Lincolnshire County Council
External Funding Strategy
Introduction
1. The Council has been successful in recent years in obtaining a significant amount of
external funding to improve the quality of life of the residents of the County.
Examples of such funding include rural bus challenge for the Interconnect services
and promoting the County’s case for European Objective 2 status.
2. There is a significant amount of funding available from the Government, the European
Union and the National Lottery Distribution Bodies, which can enable the Council to
achieve its ambitions. Public Private Partnerships and other private sector sources can
also provide an additional source of funding for the Council.
3. In order to focus the Council’s efforts in obtaining funding it is important that the
Council has a strategy to provide a co-ordinated approach to submitting bids.
4. The Council has established a Corporate External Funding Group which includes
representatives of all Directorates to proactively seek out and co-ordinate external
funding initiatives. A link is provided by the membership of this Group to the County
Local Strategic Partnership to ensure co-ordination of funding initiatives with external
partners.
Scope of the Strategy
5. The Strategy is concerned with bids for Government and other funding, and with
attracting private sector funding. These funding sources can provide a significant
supplement to statutory funding. The Council will continue to seek proper recognition
for Lincolnshire’s needs in terms of statutory funding particularly Revenue Support
Grant.
6. The strategy will therefore cover the principles which the Council will apply in
relation to generating additional funding from the following areas:
™ Government challenge funding
™ Government funding for specific policy objectives (e.g. the provision of services
using the Private Finance Initiative)
™ European grant funding
™ National Lottery funding
™ Other public and voluntary organisations
™ Asset contributions and ‘in-kind’ assistance
™ Private sector funding (e.g. public private partnerships, developers’
contributions and sponsorship)
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7. The strategy will exclude user charges as these are determined by statute, Government
regulations and Service charging policies. However, existing charges are subject to
regular review and the scope for extending charging is reviewed periodically.
8. The strategy is split into the following areas:
™ Aim of the Strategy
™ External Funding objectives
™ Approval Framework
™ Appraisal of funding opportunities
™ Review of the strategy and further information
Aim of the Strategy
9. The aim is to maximise the amount of external funding where it contributes to the
achievement of the Council’s ambitions namely:
•
Create economic prosperity
•
Enrich the quality of life
•
Provide the opportunity for people to achieve their full potential
•
Improve community engagement
•
Improve the transport infrastructure
•
Provide community focused, cost effective services
10. The Council has a set of objectives and targets linked to these ambitions which are set
out in the Council’s Best Value Performance and Budget Plan. These targets
incorporate those set in the Council’s Local Public Service Agreement.
External Funding Objectives
11. The Council has the following objectives for external funding arrangements.
Funding opportunity coverage
12. The coverage of the funding opportunity should enable the widest possible benefit for
the residents of the county in terms of factors such as geographical spread, age range
and the sector of the community. It is recognised that some initiatives may be
restricted to a particularly area or sector of the community and that a decision will
need to be made on whether to pursue funding from these initiatives.
Funding balance
13. The funding opportunity should ensure that a balance is maintained between the
groups, services and geographical areas which will benefit from the opportunity.
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Risk minimisation
14. The risk associated with the likely achievement of the outcomes required from the
funding should be fully evaluated particularly in the case of high profile and
pathfinder projects. Procedures should be adopted to ensure that these are minimised.
15. In the case of partnerships arrangements, the risks of the other partners being unable to
fulfil their obligations should be considered and appropriate strategies adopted to
ensure the risks of such an occurrence are minimised.
Match funding and leverage
16. In the case, where matched funding is required, it should be ensured that this is
consistent with the Council’s priorities.
17. The level of leverage should be considered to ensure that maximum benefit is gained
from the Council’s funding contribution.
Sustainability
18. The Council should ensure that projects enabled by external funding are sustainable in
the case of the need or desirability to continue to provide the services associated with
the project. This is particularly important in the case of projects which have a high
political profile or involve the employment of staff.
Co-ordination
19. The Council ensures that bids and funding arrangements are joined-up both internally
and with other public, private and voluntary sector bodies in the county.
20. Action is taken, at the time of bid or funding arrangement is prepared, to ensure that
bodies within the county with similar objectives and service functions do not compete
with each other for funding opportunities.
Approval Framework
21. Council initiatives to obtain external funding will be considered by the relevant
Portfolio Holder and those which, in the opinion of the Portfolio Holder, have a
substantial requirement for matched funding and / or significant long-term service and
financial implications will be considered by the Executive or full Council. All other
bids will require the prior approval of the relevant Portfolio Holder.
22. The County Treasurer must be consulted on all initiatives to ensure that the financial
impact on the Council has been fully evaluated.
23. Bids for funding and funding arrangements made must comply with the funding
objectives and be subject to the appraisal process stated in this strategy.
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Appraisal of funding opportunities
24. The Council will monitor funding opportunities and appraise these in accordance with
the following factors to determine whether a bid should be submitted or funding
arrangement made. Bids and funding arrangements will be made where they comply
with the strategy and where there is a reasonable probability of success.
Fit with ambitions and external funding objectives
25. The bids submitted or arrangements made, by the Council, for external funding should
be in accordance with the Council’s ambitions and strategic external funding
objectives as set out in this strategy.
Probability of success in obtaining funding
26. The probability of a successful outcome should be assessed. The potential financial
gain from bid should be compared with the costs of producing the bid. The Council
should ensure that expectations regarding the likely success of bids are effectively
managed during the bidding process.
Capacity
27. The capacity of the Council to deliver the outputs required by the funding body and
comply with the terms and conditions of the bid should be appraised prior to the bid
submission. This should include management, administration and other costs (e.g.
audit) associated with the funding opportunity.
Link to other Council initiatives
28. The extent to which bids made could be linked to existing complementary service
provision should be examined to ensure that possible economies of scale and
consequential contributions to service objectives are fully exploited.
Availability of matched funding
29. The amount and availability of match funding for a bidding opportunity should be
ascertained prior to the decision to submit a bid. The Council has made provision for
matched funding.
Review of the Strategy and further information
30. The strategy should be subject to periodic review in light of changes in the Council’s
approach to external funding and to ensure it continues to be relevant to the Council’s
ambitions and strategy objectives.
31. Further information regarding the Council’s approach to external funding can be
obtained from the Financial Advisor (External Funding), County Treasurer’s Office.
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