Agenda item

Report of the Executive Director (Finance and Transformation) considering the commencement of a community lottery scheme to replace the Council’s community grants scheme.

(1)    Cabinet noted the outcome of the procurement exercise, and that Gatherwell Limited will be appointed under officer decision.

(2)    Cabinet agreed to delegate authority to the Executive Director (Place) to name the scheme, in consultation with the Leader and Executive Member for Leisure and Community.

(3)    Cabinet delegated authority to agree the scheme design to the Grants Board (including determining eligibility criteria for good causes) and that the terms of reference for the Grants Board be updated accordingly.

Report of the Executive Director (Finance and Transformation) setting out proposals to introduce a community lottery scheme aimed at supporting good causes throughout the borough.

A procurement process was completed to select a provider of the scheme and Gatherwell was selected as the preferred provider. Community lotteries are assessed by the Gambling Commission as low risk as there is no instant gratification and Gatherwell has strong controls in place for responsible and ethical gambling. More details of those gambling controls are set out in section 4 of the report.

Community lotteries are becoming more common in local authorities, and all of the bordering authorities in Hertfordshire have, or are in the process of setting up, a lottery scheme with Gatherwell. The Grants Panel will determine the detailed design of the scheme, including eligibility criteria, and distribution of central funds where players have not chosen a particular charity to support.

These proposals will help reduce reliance on the council in future for the direct funding of worthy causes.

Councillor L. Chesterman stated the following:

“As many of you know, I've been on Grants Board since the year dot, and I also worked in the charity sector for 30 years, so I can honestly say that I've seen both sides of applying for lottery money and applying for other funding, and also agreeing other funding coming out.

There are a few things I’m really quite concerned about. I was interested to see in the report, because I have raised elsewhere about this being gambling that we are going to push out to the community, and it was good to see that that's been dealt with in the report. I was disappointed to find that this was in the budget, and I think it would be more transparent had this report come first and we could have seen it before there was anything voted on within the budget, as this would have answered the questions that I was asking about being wary with gambling. 

I noticed there were a hundred and something lotteries locally since 2016. It's a different world today than it was a couple of years ago and I don't think any of us can deny that we're going through a real cost of living crisis. Have we done any research to see how much money has been lost for those doing lotteries during that time? Are people cutting back? If you turn the television on during the afternoon or early evening, every charity is now pushing a lottery. We are only looking at a set amount of money that people have got and that amount of money is shrinking.

And finally, people will tend to say that they want the money to go to the big charities. The smaller charities are really the losers in a lot of these lotteries. The strength of our council grants funding is that even the smallest club or the smallest group can apply for a grant, and we've been able to give it, I'm worried that we're going to be giving much less to the smaller groups.”

It was clarified that this item was in the budget papers, and the Cabinet papers would have been published before the Council meeting. This was also raised at the Cross-Party Budget Task and Finish Group.

It was noted that various charities of all sizes are looking to lotteries to raise money. The council want to ensure that funding for worthy causes that have previously been supported can continue during times where there will be tougher constraints on budgets. It is hoped that local people will look to support this lottery, as they know that the money raised will be spent on local worthy causes.

It was noted that governance is going to be key and this needs to be properly regulated.

(1)   The Decision Taken

RESOLVED:

(unanimous)

Cabinet noted the outcome of the procurement exercise, and that

Gatherwell Limited will be appointed under officer decision.

Cabinet agreed to delegate authority to the Executive Director (Place) to name the scheme, in consultation with the Leader and Executive Member for Leisure and Community.

Cabinet delegated authority to agree the scheme design to the Grants

Board (including determining eligibility criteria for good causes) and that the terms of reference for the Grants Board be updated accordingly.

(2)   Reasons for the Decision

As part of considering options for closing the budget gap, exploration has been undertaken to consider starting a community lottery scheme, which would reduce reliance the Council’s community grants scheme.

A community lottery would offer a valuable income stream to our community and voluntary sector in the Borough, removing reliance on the council for funding. The current budget for small community-based grants is £50k.

Since 2015, around 110 councils and CVS organisations have set up, or are in the process of setting up, local lotteries to support good causes in their areas, including a number of councils within Hertfordshire.

The Council would retain full control over charities supported, and a process would need to be devised for applications from good causes to be part of the scheme.

In addition to replacing the Council funded grants scheme, the lottery scheme provides an opportunity to increase the overall funding that is made available for good causes, dependant on the number of players in the area.