Youth Investment Fund Phase 1: Grant Competition
VCSE organisations are invited to deliver Phase 1 of the Youth Investment Fund, up to £10 million capital in left-behind areas of England by 31 March 2022.
Applies to England
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Details
The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) is seeking to appoint a voluntary, community and social enterprise (VCSE) or youth sector organisation to deliver Phase 1 of the Youth Investment Fund, distributing up to £10 million capital funding for youth provision in left-behind areas of England by 31 March 2022. We are inviting relevant organisations to submit applications to deliver the fund.
YIF Phase 1 Objectives
The Youth Investment Fund Phase 1 (YIF Phase 1) spending objective is to improve the effectiveness of youth services in order to drive positive outcomes for young people such as improved health and wellbeing, equipping them with skills for work and life, and empowering them to be active members of their communities and society. YIF Phase 1 funding addresses the issue of an increasingly limited supply of capital funding to enable youth providers to expand the reach, number and range of services they currently offer.
YIF Phase 1 will work with left-behind areas in England, assessing and distributing grants for capital proposals which meet the objective of improving the effectiveness of youth services. Proposals must meet the fund’s criteria: small-scale capital projects, including capital equipment, small refurbishments and other capital projects that can be delivered within the financial year. Capital projects must be viable for delivery within the 21/22 financial year, bringing fast-paced benefits to youth organisations and the young people they work with. They may include:
- Installation of Green Energy e.g. solar panels, heat pumps (reducing operational costs);
- Equipment to improve health and wellbeing, such as outdoor gym equipment;
- IT improvements including websites, portals, platforms and new IT equipment;
- Equipment that will expand and enrich youth activities offered by existing providers;
- Grants for minor facility improvements to improve safeguarding and security for young people e.g. CCTV installations;
- Purchase of vehicles or mobile units, which could be used for detached youth work or as mobile youth centres;
- Conversions of underused space into youth facilities.
Timescales
The YIF Phase 1 will require fast-paced delivery, commencing in late 21/early 22. We expect a grant competition to open for bids from left-behind areas in January/February 22, with successful projects funded and delivered by the end of the 21/22 financial year. The main YIF programme will begin during the 22/23 financial year, with lessons learned and intelligence gathered from Phase 1 informing its delivery.
Indicative milestones and timescales:
- Late Dec 21 - early Jan 22: appoint Intermediary Grant Maker
- Jan 22: Intermediary Grant Maker setup and preparation for capital grant competition
- Jan - Feb 22: three-week competition open for capital bids
- Late Feb 22: grant awards confirmed
- Mar 22: five week window for capital grants to be delivered
Role of the Intermediary Grant Maker
DCMS is seeking to appoint an Intermediary Grant Maker (a VCSE or youth sector organisation with experience in grant delivery, capital expertise and knowledge of the youth sector) to administer £10m capital funding in the form of an onward grant through a limited competition to left-behind areas. The Intermediary Grant Maker will:
- Work in left-behind places with stakeholders including VCSE and youth organisations, and Local Authorities;
- Develop funding criteria, application documents and guidance for applicants;
- Set up and manage an application portal;
- Publicise the Fund;
- Receive and assess applications, and make awards;
- Conduct project monitoring and participate in evaluation and post event assurance commissioned by DCMS and
- Regularly report progress to DCMS.
The Intermediary Grant Maker will lead engagement with a list of left-behind places as determined by Ministers to understand their existing youth services landscape and priority investment needs, informing delivery of the main YIF from 22/23 onwards.
What skills and expertise do we need from an Intermediary Grant Maker?
- A youth sector or voluntary, community and social enterprise sector organisation;
- Sufficient technical, financial, human and logistical capacity within the 21/22 financial year;
- Experience of grant management, in particular technical assessment of bids for capital funding, and an existing appropriate IT system to support grant management services;
- Understanding of and ability to work with the youth sector;
- Understanding of and ability to work with local government;
- England-wide reach.
We will seek to leverage match contributions to the fund through other national partners. The Intermediary Grant Maker will be expected to share information, where appropriate, with The National Lottery Community Fund, who have expressed an interest in aligning their existing funding to provide a potential source of revenue for selected left behind areas.
Application process
We are asking organisations who are interested in this role and have the required capacity and skill set to submit a completed application by email to yif@dcms.gov.uk by 12pm, 13 December 2021.
Where the application is being submitted on behalf of more than one organisation working in a consortium or partnership, please provide relevant information for all of the organisations involved.
DCMS will hold a virtual engagement session on 30 November 2021 to explain this opportunity in further detail and answer any queries. Please contact the Youth Investment Fund team on yif@dcms.gov.uk to request further information or to sign up for this event. Clarification questions may be sent to yif@dcms.gov.uk by 30 November 2021; anonymised questions and responses will be published on the gov.uk page shortly after this date.
The following clarification questions were received by 30th November. Responses are found below.
- What flexibility is available for grantees to spend the money once awarded in March 2021? Could it be similar to previous DCMS funds where there was flexibility until June?
Grantees must pay for any goods or services by 31 March 2022, with costs incurred by the intermediary grant maker also claimed by this date.
- The Specification of Requirements states that the intermediary grant maker will “Set up and manage an assessment panel, to include a representative from DCMS”. We would expect the representative from DCMS to be an equal member of the panel, rather than a decision maker – are DCMS comfortable with this?
DCMS would be happy to be an equal member of the assessment panel set up by the intermediary grant maker.
- Based on the size of this funding pot and quantify of applications, we would recommend that applications for under £10k would not need to go to the assessment panel. Do DCMS have any firm stance on this?
The grant recipient may set a threshold for approval by grant officers, ensuring robust due diligence is carried out on these applications, which could include the use of government tools such as Spotlight via DCMS officials.
- We are anticipating 20 assessment panels of two hours each, twice a day, five days per week for two weeks. Would DCMS have the staff available to attend at that frequency?
DCMS officials will be available to attend assessment panels of this frequency.
- It was helpful to see examples of eligible expenditure for the onward capital grants distributed by the intermediary grant maker (e.g. installation of Green Energy). Do you have examples of costs that would be ineligible? We expect costs such as purchase of permanent buildings, salaries, rent and utility bills would be ineligible; confirmation of that would be helpful.
Section 8 of the Specification of Requirements contains a list of eligible and ineligible expenditure. Any revenue costs including staff costs and overheads would not be eligible. The purchase of permanent buildings would classify as capital expenditure and would be permissible but would not be feasible within timescales required to distribute the funding. This can be discussed in further detail with the grant recipient.
- The Application Form advises: “Payments will be made in arrears and only paid in advance by exception. If you require payments in advance of spend, please explain and justify this here.” We would need all onward grant distribution money to be paid in advance, before we pay grantees, and we would need an element of our costs paid upfront. Are DCMS open to this?
Payment at the point of need can be discussed with the grant recipient, where they may have insufficient working capital to bear delivery costs up front.
Last updated 7 December 2021 + show all updates
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Responses to clarification questions received before 30th November.
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First published.