Departments Directions Social Fund GuidePart 5 - The Budget
The Annual budget
7050Two separate allocations are made for payments by Decision Makers(DMs) in each District:
- an amount allocated for Community Care Grants (CCGs) to each District
- an amount allocated regionally for Budgeting Loans (BLs) and Crisis Loans (CLs)
7051These two allocations are referred to as the grants budget and the loans budget respectively. DMs are required to manage the funds allocated to them responsibly. To help them to do this, the Area Decision Maker (ADM) must provide relevant and up to date guidance and information.
7052There is no power locally to set or alter the budget allocation, or to change the geographical area covered by the allocation.
Direction 40- Responsibilities of the Area Decision Maker7053Area Decision Makers (ADMs) are required by Direction 40 to carry out all the functions in Direction 40, or to ensure that the functions are carried out on their behalf by delegation to a suitably qualified Operations Manager
7054The aim of carrying out the functions is to support Decision Makers (DMs) in their role in controlling and managing the budget allocated to them.
7055-7070
Planned profiles of expenditure7071For the grants budget, there should be a planned month by month profile of expenditure at the start of the year against which the ADM monitors actual monthly spend.
7072The planned profile will normally be based on patterns of historical demand identified year by year .
7073The ADM may also reflect local patterns of demand in the planned profile where necessary, to take account of anticipated local factors.
7074Use the plan as a monitoring tool to check whether actual spend differs from planned spend.
7075This must be done at least once a month. Where there is a variance, take appropriate action. For example, if the misalignment of actual expenditure against profiled expenditure is due to sustained higher/lower than normal demand, then the ADM guidance must be reviewed, and budgetary information updated.
7076Any re-profiling must be accompanied by some remedial action to control and manage the budget. Never re-profile just to mask differences in actual versus planned spend, as this will create a false position for DMs as the year progresses.
7077Only revise the planned profile in isolation if there is a change to the annual allocation, or if the demand patterns on which it is based have not materialised. Ensure DMs are aware of when and why re-profiling has taken place.
7078Check the efficacy of ADM guidance issued under – Direction 40, and the budgetary information provided to the DMs (Direction 40). Make amendments where necessary to control and manage Community Care Grant (CCG) spend. Following this action, consider re-profiling the remainder of the budget if this will help DMs to focus better on the budgetary position.
7079For the loans budget, check that DMs are fully aware of the current budgeting loan maximum amounts notified in accordance with Direction 40 and that these are accurately reflected on the Social Fund Computer System.
7079-7099
Area Decision Maker's Guidance for Community Care Grants7100The Department gives guidance to assist DMs in deciding the priority of needs for those applications which may qualify for a CCG under –Direction 4.
7101The ADM must issue guidance which specifies the level of priority that can be met from the budget. There are only three possible levels of priority for CCGs (high, medium and low).
7102The suggested appropriate statements for ADM guidance for CCGs are, for example:
- “decision makers may meet needs assessed as high priority”; or
- “decision makers may meet needs assessed as high and medium priority"
7103However, if there are indications that not all needs within a specified level of priority can be met, this must be reflected in the ADM guidance. In such circumstances, the guidance statement should add the words “to the extent the budgetary position allows” to the statements above.
7104For example, where the budgetary position indicates that all high priority needs can be met, but that not all medium priority needs can, the ADM guidance statement should be:
“Decision makers may meet needs assessed as high priority, and may meet needs assessed as medium priority to the extent the budgetary position allows”.
7105Similarly, if budgetary pressures mean that not all high priority needs can be met, the statement:
“Decision makers may meet needs assessed as high priority to the extent the budgetary position allows” applies.
7106The statement should alert DMs to carefully take account of the budgetary position when deciding applications within that particular level of priority, possibly resulting in some needs not being met for budgetary reasons.
7107Note that any statement in the ADM guidance on the level of CCG priority to be met must be consistent with the actual budgetary position.
Guidance for Crisis Loans7108ADMs do not issue guidance about CLs.
7151The Department’s guidance states that the loans budget must meet crisis loan needs first and consequently all applications qualifying for a CL under – direction 3 (1) (a) will have a higher priority than all other loans. There is no need to reproduce this within ADM guidance.
7109Unless DMs are notified otherwise, there are no budgetary constraints on the centrally controlled loans budget for payment of CLs.
7110Exceptionally, it may be necessary for the Department to issue Northern Ireland guidance about constraints to which Decision makers must have regard when making Crisis Loan awards.
7111In this case, the ADM must notify the relevant Decision Makers of the Northern Ireland guidance in force. This is not part of ADM guidance.
Budgeting Loans - Maximum Amount7112For BLs the ADM must notify Decision Makers of the most recent regional baseline figure for determining the maximum amount available to each BL applicant under the Northern Ireland budget.
7113The figure notified to Decision Makers should be the latest figure provided by Operations Directorate Support and be accurately recorded on Social Fund Computer System (SFCS) and the Social Fund Budgeting Loan (SFBL) system.
7114The budgeting loan baseline figure takes account of Northern Ireland demand for both budgeting loans and CLs.
7115The aim is to control and manage the Northern Ireland allocation whilst providing consistency of outcomes for BL applicants wherever they live.
Information about the budgetary position of the grants budget7116Direction 40 requires ADMs to provide CCG DMs with information about the budgetary position and to revise this monthly as necessary. This information is needed by DMs so that they can have regard to the state of the local budget when making CCG decisions.
7117It is for ADMs to judge the precise content of the information they issue and whether to update it more often than once a month, eg due to volatility of demand.
7118It is recommended that the information be in the form of written statements that show, for example:
- how up to date the workload is
- comparison of year to date expected spend against actual spend
- what types of needs have been met to reach the current budgetary position (and over what period)
- whether amounts awarded have been restricted (and over what period)
7119This list is not exhaustive. But an example might read:
‘The actual year to date spend is £x. At this stage in the year, we expected to have spent only £x. The budget has reached this position even though only high priority CCG needs have been met for the past x months. And despite the fact that during this same period, awards for major household items have been restricted on budgetary grounds, to the very lowest retail amounts found locally’.
7120Note: If DMs use this information as evidence in a decision, it should be part of the papers referred to the Office of the Social Fund Commissioner in the event of a review by a Social Fund Inspector (SFI).
7121ADMs should note that the following management practices support the overall budget management process:
- maximising loan recovery
- encouraging exchanges of information and good practice both between DMs in the District, and with other Districts/Jobs and Benefits offices / Social Security offices.
- using management checks to identify gaps in individual learning or general inconsistency in approach
- taking prompt action on grants budget variance against profile reporting district budget/recovery information as required to Operations Directorate Support.
7123 - 7149
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