Look ahead to the next 12 months and the remainder of GD2
Plans for spend (VCMA)
Remaining allowance available at the end of 2023/24 is £16.6 million. Of remaining allowance at end of year 3 the majority is committed to ensure projects conclude at end of GD2 (31st March 2026).
How we will invest funding we have available, to make the most impact, and focusing specifically on supporting those in financial vulnerability:
- Advise partners of our gaps in themes and geography and ask how they can help, rather than them submitting proposals where there is already support and coverage
- Consider using more tender events to partner with the suppliers to deliver the services we specifically require (via gaps identified)
- Work closely with refreshed Strategic Partners to understand and evolve our strategy to move forward
- Have the ability and flexibility to react to the changing political and economic landscape
- Focus on the long-term sustainability of existing projects and how we can support partners to help them achieve this
Themes covered within £14.4m committed spend over next 2 years, in line with previous stakeholder feedback:
- Supporting priority customers – targeted effort to reach underserved communities and vulnerability groups (higher cost to serve but high value/impact for the individual) - majority tier 1 and 2
- Fuel poverty and energy affordability – scaling up of successful projects to ensure wider impact of services (mixture of crisis and longer-term support) - majority tier 1 and 2
- CO awareness – scaling up CO awareness and distribution of CO alarms – tier 3
- Services beyond the meter – scaling up existing programme, including dedicated roles – tier 1
- Reach 14 million people through collaborative projects and 300 million through NGN projects over next 2 years with an increase in NGN only spend during these last 2 years
What we will deliver (VCMA):
Priorities for the remainder of GD2:
NGN will ensure that all funds deliver maximum impact, seeking out projects to address identified gaps (vulnerability categories and geography). We will target projects and partner mapping including tender events to meet identified needs.
VCMA project applications are currently suspended pending review of our committed spend and projects that have been submitted to NGN within the last month. We will work closely with Strategic Partners to understand and evolve our strategy. This provides NGN with the ability and flexibility to react to the changing political and economic landscape. We will focus on the long-term sustainability of existing projects and how we can support partners to help them achieve this. We will also continue to increase understanding of localised needs/variances across our network through stakeholder feedback, as well as building and strengthening local relationships.
Plans for spend (VCMA)
NGN will focus on underserved vulnerability groups including; faith groups, ethnic minorities, farming and geographically remote communities, and younger people. We will also focus on underserved geographical areas including; Hull, Bradford, Scarborough and east coast areas, Sunderland, rural/coastal areas in Cumbria and County Durham.
We also feel that it is important to support project sustainability, to avoid the impact of a 'cliff edge' in funding availability at the end of GD2. We've been considering how we can further support this for our existing partners. For some projects we are funding support to enable business development roles and upskilling of staff, to ensure impact and sustainability beyond the end of VCMA funding.
Proposed overall split for VCMA project spend:
- 67% - NGN
- 33% - Collaborative
