Leading lights in the sector have met with the Government and welcomed assurances over the funding of the sector from the National Lottery.

Stephen Bubb, chief executive of ACEVO, Sir Stuart Etherington, chief executive of NCVO, and Kevin Curley, chief executive of NAVCA, met with John Penrose, minister for Tourism and Heritage, yesterday to discuss the proposed changes to lottery funding.

This will see funding for the Big Lottery Fund reduced from 50% to 40% of National Lottery income, with the proportion of funding going to arts, heritage and sport distributors increased from 16.6% to 20%.

If taken forward, the changes would be phased in from 1 April 2011, when the Big Lottery Fund will receive 46% of Lottery funding with arts, heritage and sports distributors each receiving 18%.

In the meeting, Stephen Bubb welcomed the additional funding for arts, heritage and sports as many ACEVO members are already carrying out vital work in these fields.

He was also pleased to get reassurance from the Minister on the Government’s intention to ensure the new proposals do not mean any reduction in funding for the sector and urged him to consider asking all lottery distributors to report on the proportion of their income that is given to voluntary and community organisations.

Penrose expressed his willingness to work with ACEVO, NCVO and NAVCA to ensure a common definition for the voluntary and community sector is utilised across all distributors so that any data published is consistent.

Finally, the minister was very receptive to suggestions that setting rigid restrictions on the amount distributors are able to spend on overheads could lead to perverse incentives for funding to be channelled to fewer larger organisations, disproportionately damaging small community organisations.

Instead he said the Government would look to put in place some form of benchmarking system, analysing examples of best practice in both the UK and internationally.

Following the meeting Stephen Bubb said: “The Minister clearly appreciated how important Big Lottery Funding is for ACEVO members. We will look to work with him closely over the coming months to ensure that the voluntary and community sector remains able to draw on this vital source of income, particularly when funding is becoming harder to access in other areas”.

Share Story: