The Parish Council can only award grants using certain legal powers; specific powers allow the Council to provide funding for specific activities or projects which Members feel will be of benefit to residents of Shenstone, Stonnall or Little Aston.

Grant applications are considered at the Finance, Legal Health & Safety Committee meeting in January or February with recommendations put before the next meeting of Full Council. Therefore, applications and any supporting documentation should be received by the end of the first week in January to allow the Clerk to check that the Council’s grants criteria have been met.

Each year, funding available for grants will be determined by Full Council following Finance committee recommendations. Grant awards are capped at 75% of requested funding up to an award limit of £1,000 except in exceptional circumstances. The Parish will award grants to a maximum budget allocation of £30,000 collectively for all grants in any one fiscal year

Grant Awarding Criteria:

1. It is a condition of any grant application that the group or project must bring direct benefit to the residents of the Parish. All applications must clearly demonstrate how this will be achieved.
2. Application forms must be submitted along with:

• bank statement(s); both current and savings accounts.
• a constitution if not previously submitted or if it has been amended since it was submitted.
• the latest set of the group’s accounts
• It is important that all questions on the application form are answered and that any additional information in support of the application is provided.
• Newly constituted groups may be required to submit accounts at a later date.

3. Retrospective grant applications will only be considered under very special circumstances.

4. The group requesting the grant must be a charity, voluntary or community organisation.

5. Any grant awarded must only be used for the purpose for which it is applied and must be spent within the year that it is awarded unless exceptional circumstances prevail. If the grant cannot be spent in the year it has been awarded the Parish Council should be contacted as soon as possible if it is likely that a request will be made to carry over any unspent balance, otherwise it should be returned to the Parish Council.
6. Shenstone Parish Council reserves the right to request any further information that it deems necessary to assist the decision-making process.
7. Ongoing commitments to award grants in future years cannot be made therefore a new application will be required each year.
8. The size of any grant awarded is at the sole discretion of the Parish Council. Applicants should be aware that the Council will often prefer to pay a grant by directly purchasing the supplies or facilities referred to in the application rather than transferring monies to the applicants.
9. Shenstone Parish Council reserves the right to refuse any grant application which is considered to be inappropriate or against the objectives of the Parish Council.
10. All awards must be properly accounted for and evidence of expenditure should be supplied as requested. If the Parish Council is not satisfied with the arrangements, they reserve the right to request a refund of monies awarded.
11. All applicants must submit proper auditable accounts to demonstrate how the grant awarded has been used.
12. Only one application for a grant will be considered from an organisation defined by its bank account, in any one year.
13. The decision of the Parish Council is final.

The Parish Council will NOT award grants toⁱ:

• Private Individuals.

• Commercial organisations. A Commercial organisation is one that has its main aim through its articles of memorandum to create and generate profits for the benefit of its shareholders/owners. It is a Company that trades in the Commercial world and will have staff, customers, and suppliers as typical in the Commercial environment.

• Fund purposes for which there is a statutory duty upon other local or central government departments to fund or provide, for example, schools. Unless such duty is devolved to the community or local level by agreement.

• “Upward funders” such as local groups where fund raising is sent to a central HQ for redistribution.

• Political parties

Grant policy reviewed & adopted at Full Council 11^th June 2024