Guidance

The Children and Young People's Resettlement Fund: prospectus

Published 27 September 2023

Introduction

The government has established visa routes and pathways to the UK for people from Ukraine, Afghanistan and Hong Kong.

The Children and Young People’s Resettlement Fund aims to support the young people on these pathways. This will happen through projects which make progress in addressing the specific needs of these cohorts.

The goal is to have a positive impact on the lives of these young people, both in the short and longer-term, and to contribute to our understanding of effective interventions. In total, we anticipate that there are over 100,000 young people in scope of this Fund.  

Fund objectives

1. Address the specific needs and vulnerabilities of children and young people aged 21 and under who have arrived by one or more of the pathways. This includes mental health and trauma.
2. Provide support to enable children and young people to recover from traumatic experiences, displacement and/or resettlement into a new country.
3. Support children and young people to transition into England and their community, while retaining a connection to their culture.
4. Deliver projects across local authority areas to maximise impact.
5. Develop an evidence base on what works in supporting vulnerable young migrants and displaced people.

The Fund aims to support children and young people who have come to the UK under one of the following schemes.

Ukrainian schemes

The Homes for Ukraine scheme was set up in March 2022 following Russia’s invasion of the country. It helps bring Ukrainians to safety in the UK.

The scheme expanded in August 2022 to allow minors under the age of 18 to come to the UK without a parent or guardian. In addition, the Ukraine Family Scheme and Ukraine Extension Scheme have enabled families to reunite in the UK or to extend their existing visas.

Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme and Afghans Relocations and Assistance Policy

The UK has established two safe and legal routes for eligible people at risk affected by events in Afghanistan to come to the United Kingdom.

The schemes are for Afghan citizens who worked for or with the UK government in Afghanistan, individuals who have assisted UK efforts in Afghanistan and/or stood up for UK values, as well as vulnerable people and others identified at risk.

Hong Kong British National (Overseas) visa scheme

A new immigration route opened in January 2021, providing Hong Kong British National (Overseas) status holders and their eligible family members to come to the UK to live, study and work on a pathway to citizenship.

This route reflects the UK’s historic and moral commitment to those people of Hong Kong. Those who chose to keep their ties to the UK by taking up BN(O) status at the point of Hong Kong’s handover to China in 1997 to make their new lives in the UK.

The Children and Young People’s Resettlement Fund summary

Purpose: To provide grants which support children and young people aged 21 and under who are on:

• the Homes for Ukraine scheme, Ukraine Family scheme and Ukraine Extension scheme
• the Hong Kong British National (Overseas) (BN(O)) scheme
• the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme and the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy

Type of fund: Competitive

Eligibility: Local authorities and VCSE (Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise) organisations based in England.

Funding available: Up to £2.5 million across 2023 to 2024 and 2024 to 2025.

This funding is split into:

• £800,000 in 2023 to 2024
• £1.7 million in 2024 to 2025

Important dates:

Applications open: 27 September 2023.
Deadline for applications: 11.59am 1 November 2023.
Funding will be awarded as soon as possible after applications have been assessed.

Who can apply

To apply for this Fund, your organisation must be in England and be part of either:

• an upper or lower tier local authority including parish councils 
• a charity 
• a charitable incorporated organisation (CIO) 
• a community interest company 
• an unincorporated community group which must: 
  • be established for charitable, benevolent, or philanthropic purposes  
  • have a governing body (committee) with at least 3 members  
  • have a governing document (constitution) 
  • have accounts for the last 2 financial years 
• a co-operative including Community Benefit Societies 
• a company limited by guarantee.

During the assessment of your application, we may ask community groups to provide accounts for the last 2 financial years.

You must also:

• have relevant and up to date safeguarding policies in place (this applies to all delivery partners in a consortium bid)
• adhere to the government code of conduct (PDF, 382 KB)

Devolved administrations will receive proportionate funding as per the Barnett formula.

We will not provide duplicate funding for activities that are already funded from other sources.

Please see section Filling in the application form to see details of how to provide the information required for each category of organisation.

Funding available

We will provide funding at the beginning of each quarter.

We anticipate funding between 10 and 20 multi-year projects. We expect to award a minimum of £1.5 million of the Fund to regional and national projects. However, we also welcome bids from smaller local projects.

For individual projects, we expect the funding to range between £100,000 and £300,000. Bids from £10,000 upwards may apply.

Depending on the number and scale of bids received, we may ask you to scale up or scale down your proposals. We may ask you to consider broadening your proposal to include other cohorts in scope of the Fund, if relevant.

We retain flexibility depending on the bids we receive. For example, we may grant 6 larger or national projects of circa £300,000 each, and 8 smaller, regional grants of circa £120,000 each.

What we’re looking for

We’re looking for organisations to help and run local, regional or national projects. We welcome projects which pilot innovative approaches as well as more established methods and interventions. We also welcome joint and consortium bids which have a named lead delivery partner.

Project proposals can vary in budget and size. Organisations should show:

• their proposed reach and impact
• how you’ll track the reach and impact
• how you’ll share project learnings

Projects can focus on one or more of the named cohorts. The children and young people aged 21 and under who are the beneficiaries of the projects must have come to, or settled in England via either:

• the Homes for Ukraine scheme
• Ukraine Family scheme
• Ukraine Extension Scheme
• Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme (Pathways 1, 2 and 3)
• Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy
• Hong Kong BN(O) visa scheme

We’re keen to see proposals which work across multiple local authority areas. We anticipate that allocated funding will be proportionate across all 3 cohorts. Examples of proposals could include:

• mental health support sessions
• access to counselling
• specific displacement-focused support
• trauma informed education, including SEND (special educational needs and disabilities)
• school-based interventions
• peer group sessions for scheme beneficiaries and their sponsors or hosts (in the case of Ukrainian children)
• a focus on young adults. For example, 17 to 21 year olds, on higher education, employment and accommodation to support the transition to adulthood
• opportunities to learn and improve English language skills both formally and informally
• supporting increased engagement in the community

We encourage you to submit proposals for projects that can be up and running as soon as possible once you’re awarded funding. We expect to do this from autumn/winter 2023.

You should illustrate excellent value for money. This should have a strong focus on developing positive outcomes for the children and young people, in both the immediate and longer term. You’ll have the opportunity to provide costs for activities that will take place.

We’ll seek to ensure that bids are cost effective and present best value for money. We reserve the right to not award all funding depending on the bids we receive.

Scoring criteria

Your application will be evaluated based on weighted criteria.

Section 1: Before you start

This section is unscored.

We’ll ask you to name your application to help you find it again if you save and return.

Section 2: About your organisation

This section is unscored.

We’ll ask for information about your organisation, including:

• organisation name
• alternative organisation names (if applicable)
• organisation address
• alternative organisation address (if applicable)
• organisation’s main activities
• organisation type
• charity registration number (if applicable)
• company registration number (if applicable)
• joint bids with partner organisations (if applicable)
• partner organisation addresses (if applicable)
• partner organisations website and social media links (if applicable)
• how you plan to work with partner organisations (if applicable)
• if an agreement currently exists between your organisations and the partnership organisations
• organisation website and social media details

Section 3: Your skills and experience

This section is worth 35% of your total score.

We’ll ask for information about your skills and experience, including:

• if you’ve delivered projects like this before
• information about the projects you’ve delivered before (if applicable)

Section 4: Your project

This section is worth 40% of your total score.

We’ll ask for information about your project, including:

• a brief summary of your project including what you hope to achieve
• the main focus of your project
• which cohort your project will focus on
• how many fund recipients you expect to support with the funding
• how you’ll avoid duplicating existing work or projects in this area
• your project’s milestones
• when you expect to reach the milestones
• your project’s objectives
• activities that will help you achieve the objective
• if the project is regional
• the local authority areas you’ll work across (if applicable)
• how you’ll identify and work with the intended fund beneficiaries

Section 5: Risk and deliverability

This section is worth 15% of your total score.

We’ll ask for information about the risk and deliverability of your project, including:

• risks to the project
• the likelihood of the risks
• the impact of the risks
• how you’ll mitigate the risks
• a person accountable for the risk register
• your organisation’s governance structure

Section 6: Value for money

This section is worth 10% of your total score.

We’ll ask for information about the project’s value for money, including:

• how much money you’re requesting from the Fund
• how you’ll use the money
• how many people in your organisation you’ll pay with money from the Fund
• how much additional funding you’ve secured elsewhere

Section 7: Declarations

This section is unscored.

We’ll ask you to confirm:

• your organisation adheres to the government code of conduct
• your organisation has a data handling process in place
• you have a bank account set up for your organisation
• your organisation’s safeguarding policies are up to date
• the information you have provided is accurate

Timeline

Applications open: 27 September 2023.

Last time to request spot at application webinar: 1.30pm, 5 October.

Application form webinar: 1.30pm, 6 October.

Deadline for applications: 11.59am, 1 November 2023.

Funding awarded: funding will be awarded as soon as possible after applications have been assessed.

Delivery of your project must be complete by 31 March 2025.

We expect projects to have approximately 16 months of delivery time.

Roles and responsibilities

The Department for Levelling Up Housing and Communities will:

• assess bids against the assessment criteria
• complete due diligence checks on successful organisations
• announce successful bids
• notify bidders of funding decisions and announce successful bidders
• provide funding as agreed in the grant funding agreement
• establish and undertake monitoring and evaluation

If successful, you’ll:

• cooperate with due diligence checks
• sign a grant funding agreement
• deliver bids in line with agreed plans
• deliver bids to timescales and budget
• take part in monitoring and evaluation
• comply with the Subsidy Control Act 2022
• be responsible for providing the scheme in accordance with the UK’s international obligations in respect of subsidies

Apply for funding

Apply to the Children and Young People’s Resettlement Fund.

Contact cyprfund@levellingup.gov.uk if you have any issues completing the application form.

We’ll run a webinar at 1.30pm on 6 October to demonstrate how to complete the application form.

To request a spot at the webinar please email cyprfund@levellingup.gov.uk by at least 1.30pm on 5 October.

Help with section 2.1 “How is your organisation classified”

In Section 2.1 we will ask “How is your organisation classified?” and you can select:

Upper or lower tier local authority

Charity with a registered charity number

Select ‘charity with a registered charity number’ if you are a charitable incorporated organisation (CIO) or a registered charity and unincorporated.

Registered community interest company

Social enterprise

Do not select social enterprise. Choose another category which describes your organisation.

Community group

Select “Community Group” if you are an unincorporated community group. We will then ask for a Companies House number, where you should enter “NA”

Other

Examples of organisations that select “Other” include:

company limited by guarantee, co-operative including Community Benefit Society, parish council, exempt charity and company limited by guarantee and registered charity and company limited by guarantee.

Please describe the category of your organisation when prompted and provide details of your registration numbers (For example, Companies House Number, FCA number).

Help with section 4.1.4  “Which cohort will your project focus on?”

There is an error in the application form which does not allow you to select a response of “Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy” in response to question 4.1.4 “Which cohort will your project focus on?”. 

Therefore, if your project focuses on “Afghan Relocation and Assistance Policy” cohort, please select “Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme” in response to question 4.1.4 and then describe in question 4.1.1 (“Give a brief summary of your project, including what you hope to achieve”) how your project focuses on the Afghan Relocation and Assistance policy cohort.

Privacy notice

Read the privacy notice for the Children and Young People’s Resettlement Fund. This explains your rights and gives you the information you are entitled to under data protection legislation.