Ó An Roinn Forbartha Tuaithe agus Pobail
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Community Services Programme Support Fund will benefit over 980 full-time equivalent staff
The Minister for Rural and Community Development Michael Ring TD, has today (Friday, 18 January) announced that he has approved funding in excess of €1 million to continue the Community Services Programme (CSP) Support Fund.
The CSP Support Fund will assist community organisations which are participants in the Community Services Programme and are struggling to meet the minimum wage levels.
The CSP supports community-based organisations to provide local social, economic and environmental services through a social enterprise model, providing a contribution towards the cost of staff in CSP supported organisations. It typically supports organisations to meet local service gaps and provide access to services and facilities that would otherwise generally be unavailable.
Examples of organisations that will benefit from the Support Fund include:
Announcing the funding, the Minister said:
“I’m delighted that the Government has decided to increase the national minimum wage once again. The CSP Support Fund will assist 263 CSP supported organisations. This is an increase of over 100 organisations from the 2016 levels.
“The Fund will greatly assist organisations that are struggling to meet the minimum wage levels. I have increased the contribution per full-time equivalent from €350 to €1,100.”
The Minister thanked the organisations supported under the Community Services Programme:
“I have to commend the management and staff of the organisations supported through the Community Services Programme. They are carrying out invaluable work in their local communities.”
Pobal carried out an assessment of all CSP supported organisations and the CSP Support Fund was approved by the Department based on their recommendation.
The CSP Support Fund is being run on a once-off basis in 2019 pending the review of the CSP which will commence in February. The review will inform decisions on the future shape and structure of the programme.
In concluding, the Minister added:
“My Department recently carried out an early consultation with key stakeholders and CSP supported organisations on the scope of the CSP review. I would like to thank all the organisations who took the time to submit feedback. This element of the consultation process is now complete and the formal review will commence in February.”
A detailed list of qualifying organisations are set out in appendix i.
ENDS
The CSP currently supports community-based organisations to provide local social, economic and environmental services through a social enterprise model, providing a contribution towards the cost of staff in CSP organisations. It typically supports organisations to meet local service gaps and provide access to services and facilities that would otherwise generally be unavailable. Eligible organisations are supported under three strands –
Strand 1 – Community Halls and Facilities
Strand 2 – Community Services for Disadvantaged Communities
Strand 3 – Community Organisations Employing People Distant from the Labour Market.
Funding is provided to community organisations as a fixed contribution towards the cost of employing a manager and/or an agreed number of full-time equivalent positions (FTEs). The CSP provides €19,033 per FTE and €32,000 per manager. The contribution is based on a 39 hour working week. More than €46m is allocated to the programme in 2019, supporting approx. 1,650 FTEs and 300 manager positions.
The CSP contribution is not aligned with the minimum wage and CSP supported organisations are expected to contribute to the cost of the funded positions and pay a reasonable and adequate rate of pay in line with market rates. At a minimum, organisations must meet the minimum wage for all FTE positions.
The CSP Support Fund was established in 2016 to give organisations time to strengthen their revenue generating capacity and help them secure their long-term sustainability. Following a closed call for applications, some 160 organisations were approved for funding for a period of between one to three years. Support has been provided on a sliding scale over the period 2016 to 2018 as follows –
€1,100 per FTE for 2016
€700 per FTE for 2017
€350 per FTE for 2018
2019 Support Fund
Funding of €1,100 per FTE will be provided on a once-off basis to qualifying organisations in 2019. It is expected it will support c. 984 FTE positions in some 263 organisations. The cost of the fund will be c. €1.08 million.
Appeals Process
Organisations that were not successful in meeting the specified criteria to be included in the 2019 Support Fund, will be given an opportunity to appeal the decision. The deadline to appeal the decision is 12 p.m. on Friday 15th February 2019.
Appeals should be submitted to The Appeals Co-Ordinator, Pobal, Holbrook House, Holles Street, Dublin 2. For further details on the appeal process unsuccessful applicants should refer to the CSP Support Fund 2019 Appeal Guidelines on the Pobal CSP portal: CSP Support Guides
The successful organisations agreed by the Department of Rural and Community Development will be formally notified by Pobal.