Applying to be a delivery partner for the Enrichment Partnerships Pilot
This page provides guidance on the application process to become the delivery partner for the Enrichment Partnerships Pilot.
Summary of grant funding
The Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), jointly with the Department of Education, intends to provide a circa £2.7 million grant to an organisation or consortium of organisations to act as a delivery partner for the Enrichment Partnerships Pilot (EPP).
The pilot aims to test a system change approach to improve the enrichment offer in up to 200 secondary schools located in Education Investment Areas.
The final selection of a delivery partner will be made by a panel appointed by DCMS, using the assessment criteria set out in the Assessment section.
The deadline for applications is 23:59 Monday 4 September 2023.
Purpose
Fund overview
Enrichment programmes encompass a wide range of activities, including sports, art, drama, outdoor experiences, debating, volunteering, business, tech or cooking. Those activities can have a significant positive impact on young people, including on their academic progress and wellbeing. Many schools would like to do more to support these activities, but face barriers such as limited staff time, low pupil engagement and difficulty connecting with local partners who could support delivery.
The government previously delivered the £21 million Essential Life Skills (ELS) Programme (2018 to 19) to increase extracurricular activities through primary and secondary schools in 12 Opportunity Areas. Findings from that programme highlighted that enrichment offers would benefit from engaging young people in co-design, harnessing local provision and coordinating across clusters of schools. Enrichment offers should include a wide range of activities and address practical barriers (e.g. cost) and social barriers to participation (low confidence, negative perceptions).
The Enrichment Partnerships Pilot aims to improve the enrichment offer of up to 200 secondary schools in Education Investment Areas. The Pilot will identify and fund a small number of staff in local organisations, including local authorities, voluntary and community sector organisations or multi-academy trusts, to provide bespoke support to secondary schools in their respective local areas to:
- co-design the enrichment offer, aligned with local needs
- develop local partnerships to deliver enrichment activities as part of the designed offer
- facilitate collaboration between schools to offer an enhanced enrichment offer
- identify efficiencies across schools and access additional funding streams and support
- upskill school staff, ensuring long-term sustainability
The project aims to test whether greater coordination locally can enhance school enrichment offers and remove barriers to participation, create efficiencies (reducing the burden on school staff resources) and unlock existing funding and provision.
Fund objectives
Objectives of this pilot project to be achieved by March 2025 are:
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Test whether providing centralised organisational support to clusters of secondary schools via local organisations (including local authorities, voluntary and community sector organisations and/or multi-academy trusts) enables secondary schools to offer a more varied and high-quality enrichment programme, creates efficiencies in school spending and upskills school staff.
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Provide support to up to 200 mainstream secondary schools in Education Investment Areas to improve their enrichment programme.
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Increase uptake of enrichment activities within participating schools between September 2024 to March 2025.
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All participating schools report either no change or a reduction in the financial and organisational costs of delivering enrichment programmes.
Delivery partner role
DCMS is seeking to appoint a delivery partner to deliver this pilot — a single organisation or joint delivery body with:
- knowledge of the education system and enrichment activities
- experience in grant making and local partnership building
The value of this grant is approximately £2.7 million (inclusive of irreclaimable VAT) until March 2025. This is inclusive of costs for the delivery partner to deliver the pilot. We anticipate the majority of this will be used for onward grants, primarily for staffing, through a limited competition to local organisations in Education Investment Areas, with the capability and interest to deliver the pilot.
The delivery partner will:
- identify and provide grants to local organisations in 15 to 20 localities, such as local authorities, voluntary and community sector organisations and multi-academy trusts to deliver the pilot, working with clusters of circa 10 secondary schools in each.
- support the local organisations, which could include (but is not exhaustive):
- providing expertise of partnership development
- facilitating youth engagement
- encouraging sharing best practice
- providing template documents
- provide regular reports to DCMS on delivery progress
- support the evaluation partner with the evaluation of the pilot, including through collection of monitoring data and working with grant recipients
- produce a toolkit aimed at local organisations to support sustainable engagement with schools, to be revised following pilot learnings
Geographical limit
The Enrichment Partnerships Pilot aims to improve the enrichment offer of up to 200 secondary schools in Education Investment Areas (EIA).
The Levelling Up white paper identified 55 EIA. These are the third of Local Authorities in England where educational outcomes were the weakest based on sustained low performance across key stage 2 and key stage 4 in 2017 to 2019.
Timetable for pilot delivery
Due to the need for the full circa £2.7 million of funding to be delivered by the end of the 2024/25 financial year, delivery at pace is critical, and the provisional timetable for delivery of the pilot reflects this.
Organisation eligibility
Applicants may apply as a single organisation with or without partners, or may alternatively submit a joint application (for example, as a consortium, joint venture, unincorporated association, partnership or otherwise). This may, for example, apply to entities who feel that alone they do not have the capacity or capability to address the department’s requirements, or wish to bring in additional expertise to meet the department’s required skills and experience for this role. Applicants are responsible for determining the most appropriate approach to delivering their proposal.
Delivery partner requirements:
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Experience of working with local authorities, voluntary and community sector organisations and/or schools, including multi-academy trusts
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Sufficient staff capacity and capabilities to deliver this project in the timeframe set out
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Experience of grant management of a similar monetary value (circa £2.5 million) — strong financial management processes, such as fraud risk assessments, fraud, bribery and corruption due diligence, and experience managing counter-fraud processes
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Experience of local partnership development
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Knowledge of the education system and enrichment programmes
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Experience of working with young people and incorporating youth voices into the development of projects or programmes
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Experience of working with research organisations to deliver robust evaluations including collecting and sharing of data from grant recipients
Your organisation (or joint delivery body) will also need to pass our due diligence checks:
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The grant award does not exceed 50% of your annual income, as an example: if an organisation applied for a £500,000 grant, the collective annual turnover needs to be £1,000,000 or more in order that the grant is not more than 50% of the annual turnover/income.
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We have received and reviewed at least 2 references.
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If you have been funded by another part of government, we seek feedback from that department.
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Trustees are not related and there is no indication of fraud.
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Where multiple organisations are located at the same postcode, there is no indication of fraud – if you do have the same postcode as other organisations you will be asked to provide an explanation.
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You are able to provide an annual report and audited or certified accounts, covering the last 2 years or similar documentation. Please note: in the event your last financial year end was more than 6 months ago we may request further accounting information at a later date as part of the due diligence process.
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You are able to provide details of your organisation/joint delivery body’s approach to equality and diversity and safeguarding policy.
Funding
Availability
The Enrichment Partnership Pilot (EPP) Fund is a £2.73 million fund available in the financial years 23/24 to 24/25. The funding is split below:
| Financial year 23/24 | Financial year 24/25 |
|---|---|
| £907,500 | £1,815,000 |
All funds awarded must be spent within the allocated financial year. The fund must be completed by 31 March 2025.
Usage
The Enrichment Partnerships Pilot (EPP) funding must be spent on testing whether greater coordination locally can enhance school enrichment offers and remove barriers to participation, create efficiencies (reducing the burden on stretched school staff resources) and unlock existing funding and provision. We anticipate the majority of onward grants to cover staffing costs. There is no capital spend.
DCMS is happy to receive clarification questions up to 23:59 17 August 2023 on any additional activities that may be permissible and are not specifically prohibited below.
The funds may not be used for:
- academic research
- advocacy and lobbying
- appeals
- campaigning and awareness raising
- capital expenditure
- core costs - other than for those that can be evidenced as directly related to the project outlined in the application
- contributions to reserves
- costs for which funding for has already been received
- fees for professional fundraisers
- individuals
- party political organisations
- pension costs
- projects outside our funding priorities
- promotion of religious beliefs
- purchase of buildings or venues
- rapid response to emergency situations
- repayment of debts or loans
- retrospective funding, where expenditure has been incurred prior to the grant award date
- services run by statutory or public authorities outside the scope of this project
- staff redundancy or redeployment costs
- vehicles
- work delivered outside of England
Financial requirements
Please note: The DCMS financial year runs 1 April to 31 March. If successful, drawdown requests and budget must fit the DCMS financial year.
Payments will be made quarterly and in arrears. You will need to provide a breakdown of actual, eligible expenditure in order to make a claim. We will only pay out the amount you can evidence as spent.
Variations between proposed drawdown amounts and actual drawdown requests across quarters of the same financial year will be accepted, with explanation and justification. However, we will not be able to vary funds across financial years. Any funds not drawn down by the end of the financial year will become unavailable.
DCMS makes payments in arrears and only pays in advance by exception. If you wish to be paid in advance, you will be asked to explain and justify your reasons in your application, this includes ensuring that your request fits with one or more of the ‘payment in advance’ criteria outlined in the application form. Your request will be considered as part of the assessment process. If your application and request to be paid in advance are approved, you will be expected to provide quarterly reconciliation details for the duration of your project detailing any underspend against funds received. You will be required to reconcile any underspend before further funding is released. You will also be required to complete a formal Financial Reconciliation Statement (FRS) form at the end of the financial year.
Whether paid in arrears or in advance, you must be able to transparently report on a quarterly basis and provide evidence of expenditure of the use of the Enrichment Partnerships Pilot. The Enrichment Partnerships Pilot must be shown as restricted funds in your accounts and you must be able to identify separately the value and purpose of the grant in your audited accounts. You will be asked to describe the financial management systems and processes you will put in place to ensure you can achieve this in your application.
Grant monitoring and reporting
DCMS is committed to robust monitoring and evaluation of grant funding, proportionate to the size and length of the grant. Successful applicants are expected to:
- provide monthly financial and performance monitoring data returns for the grant funding period. DCMS will provide a template for returns
- attend quarterly monitoring meetings to report on the progress of grant awards (based on the monitoring returns) and update on risks/slippage on spend
- attend informal catch-up meetings with DMCS and DfE project leads
- work with the independent evaluation partner and/or DCMS to support design of the evaluation and collection of relevant data for the overarching process and impact evaluation
Monitoring and evaluation
An independent evaluator will be appointed by DCMS to undertake an evaluation of the pilot. The evaluator is expected to be in place by early-Autumn 2023. The evaluation is currently being designed but is likely to involve a process evaluation and some impact evaluation. The delivery partner will be expected to work with the evaluator to provide access to the local delivery organisations and schools for the evaluation, this may include sharing contact details of relevant individuals, and working with the evaluator on continuous improvement. This will also include the delivery partner helping to design data collection, and collecting a range of monitoring data from all coordinating organisations and schools for the evaluation, the exact nature of this data is to be determined but is expected to be needed across the life of the programme and to include data on starting position and change in programme outputs as well as activities undertaken.
Application timeline
The below timeline is indicative and subject to change.
| Fund opens for applications | Monday 7 August 2023 |
| Clarification workshop | 3pm to 4pm, Tuesday 15 August 2023 |
| Clarification questions deadline | 23:59, Thursday 17 August 2023 |
| Publication of clarification questions | Tuesday 22 August 2023 |
| Deadline for applications | 23:59 Monday 4 September 2023 |
| Application assessment | 5 to 15 September 2023 |
| Notification of grant awards | w/c 18 September 2023 |
How to apply
Please follow the below steps to apply:
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Ensure you have fully read the guidance above.
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You have read DCMS’s standard terms and conditions of grants.
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Complete the below application form.
Applications for this grant fund must be submitted by 23:59 Monday 4 September 2023 to latifah.adesanya@dcms.gov.uk and charity.pierce@dcms.gov.uk with the subject line:
Grant Application - [Organisation Name] - Enrichment Partnership Pilot (EPP) Fund.
Any applications received after the closing date will not be assessed.
You will not be contacted for clarification or further information. It is your responsibility to ensure your application is concise, fully completed and that you supply all necessary supporting documentation.
Assessment
Evaluation criteria
A panel will assess the bids. Please assume that assessors have no or limited background knowledge of your organisation, its aims and what it does. It is therefore important that your application is as clear, concise and unambiguous as possible.
Initial sift
We will review your application to check that the information in the body of the application meets the eligibility checklist.
Individual evaluation of eligible bids
We will then score eligible bids in line with our key criteria.
The table below sets out what we are looking for, the weighting in the bid evaluation, and the questions we will use to make our assessment.
| Measure | Weighting % | Questions related |
|---|---|---|
| Approach and methodology: Applicants should explain the approach they will take to deliver the pilot, including providing a delivery plan and setting out how the project will be monitored. | 30 | |
| Organisational capability: Applicants should demonstrate they have met the delivery partner requirements. Each of the stated requirements will be assessed and have a % weighting as explained in further detail below. | 60 | |
| Budget and value for money: Applications should present a budget which includes all project costs and presents good value for money and efficiency in project delivery. Applications should specify the revenue grant requested to deliver. The applicant submitting the lowest price will serve as a benchmark, with applicants receiving marks on a pro-rata basis from the lowest to the highest price. | 10 | |
| Total | 100 |
Under ‘Organisational capability’, each of the stated delivery partner requirements will be assessed and have a % weighting of the total 60%. See table below:
| Requirement | % weighting |
|---|---|
| Experience of working with local authorities, voluntary and community sector organisations and/or schools, including multi-academy trusts | 20 |
| Sufficient staff capacity and capabilities to deliver this project in the timeframe set out. | 20 |
| Experience of grant management of a similar monetary value (circa £2.5 million). Strong financial management processes, such as fraud risk assessments, fraud, bribery and corruption due diligence, and experience managing counter-fraud processes | 15 |
| Experience of local partnership development | 15 |
| Knowledge of the education system and enrichment programmes | 15 |
| Experience of working with young people and incorporating youth voices into the development of projects or programmes | 10 |
| Experience of working with research organisations to deliver robust evaluations including collecting and sharing of data from grant recipients. | 5 |
| Total | 100 |
Moderation of scores
Scores will be moderated and an overall score given to each bid.
Due diligence
All successful applicants will be subject to comprehensive due diligence reviews and other database searches, including fraud risk indicators. The relevant documentation is expected to be provided alongside your application form. A checklist is provided in the application form.
Final confirmation
Upon successful completion of due diligence, we will issue the final confirmation of the successful applicants.
Grant award
Acceptance of funding
DCMS will aim to notify all successful applicants w/c 18 September 2023.
Your grant offer letter will set out the level of funding and any additional conditions that apply specifically to your grant. The letter will also set out what the grant is for and the payment schedule. Once we have awarded a grant, we will ask you for regular financial and performance monitoring reports and a final project report at the end of the funding term.
Please note:
- grant money will not be paid until we have received your written acceptance of the terms and conditions attached to your grant offer
- you must acknowledge you have received our grant in your annual report and accounts covering the period of the project
- if there is any breach of the terms and conditions, or your organisation ceases to operate before the grant has been spent, grant monies may have to be repaid
- when the grant ends, the Enrichment Partnerships Pilot does not have a commitment to provide any further funding for the project
- anyone found to be acting dishonestly in making an application for funding or spending the grant will be reported to the police and may be liable for prosecution
Grant terms and conditions
The DCMS draft terms and conditions for grant agreements is available on the gov.uk website. The terms and conditions are non negotiable. Submitting a proposal means acceptance of the terms. You should not seek to amend the terms and conditions.
Unsuccessful applications
We will inform all unsuccessful applicants during week commencing 18 September 2023. We will issue written feedback.
Please note that the decision will be final.
Advice and support
All available information and guidance relating to this grant funding is contained in this document.
DCMS held a clarification meeting on Tuesday 15 August 2023. The questions and answers from this meeting can be found below:
All clarification questions have been anonymised and made public so that all potential applicants are able to access any additional information.
As the application process is competitive, we are unable to provide support in completing the application.
Last updated 22 August 2023 + show all updates
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Added Q&A document from clarification meeting.
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Minor amendment to funding section (removal of 'arts' from prohibited usage list)
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First published.