Decision Reference Number: WPCC4-0043
Lead Officer: Sara Ansell/Emma Dixon
Chief Officer approval: N/A
Date: 11/02/2025
Publication: Information in this form is subject to the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOI Act) and other legislation. Unless the information provided is covered by an exemption and stated to be either confidential or partly confidential, the information contained in the form will be published on the OPCC website.
Status: Non-confidential
If partially-confidential or confidential please detail the FOI exemption applied and specify which parts are confidential:
Decision summary:
The 2025/26 Commissioner’s Grants round has been concluded, following a full and comprehensive process. The PCC has awarded a total of £275,523.97 (breakdown summarised in this decision notice and as part of the supporting documentation) to various community projects in Warwickshire split across the PCC prevention and diversion (£250,000 budget) and road safety grants (£50,000 budget). Aside from these grants the PCC also commissions and funds various other services including the Community Safety Partnerships (CSPs) which are outside the scope of this decision notice.
The costs of the annual grants and partnership funded works will be met from within the 2025/26 PCC budget and the ring-fenced road safety reserve, and this decision notice seeks formal approval of the allocations to the various specific organisations.
I confirm that my register of interests declaration is up to date and that none of my interests preclude me from making this decision.
Signature: P. Seccombe
Date: 12/02/2025
Supporting information
1. Background information: why do we need to make this decision?
The annual grants process operates alongside the numerous PCC commissioned services and partnership working initiatives and projects. This decision notice relates solely to the annual grants awarded by the PCC for 2025/26.
In 2025/26, the total budget for both of these grants is £300,000. The PCC has agreed with the PCC Chief Finance Officer that based on application merit, an over allocation of awards against the budget could be permitted, of approximately 10%. This has been agreed following year on year underspending on projects by a number of partners due to a variety of reasons, and there is therefore, a strong possibility that this will happen again in 2025/26. The over allocation of awards will be offset by this anticipated underspending in year, but if this is not forthcoming, the costs will be underwritten and financed by the PCC grants and initiatives reserve.
Following the evaluation process, the PCC has agreed to fund projects totalling £256,913.97 under the prevention and diversion grants programme, and a further £18,610 for Road Safety Grants, funded from the ringfenced road safety reserve.
Some changes were incorporated into the grants process this year, including a new online application module, using specialist software which significantly improved the application and evaluation process.
For the first time, organisations could apply for either a small grant (up to £5,000) or a standard grant (£5,001 – £15,000) for any of the themes. Amendments were also made to the grant terms and conditions to include new engagement requirements, underspend rules and specific terms and conditions for each funding stream to enhance governance.
Alongside these changes, a maximum grant allowance per organisation was set at £30,000. This value could be achieved through an uncapped number of application submissions (previously capped at 2 submissions per organisation), aimed at encouraging more grant applications, inspire new innovative initiatives and allow organisations to submit proposals with fewer restrictions.
In total, 70 grant applications for the PCC’s Prevention and Diversion Scheme for 2025/26 via the online portal split across four key themes: Road Safety (3 applications received), Crime Prevention (31 applications received), Reducing Reoffending (9 applications received) and Children and Young People (27 applications received). This represents 13 more applications received than the previous year 2024/25.
Following a comprehensive evaluation process, against an agreed criteria, the PCC made his awards for 2025/26, as shown in the appendix to this decision notice. Three projects did not meet the evaluation criteria and scoring, but carried significant merit and met key priorities within the Police and Crime Plan. Awards to these organisations have been made on a discretionary basis by the PCC. Details for these are also shown on the supporting documentation.
2. What additional documents are relied upon? Please provide a link or separate attachments.
2025/26 Criteria and Evaluation guidance
3. What benefits will this bring, including financial, social or environmental benefits?
The annual grants process is comprehensive. It has been openly advertised, and applications encouraged from all stakeholders including potentially new and existing grant recipients, who could identify projects that would help progress Police and Crime Plan objectives. Projects are robustly evaluated against an agreed set of criteria in line with the Police and Crime Plan priorities. The project outcomes and spending are performance managed throughout the year and the PCC actively engages with many of the organisations as part of this process to ensure that outcomes are delivered and value for money achieved. The supporting documentation outlines some of the key benefits that have been identified as part of specific project approvals.
4. What is the impact of not approving the application?
The expected benefits from the approved projects would not be achieved and Police and Crime Plan priorities and objectives would potentially remain unmet, unless other interventions were put in place. The grants process helps to develop good working relationships, and such arrangements might be stifled in the absence of such a process.
5. How much will it cost? (please provide cost breakdown, including any identified savings, and include where they have been approved)
Details on specific awards are included in the supporting documentation. The total budget available in 2025/26 is £300,000.
6. Who has been consulted on this proposal?
PCC, Deputy PCC, OPCC managers and staff, Warwickshire Road Safety Partnership and Warwickshire Police Head of Prevention.
7. Will this decision have an impact on any specific individuals or groups or communities?
Individual projects may impact specific groups in specific areas
8. Does this decision have legal implications? Has legal advice been sought?
All legal advice regarding the process has been followed.
Comments from the Chief Finance Officer
The costs of the grant awards will be met from within the 2025/26 PCC budget. Road Safety grants will be funded from the ringfenced road safety reserve.
Grant awards are subject to various due diligence checks, and terms and conditions for each of the awards are issued. Recipients will be required to agree to these prior to any payments being made. The terms and conditions include the return of any unspent funding at year end and the performance and outputs from projects will be monitored during the year to ensure that they meet the agreed outcomes and the priorities in the Police and Crime Plan and deliver value for money.
Comments from the Chief Executive and Monitoring Officer
A robust process has taken place to determine the most suitable applications to take forward for 2025/26. It is intended that these grants will delivery improvements in policing and crime in Warwickshire.
