HMRC awards £5.5 million in grant funding to voluntary and community groups

12 voluntary and community sector organisations have been awarded a share of £5.5 million to help customers who need extra support with their tax affairs, HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has announced.

The successful organisations offer a wealth of specialist knowledge and experience to deliver tailored tax and benefits advice. The awards are managed through HMRC's Voluntary and Community Sector Grant Funding Programme which, for more than a decade, has funded partner organisations to provide free advice and support to customers who:-

• May face difficulties in understanding their tax obligations.
  

• May have complex needs.
  

• Are digitally excluded from accessing HMRC services.

The successful Voluntary and Community Sector organisations to receive a share of the grant funding are:-

• Advice Direct Scotland.
  

• Advice NI.
  

• Citizens Advice Bureau; Isle of Wight, Gosport and Fareham.
  

• Citizens Advice East Lancashire.
  

• Citizens Advice South Tyneside.
  

• Good Things Foundation.
  

• Money Advice Trust.
  

• Refugee Migrant Centre.
  

• Royal National Institute of Blind People.
  

• Royal Association for Deaf People.
  

• Tax Aid.
  

• Tax Volunteers (Tax Help for Older People)

Nigel Huddleston, Financial Secretary to the Treasury, told us:- "Access to advice about tax and benefits is essential for those who need extra help or support. These organisations provide a truly valuable service, which is why it's absolutely necessary we provide the funding they need to continue their good work."

Angela MacDonald, HMRC's Deputy Chief Executive and Second Permanent Secretary, said:- "We want to help our customers access the specialist help they need to comply with their tax affairs and claim the benefits they're entitled to. This latest round of funding ensures the excellent support provided by our partners in the voluntary and community sector continues to be in place for customers who need extra support."

Ian Thompson, Chief Executive Officer, South Tyneside Citizens Advice added:- "We are delighted to have been successful with our grant application which will allow us to continue to help some of our most vulnerable clients with tax and benefits issues. Through continued partnership working with HMRC, we can assist their customers to find satisfactory solutions to their problems and enquiries in the most efficient way possible"

The 3 year funding pot, worth £1.8 million a year, will start in April 2024. Organisations bid for funding in the summer and have been allocated the grant based on rigorous selection criteria and due diligence checks.

This is the 12th round of grant funding HMRC has awarded as part of its commitment to ensuring everyone gets their tax right. The organisations funded through the programme are on hand to provide support to HMRC customers in vulnerable circumstances, complementing the work of HMRC's Extra Support Team.

Lifestyles Centres options to be considered

THE 1st steps to transfer control of 2 of Liverpool's Lifestyles Centres could begin in the New Year.

A report being considered by the Cabinet recommends the Council starts a process of seeking expressions of interest from external organisations to take over the running of Everton Park and Park Road Lifestyles.

The 2 sites have been identified because of their age, cost and low performance in terms of users.

Everton Park was built in 1979 with the pool added in 1984, whilst the Swimming Pool, at Park Road, dates back to Victorian times, and the gymnastics facility was built in the mid 1980s.

Footfall at Everton Park is 20% down on pre-Covid levels, and Park Road has fallen by 10 per cent. Despite work to boost the centres' profile and increase visitors, including:- ½ price membership schemes, the number of direct debit users has dropped across both sites.

Council Tax payers are increasingly having to subsidise the centres; the average cost per visit to Everton Park is:- £15.85, and for Park Road it is £19.85; compared to an average of £8.20 per visit for all Lifestyles facilities across the City.

The Lifestyles service has to deliver £900,000 of saving as part of the Council's Medium Term Financial Plan; but is currently £3.4million overspent each year.

Under the Council's Community Asset Transfer Policy, any third party interest received would trigger a six-week consultation exercise which would fully explore any impact and opportunities that a change of ownership would bring. The Council would then ask that any interested parties retain community access to the facilities where possible, and at Park Road this would include access to the gymnastics offer.

Following this process, a full report will be presented to the Cabinet in 2024 which will include recommendations for the next steps.

If the transfers go ahead, staff would be relocated to 1 of the remaining Lifestyles fitness centres, including the newly refurbished Peter Lloyd Lifestyles, which will reopen next year following £2.2million of investment.

The report also notes that a new Physical Activity Strategy will be launched in 2024, to increase the number of children and adults getting active. Conversations will also take place with residents to gain an understanding of how they want to get active, and what can be done to encourage more people to exercise.

The Council currently operates 8 facilities:-

Lifestyles Alsop. Lifestyles Austin Rawlinson. Lifestyles Aquatics Centre. Lifestyles Ellergreen.

Lifestyles Everton Park. Lifestyles Garston. Lifestyles Park Road. Lifestyles Peter Lloyd.

Liverpool City Council's Cabinet Member for Health, Wellbeing and Culture, Councillor Harry Doyle, said:- "Increasing budget pressures mean we have no choice but to take a long, hard look at our Lifestyles Centres to make them affordable in the longer term. These 2 centres are in poor condition and being used by fewer people, and as a result, we are having to subsidise their use more and more. This isn't unique to Liverpool, local authority leisure services across the country are under pressure, due to factors such as reduction in funding and post-Covid uptake in gym memberships. We were sadly unsuccessful in a bid for funding from a £20 million Government funding pot to assist with the increased operating costs and sustainability of swimming pools. We have a good track record of transferring Council buildings over to partner organisations, who in turn have the ability to be able to attract investment and improve facilities. If the report is approved, we can take the 1st steps in securing their future. We will do all we can to find other organisations to take on the running of the centres, and there would be no job losses, as staff would transfer to other Lifestyles sites. As a Council, we value the health and wellbeing of residents and want to do all we can to support them to be more active. By looking closely at how and what we operate going forward, we can begin to plan for any future investment required to make our centres the preferred choice to get active, including the reopening of the popular Peter Lloyd site in 2024."

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