The RBC Closing the Gap (CTG) is a framework of 1.3m which commissions the voluntary and community sector to deliver community services.
Attend the Reading VCS Assembly 19 November to find out more and help shape the CTG 2 framework.
Closing the Gap was preceded by the Narrowing the Gap framework. When developing CTG in 2021, RBC adopted a different approach, seeking to align outcomes with the Council’s Corporate Strategy, Poverty Needs Analysis and Berkshire West Health and Wellbeing Strategy.
The current CTG contracts are due to end on 31 October 2025 and RBC plan to re-procure to start the new contracts on the 1 November 2025. The funding available is likely to be approx. 1.3m per annum across all contracts.
Closing the Gap 2 will be more project-based and RBC is working with the VCS and stakeholders to identify the most pressing needs and develop preventative focused projects to meet those needs.
In response to feedback from smaller organisations, RBC is introducing a two-part model. Contracts with a value of under £125k over the lifetime of the contract are not required to be procured through a full tender process. There will be a Quotation Lite process, designed to be simpler and more accessible for smaller organisations.
Subject to ongoing consultation and engagement the contracts will be shaped around the following themes. These contracts are likely to include a number of partners and may be split into smaller contracts.
High value contracts (over £125k per lifespan of contract)
- Carers information and advice service
- Ageing well: including loneliness and social isolation, support related to excess winter deaths, digital inclusion and dementia community support.
- Women’s wellbeing: including violence prevention, mental health, refugee support, access to education and employment, maternity support, female genital mutilation prevention and menopause.
- Lead mental health contract: Overarching strategic leadership in the arena of mental health to act as a mental health link between the VCS, health and RBC.
- Support with building resilience, independence, and wellbeing within diverse communities: community support provision to support improved health outcomes for ethnically diverse communities, which are at higher risk of poor health outcomes.
- Learning disabilities and autism: including supporting mental health and access to employment.
- Supporting people to get out and stay out of debt: to include support with food poverty, fuel poverty, income maximization, digital exclusion and assistance with challenging benefits decisions.
- Refugee support: including supporting mental health and needs around loneliness and social isolation.
Lower value contracts
- Young people’s mental health: including support for NEET, young Mental Health Champions and young carers.
- Men’s mental health: to support suicide prevention and tackle stigma related to mental health, specifically within ethnically diverse groups.
- Sensory needs: supporting deaf and blind communities
- LGBTQ+: including support with mental health and peer support opportunities
- HIV support: expansion of the current Public Health offer to improve Reading’s statistics in this area compared with other areas.
Attend the Reading VCS Assembly on 19 November 2024 to find out more and help shape the CTG 2 framework: Book a space on Eventbrite