Guidance

Combatting Hate Against Muslims fund: prospectus

Updated 15 May 2025

Applies to England

Grant summary

Purpose: Victims of hate, particularly those from minority backgrounds, may sometimes be unwilling to report incidents to the police. This grant will support the work of an organisation or a consortium of organisations who wish to map a more accurate record of hate incidents affecting Muslims across England.

The reporting system should allow for, and encourage, the recording of hate crimes and hate incidents that occur online or in the real world.

Grant recipients will be expected to analyse reports received to identify the trends and drivers behind such occurrences and facilitate appropriate support for victims.

Type of grant: Competed

Who can apply: Non-profit distributing incorporated organisations such as:

• companies limited by guarantee (including community interest companies)
• charitable incorporated organisations
• community benefit societies

Companies limited by guarantee must have been established for charitable, benevolent, or philanthropic purposes. We will undertake checks to verify this.

Applicants will need to demonstrate their ability to understand and work with Muslim communities.

Funding available: Up to £650,000 in the 2025 to 2026 financial year, and up to £1 million in the 2026 to 2027 and 2027 to 2028 financial years. The government will keep funding beyond the 2027 to 2028 financial year under review.

Important dates:

Applications open: 7 April 2025

Deadline for applications: 18 May 2025

Funding awarded: July 2025

Introduction

All forms of religious and racial hatred have absolutely no place in our society. No one should be targeted because of the colour of their skin, or their faith or beliefs. British Muslims are a crucial part of Britain’s history and British life today but all too often they are made to feel unwelcome in their own country.

The urgency in addressing this was brought into sharp focus in the violent disorder witnessed during the summer of 2024, which saw Muslim communities targeted and attacks on mosques. Making sure that British Muslims are not only safe, but also feel safe, is one of the government’s top priorities. The government also recognises that non-Muslims are also frequently misidentified and suffer as victims of intended anti-Muslim hate.

Up to date information on the scale, location, and drivers of anti-Muslim hate incidents will help the government effectively combat this. The successful grant applicant will help to illustrate and evidence the scale of anti-Muslim hatred across England, as well as providing support for the victims of anti-Muslim hatred.  

According to the latest police-recorded hate crime statistics for the year ending March 2024, almost 2 in 5 (38%) of all religious hate crimes targeted Muslims, an increase of 13% when compared to the previous year. The successful grant applicant will play a key role in helping government better understand the scale and causes of anti-Muslim hate crimes and hate incidents, as well as playing an instrumental role in helping to combat them.

Grant objectives

The key objectives for the grant recipient will be to: 

• receive, record and analyse instances of anti-Muslim hate
• increase awareness of what a hate crime is, willingness to report it and the options available to those that witness or experience anti-Muslim hate
• make it easier for those that have been subject to anti-Muslim hate to report their experience
• monitor, record and report on online anti-Muslim hate
• facilitate appropriate support for victims

Who can apply

We are open to applications from any non-profit distributing organisation that has a track record of supporting victims of crime or discrimination, particularly Muslim people, or has capability to do so.

The grant recipient will be expected to deliver outcomes across England, but bids are welcome from consortia of existing organisations which have a local, regional or national focus.

We want to support and empower existing services so that more people who have experienced anti-Muslim hate crime can access the advice and support they need when they need it most, regardless of who they are and where they live.

We are interested in applications from existing third party reporting centres who want to expand their services, general victim-of-crime services who are looking to establish, improve or extend their specialist support to victims of hate crime but also welcome innovative approaches from other organisations. 

To apply for this funding your organisation must:

• be able to demonstrate it has or will be able to gain the trust of Muslim people and communities
• be willing to work constructively with MHCLG and other government and public sector bodies to provide progress reports, insight and advice regularly and on an ad-hoc basis
• be willing to share anonymised data with MHCLG
• be willing to record and monitor instances of anti-Muslim hate crime in such a way that is consistent with the government’s working definition of anti-Muslim hate or Islamophobia, should the government choose to adopt a definition in future
• be aligned with government values concerning hate crime, extremism, community cohesion, and the value of inter-faith work
• be able to demonstrate robust and transparent governance arrangements
• be able to demonstrate appropriate safeguarding policies when working with children or vulnerable adults
• disclose information of all government funding received and applied for in the last 2 years, including any funding received for other projects and purposes
• not bring your organisation or the government into disrepute (however, this does not mean that your organisation will be prevented from making reasonable comments and criticism of government policy)

Due diligence will be undertaken on applicant organisations and consortium members to ensure that they will not bring the government into disrepute in the event of grant funding being awarded. This includes checking an applicant’s financial standing and any adverse media or matters of reputational concern.

Funding available

The Combatting Hate Against Muslims fund will initially offer grant funding in the 2025 to 2026 financial year and, subject to the government’s 2025 Spending Review, continue through the 2026 to 2027 and 2027 to 2028 financial years.

The maximum budget for the 2025 to 2026 financial year is £650,000. For the 2026 to 2027 and 2027 to 2028 financial years, once evidence of delivery has been established, the maximum budget will be £1,000,000 per year. The government will keep funding beyond the 2027 to 2028 financial year under review.

There is no minimum amount of funding that you can apply for. However, value for money will be a criterion in assessing applications. Grant to be paid in the 2025 to 2026 financial year will be confirmed at the time of the award through the Grant Funding Agreement (GFA).

If funding is confirmed in the Spending Review for the second and third years, the GFA will be amended to provide grant funding for the whole multi-year project.   

We are seeking proposals for projects that can be up and running swiftly after being notified that they are successful, which we expect to confirm in June 2025.

Continuing beyond the funding period

The initial funding period is anticipated to run until 31 March 2028, to align with government’s wider Spending Review periods. All government funding is reviewed regularly and subject to continuing ministerial approval.

Applicants should therefore be ready to identify how their organisation plans to sustain itself beyond the advertised funding period, should future funding be reviewed or amended. In doing this, organisations should identify how this funding can support their longer-term goals and objectives.

Assessment criteria

Applicants will be required to submit a detailed business plan as well as provide answers to questions related to 16 criteria. Further detail on what is expected in the business plan can be found in the business plan checklist.

Bids will be assessed against the criteria set out in the sections below.

Each criterion will be scored from 0 to 3. Any application that scores 0 against any criterion will not be eligible for funding. Each criterion is weighted to reflect its importance to this funding programme. The score for each criterion will be multiplied by its weighting.

The scores for all the criteria will be added to give a total score for the application. The maximum total score is 300.

The total score will be used to compare against other applications. The application with the highest total score will be identified as the preferred bidder. Where 2 applications are scored equally, or are very similar, we may make further enquiries before identifying a preferred bidder. MHCLG reserves the right to seek further clarification through requesting interviews with applicants - these are likely to take place during the weeks commencing 26 May 2025 and 2 June 2025.

The score against each criterion will also inform subsequent discussions with the preferred bidder.

We may undertake checks to verify the information provided in the applications.

In addition, we will undertake financial, adverse publicity, and other due diligence checks for matters of reputational concern against each applicant and consortium member.

The final decision as to which application is successful will rest with the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Lords Minister for Faith, Communities and Resettlement).

MHCLG reserves the right to vary these conditions and the right to not make an award, and either withdraw or reduce the funding to the grant recipient if reasonably required, in line with the terms and conditions set out within the Grant Funding Agreement.

Section 1: Organisation details

This section is not scored.

You will need to provide:

• registration reference number
• lead contact details
• key information about your organisation
• information about any partner organisations (if it is a consortium bid)

Section 2: Business plan

This section is scored.

We will ask you to upload a detailed business plan, which will be assessed alongside your answers in the application form.

Section 3: Skills and experience

​This section is scored and will assess the suitability of the applicant and organisational credibility. It is weighted at 40%. 

​Questions will assess: 

• ​governance of the organisation including consortium and partner management (5%)
• ​skills and experience of the organisation (15%)
• ​relationship with government and other public sector stakeholders (5% ) 
• ​the organisation’s ability to garner the trust of diverse Muslim communities (15%)

Section 4: Programme delivery

​This section is scored and will assess the quality of your proposal. It is weighted at 40%. 

​Questions will assess: 

• activities proposed (5%)
• ​programme for mobilisation and delivery (5%)  
• ​approach to partner and stakeholder management (5%)
• ​facilitating and nurturing stakeholder relationships (5%)
• ​complainant journey (5%)
• ​key success factors – outputs and outcomes (5%)
• ​technical proposal (5%) 
• capturing and verifying data (5%)

Section 5: Costs and value for money

​This section is scored and will assess the cost of the proposal and value for money. It is weighted at 10%.

​Questions will assess: 

• ​the applicant’s budget proposal (5%) 
• ​value for money (5%)

Section 6: Risks and reporting to MHCLG

​This section is scored and will assess your approach to risk management, and reporting approach with government. It is weighted at 10%​.

Questions will assess: 

• risk management (5%)
• your reporting approach (5%)

Timeline

Registrations for grant funding: 2 April 2025

Applications open for organisations registered: 7 April 2025

Deadline for applications: 18 May 2025

Successful candidate notified: June 2025

Funding awarded: July 2025

Funding for your project extends until 31 March 2028, you must have paid all your costs by this date.

Roles and responsibilities

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government will: 

• assess bids against the assessment criteria  
• notify bidders of the outcome of their application  
• provide funding as agreed in the grant funding agreement  
• establish and undertake monitoring and evaluation 

If successful, you must: 

• act in good faith with MHCLG 
• sign a grant funding agreement, based on the Cabinet Office template   
• submit timely progress reports and grant claims 
• provide evidence of costs incurred to support grant claims  
• put in place delivery processes   
• oversee delivery  
• be accountable for delivery  
• cooperate with due diligence checks  
• take part in monitoring and evaluation  
• arrange for an independent accountant or appropriate financial officer to complete annual independent accounts reports
• comply with the Subsidy Control Act 2022 
• comply with the Equality Act 2010 
• be responsible for providing the scheme in accordance with the UK’s international obligations in respect of subsidies

Apply for funding

​To apply for funding, you must register for the Combatting Hate Against Muslims fund. You will then be invited to complete the application form, which will be available from 7 April 2025.

​Contact CHAMBid@communities.gov.uk ​for any questions about the grant or to get support with the application form. 

​Unsuccessful applicants may request to see their scores and a reason for the application outcome, but we will not provide any further feedback.