The announcement reflects the ongoing, cross-sectoral support for the campaign’s core principles following the launch of a technical consultation on the Community Wealth Fund’s design principles in September 2023. These include long-term, patient funding (10-15 years); investment directly into doubly disadvantaged neighbourhoods; community-led decision making; and appropriate support provided to build community confidence and capacity.
Over the course of its seven-year campaign, the CWFA has advocated for a targeted approach that addresses the needs of doubly disadvantaged neighbourhoods – areas that have historically missed out on their fair share of investment alongside facing the highest levels of deprivation and the weakest social infrastructure.
Predominantly located in housing estates on the outskirts of former industrial towns and cities, as well as in coastal areas, many of these neighbourhoods are found outside small towns and were at risk of missing out on vital investment under previous proposals for the funding.
Evidence from the Big Local programme, the fifteen-year long Lottery funded investment in rebuilding community social infrastructure, which is being delivered by Local Trust, shows that when trusted with time, resources and appropriate support, local residents are able to identify local needs and develop solutions that are sustainable over the long term.
Using initial funding of £87.5 million between 2024 and 2028 from the expanded Dormant Assets Scheme, the Community Wealth Fund (CWF) will support the rebuilding of social infrastructure in some of England’s most deprived areas. The National Lottery Community Fund as the Scheme’s named distributor will deliver the CWF and has committed an additional £87.5 million towards the initiative, taking the total funding to £175 million.
Rachel Rowney, Chief Executive at Local Trust, founding member and secretariat to the Community Wealth Fund Alliance, said:
“Today’s announcement is a welcome culmination of the Alliance’s seven-year campaign for the Community Wealth Fund.
“We are pleased that the principles we advocated for, including the importance of working at a hyper-local level, where residents lead decisions over the long-term on how resources are used are central components of the response.
“We know this has the potential to shift the dial in the most disadvantaged neighbourhoods and we are hopeful that the Community Wealth Fund will help build vital social and economic capital, laying the foundations for lasting positive change in these areas.
“We look forward to working with the National Lottery Community Fund as they take forward next steps on delivery of the Community Wealth Fund on behalf of government.”
ENDS
For more information or to request an interview, please contact ben.jackson@localtrust.org.uk
Notes to Editors
About the Community Wealth Fund Alliance
Launched in 2019, the Community Wealth Fund Alliance (CWFA) has led the successful cross-sectoral campaign to ensure that funds from the next wave of dormant assets are committed to rebuilding the social infrastructure of our most deprived communities. A detailed timeline of the campaign can be found here.
The CWFA is a group of more than 800 organisations from across civil society and the public and private sectors. The CWF proposal is supported by leading regional mayors, business leaders from across banking and finance, and more than 50 local and combined authorities. The Alliance envisaged the CWF as an independent fund, designed to provide support and funding over the long term to reinvigorate England’s doubly disadvantaged neighbourhoods.
https://communitywealthfund.org.uk/
About Local Trust, founding member and secretariat to the Community Wealth Fund Alliance
Local Trust is a place-based funder supporting communities to transform and improve their lives and the places in which they live. We believe there is a need to put more power, resources, and decision-making into the hands of communities. We do this by trusting local people. Our aims are to demonstrate the value of long term, unconditional, resident-led funding, and to draw on the learning from our work delivering the Big Local programme to promote a wider transformation in the way policy makers, funders and others engage with communities and place.
About doubly disadvantaged neighbourhoods
In 2018, Local Trust commissioned Oxford Consultants for Social Inclusion to develop the Community Needs Index (CNI). The Index considered spaces and places to meet, community organisations and civic engagement, and transport and digital connectivity to identify areas with low social infrastructure.
The CNI was cross-referenced with the Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD) to identify places with the highest levels of deprivation and weakest social infrastructure. Residents of these areas experience worse outcomes across all major socioeconomic indicators, including educational attainment, job opportunities and health outcomes, compared to equally deprived areas with a base level of social infrastructure.