The Government has launched a technical consultation on a Community Wealth Fund in England.

This technical consultation follows a commitment made by the government in its response to the consultation on the English portion of dormant assets funding. This stated that community wealth funds would be the fourth cause to receive dormant assets funding in England.

The Government says that:

“Empowering local people and devolving decision-making power to communities is at the heart of the government’s vision for a community wealth fund. This consultation is intended to embed those aims from the very beginning by seeking people’s views on the principles that will underpin the design of a community wealth fund in England.

“The government intends for a community wealth fund to target places that are experiencing high levels of deprivation and/or low social capital.”

In the first instance, community wealth will target small towns of fewer than 20,000 residents.

The consultation explores the following topic areas:

• whether a Community Wealth Fund should focus on supporting a smaller number of communities with larger pots of funding or a greater number of communities with smaller pots of funding
• whether a low level of existing social infrastructure should be required for places to be eligible
• whether funding is allocated from a Community Wealth Fund or whether places competitively bid for funding
• how communities, in the first instance small towns, are selected
• the nature of local decision-making

The Consultation closes at 11.55pm 19th October 2023

Find out more at this link