Decision details

Initially the South Yorkshire Region partners worked together to secure an innovative funding offer to support Veterans and this was agreed in format and tendered out in 2020. There were no suitable applications for the total funding which was £65,000 to be rolled out across the region. The individual authorities’ members therefore discussed with the South Yorkshire funding, successfully granted through Dan Jarvis office and requested the opportunity to ensure we still used this money across the region for supporting veterans on a more localised basis.

This was agreed and each local authority had to complete a framework for how we would utilise our local share of this funding, for Doncaster this was £16,250 for them to agree an alternate allocation and use. This proposal was submitted, agreed and authorised by the South Yorkshire Region office as viable to draw down our initial allocation.

Consideration of utilising this money purely alongside the Housing provision with SLHD did not progress as it was felt that basing this money closer to the community / voluntary and wider partners in the steering group would make it more accessible and create more innovative applications for support elements that would contribute towards the more formal housing support offers in place for Doncaster but would not be limited by them.

For Doncaster Council to accept a funding contribution from the South Yorkshire Region of £16,250 to provide innovative support to help either sustain housing tenancy, prevent homelessness or to support a homeless veteran back into housing provision, specifically aimed at Veterans of our Armed Forces.

The purpose of this funding will be an innovative localised approach to fulfil support to veterans, not otherwise met in existing community / voluntary / charity or housing support aid and grant systems to be trialled and evaluated on behalf of The South Yorkshire Armed Forces Region Partnership. This arrangement will be replicated in each of the partner local authorities, including Doncaster, Barnsley, Rotherham and Sheffield.

The funding will be utilised in collaboration with the Doncaster Armed Forces Steering Group Partners, who have all committed to the delivery of the National Armed Forces Covenant and in conjunction with the Doncaster housing provider, St Leger Homes of Doncaster (SLHD).

Additional collaboration will be further developed with dedicated homelessness and housing support to improve reach, impact and accessibility of the funding, including: Complex Lives, private housing providers, housing support teams and the community / voluntary sector

The funding allocated to Doncaster, will be placed within the Stronger Communities Service, where the borough wide Veterans Lead Officer for the Doncaster wide partnership and the Veterans Support Officer sit.

The Veterans Innovation Fund, will be available through 2021 to facilitate the purchase of items to support sustainability in housing. It will be delivered by using a tested, audited and agreed financial method of distribution of monies for individuals through a simple application process with purchase made direct by the Council on behalf of the individual for successful applications. This process of application, funding and monitoring of spend an outcomes is already well established in the service for such as the Stronger Families and Wellbeing Innovation Funds.

The funding needs to be spent by March 22 and a Quarterly report is required on impact of funding. Any unspent money will be considered at March 2022 and may require the authority to return any element not spent – no risk for larger clawback of monies already spent in delivery throughout the year. We have made individual agreements so the successful or failure of any element of the funding within other South Yorkshire region Local Authorities has no financial impact on Doncaster’s
element. ( information attached in background papers).

If this proposal is rejected then Doncaster would not receive a local allocation of funding to build our support options to the veterans community and this would lead to either the money being retained within the South Yorkshire Region funders, or being shared out across the other partnership local authority areas.