How to Write a Statement of Need for a Grant

Every grant application has a section, sometimes called "the need", "the problem" or "why is your project needed?", where you persuade the funder that there is a real issue worth paying to solve. It is often the section assessors read most closely, because a project that does not meet a real need is not worth funding however well it is run. This guide shows you how to build a strong statement of need, where to find free evidence, and how to keep it short.

What a statement of need has to do

A good need section answers three questions:

1. What is the problem? Who is affected, how, and how many?
2. Why here and why now? What makes it a problem in your area or for your group, and why does it need tackling at this moment?
3. What is missing? What support already exists, and what gap does that leave?

It is not the place to describe your project in detail or your organisation's history. You will have space for those elsewhere. Keep the focus on the people you serve and the situation they are in.

Funders say this in their own words. National Lottery Awards for All England, for example, says it wants to fund projects designed around community needs, shaped by the people they aim to support and based on real local knowledge. The National Lottery Heritage Fund lists "the needs and opportunities your project will address" among the factors it considers when assessing an application.

The three kinds of evidence

The strongest statements of need blend three types of evidence. Each covers the others' weaknesses.

1. Published data

Official statistics show the scale of a problem and how your area compares with others. They are credible because they are independent. Their weakness is that they can be out of date or too broad to describe your neighbourhood.

2. Your own records

Waiting lists, referral numbers, attendance figures, enquiries you had to turn away, and the results of past projects. These are powerful because they are specific to you and show demand for your work, not only a general problem.

3. What people have told you

Survey results, consultation events, focus groups, conversations and quotes. These show you have listened, and they bring the numbers to life. Awards for All England suggests ways to find out what matters to your community, including doing a survey, holding a meeting or community event, making phone calls and speaking with local organisations or community leaders.

Free UK data sources worth knowing

You do not need paid tools. These official sources cover most of what small organisations need.

Deprivation

• English Indices of Deprivation 2025. Published by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government on 30 October 2025, replacing the 2019 version. It measures relative deprivation in 33,755 small areas in England called lower-layer super output areas, across seven domains including income, employment, health and crime. The government's Local Deprivation Explorer lets you look up an area by postcode.
• Welsh Index of Multiple Deprivation 2025. Published by the Welsh Government on 27 November 2025, using the Census 2021 small areas.
• Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation. At the time of writing the current version is SIMD 2020v2, covering 6,976 data zones, and the Scottish Government has said it plans an update towards the end of 2026. Check the gov.scot page for the latest release before you quote it.
• Northern Ireland Multiple Deprivation Measure 2017. Published by NISRA, it ranks 890 small areas and has a postcode lookup tool.

Two cautions from the publishers themselves. First, these indices measure relative deprivation between areas. The English statistical release says they cannot be used to identify deprived people or to compare small areas in different UK countries. Second, not everyone in a deprived area is deprived, and in rural areas pockets of need can be hidden inside larger, mixed areas. The Scottish Government makes this point about SIMD in rural areas. If you work in a rural area, back up the index with other evidence.

Population and the Census

The Office for National Statistics publishes Census 2021 results for England and Wales, including age, ethnicity, disability, unpaid care, health and household make-up for small areas. Scotland's Census was held in 2022 and is published by National Records of Scotland, and Northern Ireland's 2021 Census by NISRA.

Work and income

Nomis, run for the ONS, publishes labour market statistics for local areas, including employment, benefit claimants and earnings.

Health

Fingertips, run by the Department of Health and Social Care, publishes public health profiles for local areas in England, covering topics such as child and maternal health, smoking and mental health. Fingertips says a replacement service, Find public health data, is in development, so check which tool is current.

Your local council and partners

Many councils publish a Joint Strategic Needs Assessment, a local plan or ward profiles that pull these figures together for you. Local health bodies, police and housing associations may also publish data. If a local plan names your issue as a priority, quote it: it shows the need is recognised by others.

A simple structure that works

Most need sections fit comfortably into four short paragraphs.

1. The problem in one or two sentences. Who is affected and how.
2. The evidence. Two or three well-chosen facts: one from published data, one from your records, one from what people told you.
3. The gap. What already exists and why it is not enough. Mention other local services fairly; funders know them and will notice if you ignore them.
4. The link. One sentence on how your project responds to this need. This is your bridge to the project section.

A worked example

Here is a short, invented example for a group running a weekly lunch club for older people:

Many older people in Eastfield live alone and rarely see anyone during the week. In the 2021 Census, a high share of households in our ward were one person aged 66 or over, well above the figure for the district as a whole. Our current Tuesday club is full, and we have 23 people on a waiting list, most referred by the GP surgery's social prescriber. When we surveyed 41 members last spring, 30 said the club was the only regular social contact they had. The nearest other daytime group is two bus journeys away and runs fortnightly. A second weekly session would let us offer a place to everyone on our list.

Notice what it does. It is local, it uses three kinds of evidence, it names the gap, and it ends by pointing to the project. It is also under 120 words. In a real application you would replace the general Census line with the actual percentage for your ward and the district, taken from the ONS.

Common mistakes

• Leading with national statistics. "One in four people will experience a mental health problem" tells the funder nothing about your area. Use national figures only for context, and follow them with local ones.
• Describing your organisation, not the need. The need section is about the people you serve.
• Assuming the funder knows your area. They often do not. Explain briefly what it is like.
• Too much data. Choose the most relevant facts. A table of twenty figures is harder to read than three good sentences.
• Out-of-date or unsourced figures. Say where each figure comes from and when. Check you are using the latest release.
• Making claims you cannot support. If you say demand has doubled, have the numbers to hand.

How the need connects to the rest of your bid

Your statement of need sets up everything that follows. The outcomes you promise should respond to the problems you describe. If you say isolation is the issue, an outcome about reduced isolation makes sense; one about fitness does not unless you have explained the link. A theory of change is a good way to check these connections before you write. Assessors, as our guide to how funders assess applications explains, look for exactly this logic.

Ready to find the right funder?

Once your need is clear, it is much easier to see which funders care about it. GrantMatch lists open grants by community group, by charity and by area, including National Lottery Awards for All England. Set up a free profile and we will match you with the grants that fit.