OPSS community funding for product safety
Information and application forms for organisations seeking to deliver community-based and/or consumer-focused product safety awareness and education projects.
The Office for Product Safety and Standards (OPSS) has responsibility for protecting people and places from product related harm and ensuring consumers can buy products with confidence.
Community contract funding
OPSS uses small contract awards to external organisations to deliver targeted, community-based and/or consumer-focused product safety and awareness activities. In 2026-27 there are two opportunities to bid for funding.
Opportunity 1: Second-hand goods
This Opportunity closed on 2 September, and we are currently considering bids. Organisations that expressed an interest in this funding will be informed of the outcome by 9 October.
Opportunity 2: Product safety community training fund
Funding is available to upskill volunteers or employees of community organisations to understand product safety information so they can share their learning to the wider community, empowering consumers to choose and use products safely.
Bid for funding
If you would like to apply for funding, please complete the relevant bid form, which contains information about how bids are assessed and our expectations.
Bids will be considered for projects valued under £10,000 excluding VAT that reach OPSS on or before, 23:59, Friday 30 October 2026, for training activity to be delivered by 3 March 2027.
Any organisation can apply, and we welcome bids from voluntary groups, smaller charities, community groups and those looking to partner with the third sector.
We invite proposals to deliver projects that train volunteers or employees to understand for the purpose of advising their communities about:
- Product safety issues affecting children under 5 and/or
- Cosmetic product safety
Resources
We encourage applicants to refer to and use these resources when developing training projects:
- Free educational resources - Child Accident Prevention Trust
- Chartered Trading Standards Institute: Cost of Beauty Toolkit
- Consumer products: your safety and protection - GOV.UK
Activity we will fund
We will fund:
- Associated activities linked to delivering training to volunteers/employees
- Adapting existing product safety information or resources so they meet the learning needs of volunteers/employees e.g. BSL, Braille or translations into different languages.
- Production of materials based on existing product safety information or resources to enable product safety messages to be cascaded to consumers within their communities e.g. printing or translations.
We are especially interested in funding proposals that upskill volunteers or employees who are already trusted in their communities and work with people who could be deemed to be more at risk of product-related harm, due to (but not limited to):
- Age
- Ethnicity
- Socio-economic circumstance (e.g. they are on a low income which impacts how they buy and continue to use products)
- Having additional literacy needs such as English as an additional language
- Low digital skills or being digitally excluded
- A medical condition or disability
Reporting
Successful bidders will need to submit a report to receive payment, including:
- A summary of the project objective and success criteria.
- Details of the approach taken and how this was designed to meet objectives.
- The reach and impact of the work in terms of consumer engagement (how many people attended the activity/what they learnt).
We can consider part payment in arrears for tangible activities delivered before the end of the reporting period. Bidders should highlight what those activities are and include a draft payment schedule.
Successful bidders will be expected to complete the Community Impact Assessment form supplied by OPSS by 3 September 2027 outlining how upskilled volunteers/employees have shared product safety messaging in the local community.
Previous examples
To help you with your application, these are some examples of work we have funded previously:
- Local Citizens Advice Rushmoor ran a ‘Product Safety Community Awareness’ project. Fourteen workshops targeted at foodbank users, families, pensioners, people with additional literacy needs and community champions were held to raise product safety awareness. They also used OPSS assets to create accessible posters targeted to the needs of their community.
- CETMA ran a ‘Community Electrical Safety Campaign’ including a roadshow across West and South Wales, where targeted leaflets and advice were given to the community. They also attended foodbanks and added product safety information to food parcels.
- Milton Keynes Trading Standards ‘Toy Safety Matters’ campaign involved the creation of a video and targeted toy safety drop-in sessions held at Family Centres.
- Oxfordshire Fire and Rescue Service’s ‘E-bike and E-scooter Campaign’ involved creating targeted, accessible product safety materials for use at four face-to-face events attended by 700 people.
- Closha Associated Ltd in partnership with Bolton Deaf Society and Deafway developed a BSL consumer website to host product safety messages for deaf consumers. Three product safety videos in BSL promoting toy safety, button battery safety and electrical safety were created and hosted on the site along with five previously produced product safety videos in BSL.
Submit your bid
Please submit your bid using the online form.
Or return as an attachment to OPSSconsumer@businessandtrade.gov.uk.
All bids must be submitted on or before 23:59 30 October 2026.
Organisations that have not previously received OPSS funding for consumer awareness activity will only be eligible to submit one bid this financial year.
If you have any questions, please contact OPSSconsumer@businessandtrade.gov.uk.
Updates to this page
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Information and application forms added for the second opportunity for organisations to bid to deliver community-based and / or consumer-focused product safety awareness and education projects in 2026/2027.
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Opportunity 1 for 2026 community contracts added.
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Links added to information about the contracts awarded in 2025-2026 and 2024-2025 and OPSS grants.
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Information and application forms added for organisations to bid to deliver community-based and / or consumer-focused product safety awareness and education projects in 2025.
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First published.