Continuation of a collective voice for s151 Officers
The Towns Fund Delivery Partner has now come to the end of its involvement in the Towns Fund programme. We were so pleased that this extended support period (January – July 2022) enabled us to continue the Focus Group sessions for the s151, deputy s151 and finance Officer network that had built up during our involvement up to November 2021.
We continued with the s151 Officer Focus Group sessions monthly, hosting a further four sessions in April, May, June and July. It was evident from the discussions that the programme had become complex, with the need for project adjustments, time extensions and financial reprofiles. There was also much debate on the experience from the first meaningful financial year-end, and the challenges of applying
‘freedoms and flexibilities’ to the financial position.
Based on all Focus Group discussions held up to July 2022, we present the main lessons below:
Governance and assurance
For some Towns, sign-off of Business Cases is challenging and causing delay – in some cases, s151 Officers are having to ask Town Leads for more clarity on certain elements.
Some Officers are concerned about timeframes for the Project Adjustment Request approval process, which can delay delivery and exacerbate cost inflation issues.
Some Towns are looking at transitioning and strengthening their governance and assurance frameworks.
Town Deal Board structures are being reviewed in light of governance requirements for other funding streams. For instance, Shared Prosperity Fund is on a larger footprint but has similar governance arrangements.
Resource management and delivery
Many accountable bodies are having to seek significant external support for larger and more complex projects. However, Towns are struggling to get external consultants on board due to limited capacity in the market.
Project adjustment, cost pressures, supply chain issues and contractor availability are making it challenging to deliver certain outputs and outcomes on projects, leading to requests for adjustments to projects.
Matched funding is a key challenge and concern. In some cases, the original matched funding can no longer be secured, for instance, due to change in circumstance post-pandemic. In other cases, match funding is yet to be secured or even yet to be identified.
Working on several fronts in addition to Towns Fund, such as Future High Streets Fund, Levelling Up Fund and Shared Prosperity Fund, is proving very challenging.
Freedoms and flexibilities
Accountable bodies have been trying to ensure that funding lands in the correct financial year. Delays in funding, including external partners, has required accountable bodies to fund upfront at risk.
Officers’ ability to apply flexibility to these situations is very important to realising outputs and outcomes from the programme. This may need to include flexibility across wider funding streams.
Capital Swap presents challenges to filling out the Monitoring and Evaluation form. If Towns could carry forward funding, the form would be more informative, showing a narrative on achieved outcomes in reality and showing true spend against projects.
Next steps from August are as follows:
Guidance and support material provided on townsfund.org.uk, and a dedicated area for s151 Officers, which will continue to be available from August.
A Town Playbook will be made available to all towns, which will be particularly helpful for changes in local teams.
Cities and Local Growth Unit (CLGU) Area Leads continue to provide advice and support to Towns.
Thank you to all Officers that took part in the s151 Officer Focus Group sessions. It has proved to be an extremely valuable forum to share practical tips and experiences and for helping DLUHC to continue to shape the Towns Fund programme.
We encourage s151 Officers and their teams to continue as a collective voice to engage with DLUHC and CLGU Area Leads about the practicalities of the Towns Fund programme delivery.