Cabinet, at its meeting on 5 February 2025, will consider a report from the Deputy Chief Executive – Citizen and Customer Services, seeking approval for Grant Allocations to Community & Voluntary Organisation for 2025-2026.

Councillor Linda Smith, Cabinet Member for Housing and Communities, Tom Hook, Deputy Chief Executive – Citizen and Customer Services, and Paula Redway Culture and Community Development Manager have been invited to present the report and answer questions.

This report will be published as part of a supplement to the agenda.

Councillor Mundy joined the meeting.  

  

The Scrutiny and Governance spoke with Councillor Mundy; he notified the Committee of his interests relating to his role as an employee for Agnes Smith Advice Centre. He explained that Zoe Millington, an attending public speaker, is his manager. The Scrutiny and Governance Adviser requested that Councillor Mundy leave the room during the discussions of item 5 to mitigate any conflict with pecuniary interests.  

  

Councillor Mundy left the meeting.  

 

The Chair welcomed two public speakers, notified them of the 5-minute speaking limit and invited them to address the Committee. 

  

Ms Christine O’Hare, Citizens Advice Oxford Chief Executive, addressed the Committee as follows: 

 

I’m here to urge you to back the proposal to retain core funding for the Advice Centres for the next three years. 

 

Our services are a lifeline for residents and the City Council alike. We tackle crucial issues—benefits, housing, debt, employment, immigration, and more—offering citywide support to people who often have nowhere else to turn. For those without digital access or whose first language isn’t English, we are essential. In the last 3 years Citizens Advice has helped 17,469 people. 

 

We don’t just solve problems; we prevent them. We help people out of poverty, stop homelessness before it starts, and secure financial support for those with health challenges. In 2023/24, Citizens Advice delivered £3.9 million in financial gains for local residents—an incredible return on the Council’s £190,000 investment.  

 

The Council’s core grant also enables us to secure further funding. - Last year we raised in total two and a half times the Council’s investment from foundations, charities, individual donors, and national contracts etc. But our City Council funding has been frozen since 2020, even as costs soar. Inflation, rising employer national insurance contributions, and increased demand are pushing us to the brink. We’ve already cut costs to the bone—relocating to smaller premises and planning a merger with Citizens Advice West Oxfordshire and South and Vale on 1st April to maximize the efficiency of our resources. 

 

We cannot cut any further without risking vital services. Demand is rising, complexity increasing and we are at capacity. Without sustained funding, more residents will fall through the cracks—leading to greater costs for the Council down the line. 

 

This isn’t just about keeping the lights on. It’s about maintaining a service that saves lives, saves money, and strengthens our community. I urge you: don’t let advice services falter. Protect this funding. 

 

I’d like to end with a scenario to show how we can help vulnerable residents and prevent homelessness, easing pressure on the City Council’s housing team.  

 

“Simon”, a self-employed driver, faced eviction along with his family due to £6,000 in rent arrears and £25,000 of other debts. His housing benefit had been stopped. We successfully challenged this decision and secured him a backdated payment of £3,200 - halving his arrears. 

 

We also helped Simon move over to Universal Credit, making him £700 better off per month, secured him a council tax reduction, and moved him away from a high-fee debt management plan saving a further £400 per month. 

We then halted eviction proceedings by securing Simon a 'Breathing Space', during which time he worked with our debt adviser to clear his arrears by selling his van and renting one instead.   We then helped Simon apply for a Debt Relief Order to address his remaining debts. 

 

Now Simon, his partner, and their young children, which included a one-year-old child, are still in their home, back at work, financially stable, and have avoided needing homelessness support from the Council. 

 

We help thousands of Oxford residents, like Simon and their families each year.  

 

 

The Chair thanked Ms O’Hare for her address and her continued work. The Committee raised no questions.  

 

 

The Chair then welcome Ms Zoe Millington, Agnes Smith Advice Centre Manager, who addressed the Committee as follows: 

 

 

We encourage committee members to support this proposal. 

  

Independent advice centres like Agnes Smith Advice Centre, Rose Hill and Donnington Advice Centre and Barton Advice Centre provide services that are targeted to those communities most in need.  They serve areas of Oxford that are in the 20% most deprived in the country, according to the 2019 indices of deprivation, and some in the 10% most deprived.  The multiple deprivations in these areas increase the need for accessible advice services.  People may have had low educational attainment, reducing their ability to complete paperwork, or may suffer from health inequalities that mean their healthy life expectancy is greatly reduced, increasing reliance on disability benefits.  Our services respond to the hardship that arises from the inequalities present in our city and are essential for those most affected. 

  

As an example of what independent advice centres achieve for residents, Agnes Smith Advice Centre made £3.9 million of financial gains for our clients in 2023/24.  This money prevented extreme hardship in many cases, and much will likely be spent in the local economy.  Last year we made £14.06 of financial gains for clients for every £1 of income we received, which is an excellent return on funders’ investment. 

  

We also prevented homelessness for 107 households last year, reducing pressure on Oxford City Council’s homelessness services. 

  

Demand on our services continues to be very high.  We cannot afford a cut to our grant when it is already a challenge to help everyone that needs our services.  This high demand means that every single one of our advice centres is important.  Please support us to continue providing these essential services by supporting this proposal. 

 

The Chair thanked Ms Millington for her address and her continued work. The Committee raised no questions.  

 

The Chair informed both public speakers that as the Committee’s primary function is to review; it has no decision-making powers but does make recommendations for consideration to Cabinet. The public speakers were therefore informed that the final decisions on matters relating to this item will be taken on 5 February 2025. 

 

The Chair directed the Committee’s attention to the report and welcomed Councillor Linda Smith, Cabinet Member for Housing and Communities, and Paula Redway, Culture and Community Development Manager, who were present to answer questions. 

 

Councillor Smith introduced the report to the Committee and outlined that within the published consultation budget, there is a proposal to cut the grants to advice centres by 10%. On 28 January 2025 the proposed budget from Oxford City Council was published within Cabinet papers which did not include the 10% cut; it has been pushed back by four years. Councillor Smith expressed a hope that this provides some comfort to Advice Centres. In summarising the remaining contents of the report, Councillor Smith positively noted the inclusion of measures to reduce the bureaucracy experienced by officers and organisations within the application and approval stages of the grants process. The details of this were explained to the Committee and it was assured that the report is focused on reducing inequality in Oxford City.  

  

The Culture and Community Development Manager further explained that whilst the criteria for grant applications is being reduced, the support and funding for advice sessions and support organisations is being maintained.  

 

The Chair invited the Committee to raise questions on the report.  

  

Councillor Qayyum sought clarification in relation to paragraph 8, recommendation 5, asking whether the proposals would impact the ability of parents and babies to get funding through programmes such as Home-Start.    

  

Councillor Altaf-Khan noted dissatisfaction with the levels of diversity noted in the report and asked how this can be addressed when reaching out to groups that are more unaware of the process for grant applications. He specifically asked whether timetables could be made easily available for community groups to ensure understanding.  

  

Councillor Latif supported the need for more understanding and outreach work to reach under-represented groups. He also asked whether overall funding is being reduced, and what the cost saving from reducing the number of application rounds is. Finally, in relation to community centres, he queried what support and reassurance could be provided to ensure good work is not adversely affected.  

 

The Culture and Community Development Manager firstly explained, in relation to funding for babies and parents, that the statutory provision noted in the report would not affect additional work with volunteers. Collaboration between the statutory and voluntary sectors is being encouraged to support funding, as means of supporting services that may otherwise experience funding difficulties. In respect of diversity and outreach, the Committee were directed to data in appendix 2 which demonstrates that diversity is a considered and actioned factor. Appendix 3 also demonstrates diversity within the funded organisations which exhibit a range of protected characteristics. In response to requests for a timetable, the Culture and Community Development Manager explained that more information could be provided on the next funding rounds upon finalisation of the Budget, and this would be widely circulated through a variety of means. Finally, the Committee learned that 20% of organisations funded in recent years have been newcomers, thus demonstrating successful widening of outreach efforts.  

 

Councillor Upton joined the meeting. 

 

Councillor Smith noted the difficulty in providing reassurances ahead of the budget finalisation, but assured the Committee that any changes to core funding for advice centres would take place through consultation with prior notice. In relation to cost saving, a figure was not available, but an expectation that time and resources of officers would be saved was noted, thus enabling more support to be provided to applicants.  

  

The Culture and Community Development Manager confirmed that freeing up officers to develop and support relationships with other funders would be a possibility to ensure the maintenance of support to community groups in Oxford.  

  

Councillor Altaf-Khan emphasised the need for more clarity around the timetables for funding application cycles in the future. Councillor Smith welcomed the concept of this recommendation, and the Culture and Community Development Manager confirmed that timetables are published for the full year ahead on the website and in a variety of formats. The Committee were assured this would also happen for the year ahead.  

 

 

The Committee resolved to make the following recommendation(s) on the report to Cabinet: 

 

1. That Cabinet publishes the timetable for the Small Grants cycle for the year ahead, ensuring that this is communicated through multiple channels to ensure widest possible distribution of the message.

 

The Committee noted their support for the maintenance of core funding levels for Advice Centres.  

 

The Chair thanked the public speakers for their contributions, and Councillor Smith and the Culture and Community Development Manager for their work on the report.  

  

Cllr Mundy rejoined the meeting.  

  

Ms. O’Hare, Ms. Millington, and the Culture and Community Development Manager left the meeting.