Petition details
Save THCAN
THCAN has strongly contributed to creating better collaboration
and coordination between different statutory services and the
voluntary sector, raising issues Tower Hamlets residents faced with
the relevant authorities in view of improving the lives of Tower
Hamlets residents and the services they receive.
THCAN has helped many Tower Hamlets residents’ skilling up,
developing their social welfare knowledge, support local advice
agencies trough volunteering and becoming a new work force, a work
force with lived experience and a strong understanding of the
community.
THCAN website has over 9000 users http://www.thcan.org.uk in the last year and has been in existence for the last 10 years.
This website has become a first point of access for many
front-line workers in Tower Hamlets and over 46 organisations and
450 registered front line workers are on the THCAN referrals portal
which allowed organisations from multiple sectors to make 3350
cross referrals enabling a no wrong door approach for resident in
crisis.
Without fund, All these beneficial services are now at risk and the
infrastructure which grew through THCAN’s work will now end,
leading to Tower Hamlets’ residents facing disjointed and
disinformed services and difficulties accessing the service they
need in times of crisis .
I therefore urge the council to fund THCAN
This Petition ran from 01/11/2023 to 19/02/2024 and has now finished.
250 people signed this Petition.
Council response
Petition submitted to the London Borough of Tower Hamlets on behalf
of THCAN requesting grant funding
I am writing on behalf of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets in my
capacity as the Director responsible for delivering the
Mayor’s Community Grant Regime in response to your petition
concerning the Council’s funding decision not to provide
grant funding to THCAN.
I am aware of the good work that THCAN undertake and the
Council’s decision not to provide grant funding to THCAN
under this round of the above grant regime is in no way a comment
on the value of your organisation.
The Council recognises the importance of the voluntary sector in
delivering critical support to residents and is providing
£900k annually through the Mayor’s Community Grants and
£720k annually via Tower Hamlets Connect to enable the sector
in Tower Hamlets to deliver important services to the community.
However, demand for grant funding far exceeds the resource
available and the Council has to demonstrate that it is targeting
resources effectively and consistently and that it administers the
funding fairly. For this reason, grant applications are assessed
against a fixed set of criteria based upon the strategic priorities
of the Council.
The Mayor’s Community Grants Programme was open to all
applications that met the set awards criteria. The Programme was
launched in April 2023 with a prospectus that clearly set out key
priorities and outcomes to be delivered from it. The application
submission period closed in June 2023 and Council grant officers
then undertook a thorough two-stage assessment of the bid
submissions scoring them against the awards criteria. To ensure
that the evaluations and recommendations had been made in a fair
and proper way this process was then subject to both internal and
external assurance checks, a challenge session and audit.
Regrettably the THCAN applications were unsuccessful because one
project failed to meet the minimum required scoring threshold as
set out in the prospectus whilst the second project was not
recommended for funding as there were other higher scoring projects
competing for the same limited funding.
Where Projects are unsuccessful the Council provides feedback when
requested and will work with the applicant to try to secure
alternative funding. The Council’s website has a page
providing information on a range of local, regional and national
grant funding streams. Community grants and resources
(towerhamlets.gov.uk)
https://www.towerhamlets.gov.uk/lgnl/community_and_living/voluntary-and-community-sector/External-funding-and-training/External-funding.aspx
which I invite you to review. The Council also sends out a monthly
newsletter to voluntary and community sector organisations which
highlights opportunities for funding.
As you may be aware, the officer who manages the grants team that
evaluated the Mayors Grant applications, is meeting with THCAN
representatives this Friday to provide more detailed feedback on
your application and to help to explore other potential funding
streams which may include NHS funding and Adults Health and
Wellbeing funding sources. I have asked the officer to continue to
prioritise efforts to find alternative funding sources for THCAN
and wish to assure you that the Council is committed to work with
THCAN to explore and support other external grant funding
opportunities open to them. Finally, I do hope that the fact that
you were unsuccessful with your grant bid in this instance will not
put you off making applications for grant funding to the Council in
future rounds.
Yours sincerely,
Robin Beattie
Acting Director Strategy, Improvement and Transformation.