Decision details

Sandwell is the 12th most deprived local authority area in England and the most deprived borough in the Black Country. The level of deprivation is spread across the borough rather than being concentrated in certain hotspots meaning that the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the cost of living crisis are felt broadly across our communities .

The health profile of Sandwell is generally worse than the national average, with a significant gap in life expectancy for men and women, higher levels of mortality for cardiovascular diseases and cancer, high rates of teenage pregnancy, smoking during pregnancy and infant mortality rates, higher rates of homelessness,

Prior to the energy price increases in October 2021, 20.6% of households in Sandwell were in fuel poverty . Undoubtedly, the impact of these energy rises will have plunged other households in Sandwell into fuel poverty. Furthermore, analysis of the first five months of data from the Energy Bills Support Scheme, which was implemented by Central Government to support households, reveals that the areas with the highest rates for missed payments are some of the areas hardest hit by fuel poverty (4.21% of these payments were not delivered or redeemed in Sandwell) .

Public Heath commissioned an evaluation of the warm spaces project that was delivered in Sandwell through the winter of 2022/2023. About 400 users and 50 providers were consulted through the evaluation to capture their experiences and opinions. Furthermore, interviews with community leaders and organisation members affiliated with Sandwell Council were conducted to explore barriers to warm spaces used by key target communities.

The evaluation found that the warm spaces were generally well-used and appreciated by the community. For example, about 99% of people, who used the warm spaces wanted to come again and about 60% of people attended these places weekly. In 80% of cases, people came to these places “to socialise with others” and had received information about all key public services that aimed to aid with the cost of living. About 75% of people said they visited the warm spaces because they are safe, warm, local, and free.

Some areas of improvement were highlighted in the findings from the evaluation of the warm spaces 2022/2023 project. The following recommendations were made for the future of warm spaces in Sandwell:
• Increase the number of warm spaces available in the borough.
• Improve the accessibility of warm spaces, particularly for people with disabilities.
• Provide more activities and resources at warm spaces.
• Work with community partners to promote the warm spaces and to raise awareness of their importance.

Therefore, for the Welcoming Spaces Initiative for 2023, we are asking SCVO, with support from the Neighbourhood Partnerships Team and the Public Health Development Officer Team, to coordinate a two-stage process to initially gather Expression of Interests from interested organisations followed by the application process.

By taking this two-stage asset-based approach, we can build upon the distribution and accessibility of Welcoming Spaces, identify any gaps in location, days or times, establish an understanding of the breadth of activities that take place at each Welcoming Space and build a network of better-connected Welcoming Spaces in each town.

The approach this year, which includes the rebrand to Welcoming Spaces, helps to build more sustainability into the network beyond the winter of 2023/2024. By building on what already exists in our community settings and by connecting residents to these Welcoming Spaces with the targeted campaign through the winter months, we aim to encourage residents to have longer term engagement with these spaces.

Furthermore, by offering capacity building training to the Welcoming Spaces, community and voluntary sector staff and volunteers will have the skills around Making Everyone Contact Count (MECC), cost of living and digital inclusion to use for the long term meaning that residents will continue to receive advice, guidance and signposting regardless of the time of year.

Appendix 1 details the offer of the grant funding and an outline of the training package.

The Welcoming Spaces planning group will also be taking learning from the Cost of Living Summit Oct 2023 to confirm if there are any needs that have not been addressed through the core offer as detailed in Appendix 1.

(1) That approval be given to grant fund Sandwell Council of Voluntary Organisations (SCVO) to enable the organisation to support the Sandwell Welcoming Spaces Initiative by administering small grants to the community and voluntary sector.

(2) That approval be given to allocate finance under the Public health budget, of £135,000 (exclusive of VAT). The period in question commences in September 2023 (with a minimum core Welcoming Spaces delivery period of 1st October 2023 – 31st March 2024).

The opportunity to engage in the Welcoming Space Initiative will offer residents a free, warm and welcoming space where they can access advice, guidance and signposting, meet new people and engage in wider activities offered at Welcoming Spaces that contribute to improvements in overall health and wellbeing. These opportunities will help to reduce the impact of the pandemic and cost of living crisis, reduce social isolation and contribute to the reduction in health inequalities.

The same approach to allocate the funding to SCVO to administer on the Council’s behalf follows the success of the warm spaces project during the winter of 2022/2023. SCVO successfully engaged 34 local settings in the heart of our communities to facilitate a warm space.

A Welcoming Spaces planning group with relevant Council Officers and SCVO has been established to learn from the warm spaces project of 2022/2023 and its subsequent evaluation to build on the offer for the winter of 2023/2024. The group has collectively agreed the asset-based approach and grant conditions to ensure this learning has been put into practice.

The alternative option is to not fund the Welcoming Spaces Initiative 2023/2024. This is deemed not to be a viable option because of the continued impact of the cost of living crisis, the COVID-19 pandemic recovery and the opportunity that Welcoming Spaces provides to reduce social isolation and reduce health inequalities.