SEUPB announce changes to Peace II

The Special European Programmes Body has announced changes to the implementation of the Peace II programme which have resulted from the discussions of the 60 Day Action Team established by Ian Pearson MP.

Based on the recommendations of the external review of the Peace programmes undertaken by PriceWaterHouseCoopers the Action Team, which was made up of senior civil servants from Northern Ireland and Republic of Ireland; SEPUB, Implementing Bodies (IB), Tim Spalding from Community Workers Co-operative and Seamus McAleavey from NICVA, examined the areas of application, financial procedures, monitoring and wider issues such as communication.

There are a number of key recommendations which will be coming into effect over the next two months and a set of service delivery standards has also been developed. The changes include:

Application Forms

There are still two parts of the application form, A and B. However both have been made considerably shorter. Also the language used in Part B is more user friendly and additional explanatory notes have been added.

Peace Distinctiveness

Some organisations applying for funding (known as project promoters) have struggled with the criteria which asks them to show how their project is related to Peace and Reconciliation or the ‘distinctiveness criteria’ as it is known. This has resulted in many groups spending time completing application forms then realising that they do not meet the criteria or not fully outlining how they meet the criteria and so being turned down for funding. In order to help solve this problem the distinctiveness criteria will be highlighted and explained at registration stage. Monitoring information on distinctiveness will now be collected by an IB project visit rather than included in the monitoring return form.

Small Grants

The small grants application form has been shortened and the amount of money groups can apply for under the small grants scheme has been raised from £10,000 to £20,000.

Letter of Offer

A standard model letter of offer to be used by all IBs has been developed which is less legalistic and uses less jargon. The letter of offer will now include an appendix which will explain the key clauses in the letter. It will also include a spending profile which will outline spend for each year and what will happen if the spend is not met.

Monitoring

Every claim will not be subject to vouching but total expenditure must be vouched every year. Claims will not be delayed over a small disputed amount. The disputed amount will be set aside and the rest of the claim processed.

An Article 4 check is the check on a groups financial systems that all IBs are required to carryout. Currently groups that are funded by more than one IB receive a check from each IB. From January 2004 groups that receive multiple funding will only receive one A rticle 4 check, provided that the money comes from the same EC fund.

IB will receive guidance on how to apply the principle of materiality to claims ie smaller claims may equal less monitoring.

All valid claims will normally be paid in 30 days.

Monitoring reports will be collected on a six monthly, rather than quarterly, basis.

SEUPB will issue guidance to all IBs on exactly what monitoring information is required. If IBs require further information this should be limited to one additional page every six months.

All equality monitoring information has been removed from ESF monitoring return forms and projects will now be required to issue confidential monitoring forms to all users one a year.

Delivery Standards

The delivery standards cover all aspects of delivery of the programme for example, an application will be acknowledge and reference number issued within seven days and project promoters will be contacted by the relevant IFB within 30 days. A timetable for the amount of time IBs should take to process an application is supplied with the shortest time being ten weeks for small grants and 28 weeks for grants over £50,001, claims will be processed within 30 days.

Welcome

This is only a summary of some of the key measures that will affect voluntary and community groups who are applying for, or are in receipt of funding. More detailed information is available in a series of concise and user friendly guidance notes covering Financial Management, Monitoring Requirements, Service Delivery Standards and the report from the 60 Day Action Team.

It may be felt that many of the measures, especially the changes to the application forms, have come too late in the life of the programme to make a real impact. It can also be argued that the changes do not go far enough towards making the programme accessible to smaller, low capacity groups.and NICVA has argued both of these points. . However the changes to monitoring procedures will certainly make the process clearer and easier for IBs and project promoters.

What the 60 Day Action Team has also done is set a precedent for any further programmes. We now know that application forms can be shortened, that the views of the sector on monitoring procedures will be listened to and changes implemented, that SEUPB wants to make the programme work and that a coalition of managing authority and user groups is the best way to make this happen.

For more information contact the SEPUB on
info@seupb
028 9026 6660
www.sepub.org