funding is distributed every year, and this is through a very small staff team.
“This is unfortunately limiting the pace maybe in which we’d like to change some of the things, and I suppose we’ve taken a wee while to get to where we’ve got to so far.
“We’ve recently reviewed the staffing structure in the Department, and in coming months you’ll see the staff team significantly increase as we move through that process, and [as we] appoint a number of new staff to the team.
“With additional staff we can implement more ambitious change and work more closely with community groups, to improve the experience of the grants process. Customer experience is key to a lot of this, and I think a lot of members acknowledge that.
“In the new year we’ll be holding a number of independently-facilitated workshops as part of the events review, to listen to groups regarding their experience in applying for grants, and any of their ideas for change.
“We do hear a lot of positives from the community as well in terms of those that do get funding. Over 500 groups a year can work through the process at the moment. However, in the act of continuous improvement, we will always continue to listen to that.
“Engagement will help us shape our community grants programme and inform changes that will be implemented in 2026/27, hopefully. But I’m happy to bring in an information report back to committee, if that’s what members require.”
Cllr Thomas O’Hanlon (SDLP, Armagh DEA) was concerned the tone of the debate might portray the FAP team in an unduly critical light: “I don’t want the message to go out that we don’t appreciate the work that our staff has done, and the team who have worked with the majority of members who turn up to the working groups to be able to shape the FAP process.
“And I have to say, I know the staff, anytime you go to them, you ask a question about a bit of direction for the community groups out there, they’re always very willing to help, and I know their advice and help is really appreciated.
“So, I just don’t want a narrative to go out that the work that some of us have been involved in for the last number of months was wasted. It hasn’t and we just need to give it time to bed in.”
Cllr Ferguson insisted that calling for ongoing improvements was a legitimate request, which in no way downplayed the great work being carried out by the FAP team: “My comments tonight did bring out the good work that the FAP team have done. We all know that in this chamber, and I sat through a FAP workshop myself to try and improve the process.
“But what I want to ensure tonight is that we continue, and Paul used the words ‘continuous improvement’, because we might find that these changes are implemented, and there may be further changes, but we need to open our mindset to know that there could always be continuous improvement to this, to make sure that it is simple and proportionate for community organisations.
“We want to see as many community organisations receive funding as is possible, and with continuous improvement in the programme we should be able to achieve that.
“So, please, do not misconstrue my words in this chamber. The FAP team is very much appreciated, but we must always have the mindset where we challenge how good our Financial Assistance Programme is, and continue to do that.”
Referring to some of the criticism expressed in the chamber, Cllr Ferguson added, following the meeting: “The views of our community organisations should always be respected in the Chamber, and never be used for party politicking.”
