Evaluation of the Coronavirus Community Support Fund: Value for money report

Introduction

In 2020, the Coronavirus Community Support Fund (CCSF) gave £187 million to 8,247 voluntary, community and social enterprise organisations.

This report looks at whether the grants gave value for money by examining three parts of the CCSF programme:

• cost-benefit analysis – did the benefits to people and public finances justify the overall cost?

• economy – was more spent on the CCSF than necessary?

• efficiency – were CCSF activities delivered at a reasonable cost compared with similar work in other circumstances?

Findings

This report is exploratory, which means it is trying out a methodology to understand value for money in a challenging context, with some limitations and uncertainty. The pandemic was an unusual situation, so there is little to compare it with. Because of this, the findings are cautious.

The CCSF programme delivered more benefits than it cost. For every £1 spent on CCSF-supported activities, the estimated return was £1.38 when all funding is included, and £1.86 when only CCSF funding is counted.

Overall, CCSF funding was spent reasonably. Most grants were small and went to small organisations, which reduced the risk of overspending. The funding matched what was delivered and achieved.

CCSF grants were used well. Grant holders used the money for activities like recruiting volunteers, hiring staff, bringing staff back from furlough, or keeping staff at work. These costs were in line with what you would expect in normal circumstances.