Community Radio Fund. End of year report: 2016/17

Transcription

1 Community Radio Fund End of year report: 2016/17 Statement Publication date: June 2017

2 About this document This document reports on how the Community Radio Fund was administered in 2016/17. Ofcom has been tasked by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) with administering a Community Radio Fund. DCMS provides a sum of money each year for the Fund and grants are awarded to Ofcom-licensed community radio stations. The report sets out how much money was given out as grants, which stations received grants and for what purposes grants were awarded.

3 Contents Section Page 1 Community Radio Fund End of Year Report 2016/17 4 Annex Page 1 Awards to stations in 2016/17 6

4 Section 1 Community Radio Fund end of year report 2016/17 1 Community Radio Fund End of Year Report 2016/ The Community Radio Fund ( the Fund ) exists to help community radio licensees and to support core costs incurred in the provision of community radio services. 1.2 Ofcom administers the Fund on behalf of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS). The money allocated to the Fund is given out in the form of grants, following a formal application process. 1.3 The decisions on grant applications are made by the Community Radio Fund Panel ( the Panel ) which reports to the Ofcom Board. 1.4 DCMS allocated 392,500 to the Fund for the financial year 1 April 2016 to 31 March The Panel met twice during the year to consider applications for grant awards in June 2016 and January Summary of payments 1.6 In the first round, grants totalling 201,365 were awarded to 12 stations. 1.7 In the second round 191,135 worth of grants were awarded to a further 13 stations. 1.8 Over the two funding rounds 116 applications were considered, asking for a total of 1,922,046 ( 927,815 in the first round and 994,231 in the second round). There were 25 applicants who applied in both rounds, eight of whom were successful (one in the first round, and seven in the second round). 1.9 Grants over the course of the year ranged from 3,000 to 33,897, with an average payment of 15,700. (See Annex 1 for the list of individual awards). Panel priorities 1.10 Ofcom publishes a statement from the Panel following each funding round which sets out the awards made, reiterates the Panel s ongoing funding priorities, and makes additional comments and observations The Panel emphasised that it cannot make grants to all applicant stations as there is a limited amount of money to give out as grants. It takes into account the level of need of applicants, as well as the anticipated benefit of receiving a grant The Panel continues to consider fundraising and promoting long-term sustainability to be critical, core activities. It therefore continues to favour proposals with these aims. Clear financial targets should be provided by applicants for fund raising posts. The Panel also continues to believe there is scope for collaborative working or joint applications from stations The majority of the grant requests were for business development, fundraising and sales positions. The summary statements of awards, and additional comments by the Panel, are available at: 4

5 Grant monitoring 1.14 The Panel has implemented a reporting procedure to check that grant awards are spent as agreed. A grant agreement is put in place between Ofcom and each licensee awarded a grant, and this sets out the terms of the award, including an expenditure period. Successful applicants are required to complete a report (the grant report ) detailing how they spent their fund award. If a satisfactory report is not made, the Panel may require repayment of the grant and may consider not making a further grant to a licensee Reports for the first round of funding in 2015/16, due in November 2016, have been received from all but two of the 12 grant recipients. The non-submissions were from two licensees no longer operating community radio services: Teesdale Community Broadcasting Limited (Radio Teesdale) which went into liquidation in June 2016, surrendering its licence; and Hub Media C.I.C. (The Hub), where the directors all resigned, and which ceased broadcasting in October The grant reports for the second round of funding in 2015/16 are not due until the end of June The expenditure period for the licensees which received awards from the Fund in 2016/17 has not yet expired, and thus grant reports have not yet been requested In the first batch of 2016/17 awards made last June, West Wolds Radio Limited (West Wolds Radio) received 14,750 for a Business Development Officer. However, in September 2016, the Licensee decided to close the station; its board felt there was insufficient volunteer support to enable the station s operations to continue Following the decision to surrender its community radio licence, West Wolds Radio Limited was required to provide a report on the grant fund spend, and repay any sums not spent on the designated grant purpose. A report was received detailing the amount spent on the post-holder, and 10,696 in unspent money was returned to the Fund in January Community radio sector and future of the Fund 1.19 The community radio sector has continued to grow: there were 245 stations broadcasting at the end of the 2016/17 financial year, compared with 238 in 2015/ Originally it was anticipated that 400,000 would be provided by DCMS for the Fund in financial year 2016/17. However, a sum of 7,500 was allocated by DCMS for use by other community media projects, leaving 392,500 as the actual amount made available to the Fund DCMS has confirmed it will continue to provide money to use in the Fund for the next three financial years, up to and including the 2019/20 financial year. Panel members 1.22 The Panel is made up of three members appointed by Ofcom. For 2016/17 these were: Wendy Pilmer, the Chairman of the Panel, who is a consultant who works with the world s leading broadcasters in implementing strategy and managing change; Richard Hilton, who is Head of Management Accounting at Business in the Community, a charity and membership organisation that works with companies to improve the positive impact of business on society 1 ; and Fiona Lennox, the Executive Director of the Communications Consumer Panel who has extensive experience in communications strategy, policy, research and management. 1 Richard Hilton is the Community Media Association s nominated representative on the Panel. 5

6 Annex 1 1 Awards to stations in 2016/17 Round 1 Community Radio Fund end of year report 2016/17 Amount Purpose Station Name Location 33,897 Health FM project* ALL FM Manchester 24,276 Business Development Manager Radio Sangam Huddersfield 18,504 Business Development Officer Bishop FM ,602 Business Development Co-ordinator Koast Radio 17,221 Sustainability and Business Development Manager Cando FM Bishop Auckland, County Durham Ashington, Northumberland Barrow-in-Furness 16,500 Station Manager Nevis Radio Fort William 15,000 Business Development Officer In2Beats Bedford 15,000 Business Development Manager Revival FM Cumbernauld 14,750 Business Development Officer West Wolds Radio Pocklington, Yorkshire 12,965 Sales and Business Development Officer Gravity FM Grantham 12,650 Fundraising & Marketing Officer Uckfield FM Uckfield, East Sussex 3,000 Radio Hub regional project** Gateway 97.8 Basildon, Essex 201,365 Total * This project aims to help the UK community radio sector to deliver a range of partnership health projects. It will record and evaluate existing activity, support the creation of new projects in the field, and disseminate the results of the project to the whole sector. ** This is a project to support community radio stations at a regional level, in London and the south east. It encourages collaboration, networking and sharing best practice, as well as running workshops. 6

7 Round 2 Amount Purpose Station Name Location 19,240 Business Development & Outreach Officer Bangor FM Bangor, NI 16,250 Sustainability and Development Officer Beyond Radio Lancaster 15,958 Business Development Manager Hitmix Radio Newcastle under Lyme 15,436 Sustainability & Partnership Development BCB 106.6FM Bradford 15,360 Grants and Fundraising Officer RadioReverb Brighton 15,000 Business Development Officer Biggles FM Biggleswade 15,000 Business Development Manager Radio BGWS Farnborough 14,616 Business and Sustainability Manager Destiny 105 Oxford 14,460 Project Manager Sunny Govan Radio Glasgow 14,000 Business Development Manager HKRFM East Hull 14,000 Business Development Manager Wycombe Sound High Wycombe 11,715 Business Development Manager Ribble FM Clitheroe 10,100 Funding Manager Radio Warrington Warrington 191,135 Total 7