Investing in community support

Overview

Investing in community support has been part of Reading Borough Council’s plans for many years. Community based organisations have a proud history of supporting people to live better and to enjoy healthier lives, and are key partners in achieving the Council’s aims.

Since 2016, the Council has focused on ‘narrowing the gap’ between different groups of residents. A number of voluntary and community organisations are now delivering services under funding agreements with the Council which are aimed at tackling poverty, promoting wellbeing, and supporting thriving communities. These agreements come to an end in May 2022, and we are interested in views from third sector groups about what we should invest in as part of our next funding round, and how. Potentially, this could include a mix of contracts and grant awards of varying length.

We realise that there is much more to do before everyone in our town enjoys equal life chances. The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted some areas of unfairness which were there already, and made other problems worse. We will continue to work with our partners on these issues, and the funding made available to community groups is only part of the story. However, we need focus the funding we have where it can make the biggest difference, and award this in a fair and transparent way.

We also need to decide how long our next set of funding agreements should last. Longer agreements make it easier for organisations to plan, but we need to have regular opportunities to review priorities to make sure we’re still investing in what matters most.

We are asking voluntary, community and faith sector organisations for their views to help us plan the next stage. We will also be looking at other data which has been gathered on health, wellbeing and social inclusion in Reading, and what the organisations we currently commission have told us about how their services have been used. 

Please contact us if you:

• have any queries
• would like to receive a hard copy of the consultation questionnaire
• require additional support to understand or complete the questionnaire