Peterborough community project playing crucial coronavirus role to be expanded

The Peterborough and Cambridgeshire Think Communities team has seen local authorities, the voluntary and faith sector, community groups, housing providers, businesses, and health, police and fire services, come together to coordinate “people-centred support”.

Peterborough City Council said the approach was first developed in 2019, but that “since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic the coordinated hub response implemented in Peterborough and Cambridgeshire has proven how the concept works in real time, supporting tens of thousands of residents to protect themselves, and as such not overload the NHS or other statutory services.”

It added: “This way of working achieved some outstanding outcomes and is something the council and Cambridgeshire County Council want to take experience from and to build on.”

When lockdown began a county-wide and several district hubs were set up to distribute support, including the delivery of food parcels.

The council now wants to focus on “targeted preventative work” to ensure that “people who might need help and support - for example, if they are lonely and isolated, or if they are struggling with their household bills, or who are an informal carer - are able to get that support from within their own community first and foremost, either through a stronger and more resilient set of community-led services or through council and other staff working more closely within and alongside communities”.

The council is now proposing an initial 18 month investment to build on existing infrastructure and use practices developed during the pandemic to “deliver highly practical outcomes across all services”.

It added: “After the 18 months of transformation investment it is expected that this approach and way of working will be embedded in the organisation.”

The one-off £247,000 cost was outlined in the authority’s first set of budget proposals for 2022/23 where it is facing a £36 million deficit.

The council said this is due to substantial cuts to its government funding and the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

A saving of £250,000 every year is expected to be made by reviewing the expenditure of the authority’s Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) which funds services provided by local authorities to maintained schools, trusts and academies.

The council said it has “undertaken a review of its spend across these areas, and as a result we are able to charge more costs previously met by core council funding”.

The Peterborough Telegraph has asked for further information on this.

Further budget articles will appear at www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk.