Decision details

• To approve the award of grant funding for the Cheltenham Health and Wellbeing fund as set out as set out in appendix A, totalling £186,600
• To approve the contributions from the health and wellbeing pots set out below and detailed in appendix A:
o £159,100 from the NHS Gloucestershire Integrated Care Board grant of £170,000;
o £12,500 from Active Gloucestershire We Can Move grant;
o £5,000 from the funding set aside for the proposed activity card pot;
o £10,000 underspend from previous years’ grant rounds;
• To enter into project agreements with the grant recipients with any payments being subject to the completion of due diligence checks.
• To approve that the remainder of the NHS Gloucestershire Integrated Care Board grant of £170,000 is allocated as follows:
o £10,000 to “We Can Move”, the county-wide movement around promoting active lifestyles for the 2024/25 financial year.

Due to grant requirements around allocating the grant to support local priorities, an engagement event was held for community-based partners on 17 July 2024 with the purpose of hearing more about the work of the Cheltenham Integrated Locality Partnership (ILP) and helping to develop the grant priorities for 2024/25 and how the application process will work.

48 people attended the event and provided a number of suggestions for how the grant is used:
• How we use the funding to sustain valued projects via continuity of funding;
• How we create the conditions for more collaborative bids;
• How we develop and support more preventative projects;
• How we evaluate what has been supported to date and tell a story of positive impacts;
• How we develop more diversity in our work;
• How we support community connectors / organisations that are best placed to work with their communities.

The group also proposed a number of key health and wellbeing issues that could be addressed via the grant fund:
• Mental health
• Children and young people (especially those at risk of disengaging from school) and their families
• Tackling barriers to good health
• Transport & accessibility
• Access to food & healthy eating
• Overcoming lack of digital skills / life-skills
• Reducing isolation and loneliness

An opportunity was also taken to engage with the GCC Public Health Team who have access to the latest health and wellbeing data and this was presented to the lead cabinet member at the end of Sept. The report set out some key issues for Cheltenham:
• The impact of deprivation on people’s health and wellbeing
• The extent of children’s & young people’s mental health issues
• The rate of emergency admissions for alcohol-related conditions
• Access to NHS dentistry and oral health

Working with the lead cabinet member, and taking into account the results of the engagement event and the public health data, a grant scheme was devised for the health and wellbeing grants that was launched on December 24, 2024. Applicants had until 7 February 2025 to apply.

The grant assessment process
In total, 55 grant applications were received, requesting a total of £570k worth of funding.


A grant assessment panel was established that comprised the following members:
• Cllr Martin Horwood – Cheltenham Borough Council
• Susie Purslow - NHS Gloucestershire Integrated Care Board
• Angela Gilbert – Gloucestershire Rural Community Council – representing the VCS
• Caroline Walker – Cheltenham Borough Council

Richard Gibson, from the Council supported the panel.

The panel scored the applications independently, and then met on 4 March to review the scoring and to make recommendations to the Cabinet Member which are attached as appendix A.

In line with the new grants management policy, and with advice from the Council’s counter-fraud team, all grant recipients will be expected to have submitted a “new supplier form”, that provides proof of identity and eligibility, and proof of the bank account they wish payment to be made to.

In addition, an additional clause will be added into the grant agreement:
I confirm that any grant aid received will be used solely for the purposes specified in the application. I am aware that the Council will not accept deliberate manipulation and fraud and any applicant caught falsifying their statements or evidence to gain grant money will face prosecution and any funding issued will be subject to claw back, as may any grants paid in error.

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