Episode 1: Budget 28 Oct, what charities are asking for

Hannah: Hello, and welcome to The Funding Week, GrantMatch's weekly look at what's new in UK funding. This is our very first episode! It's the show for charities, community groups, social enterprises and small businesses who want to keep on top of grants... without spending hours trawling websites. Every week we pick out the funding news that matters, the policy and money stuff that could affect your next application, the best new grants, and the deadlines you really don't want to miss. I'm Hannah Clarke, and I host the show.

Hannah: And with me, two voices you'll get to know. First up, our funding and policy specialist, Owen Bennett. Owen, hi.

Owen: Hi Hannah. Yeah, good to be here. I mean, busy week. Budget on the horizon, so... plenty to get through.

Hannah: And our co-host, Tom Ashworth, who's here to ask the questions small charities and community groups are actually asking. Hi, Tom.

Tom: Hiya. Yeah, honestly, my job is basically to go, okay, but what does that mean if you're a volunteer-run group and your treasurer is also the one making the tea?

Hannah: Exactly that.

Hannah: Right, here's what's coming up. The Budget date, and what the sector's asking for. Fresh inflation figures, and why they matter for your project budgets. New accounting rules for charities. Some new money for food projects, energy advice and local groups. And then our pick of new grants, the deadlines landing in the next fortnight, and one practical tip to finish. Owen, let's start with the big one.

Owen: Sure. So, the Chancellor will deliver the Budget on Wednesday the twenty-eighth of October. The Treasury confirmed the date back in the summer, so we're now, what, less than three weeks away.

Hannah: Mm.

Owen: And ahead of it, the Charity Finance Group and more than eighty other civil society organisations sent in a joint submission. Their main asks include full cost recovery, and annual inflation uplifts, in all government grants and contracts.

Tom: Okay, full cost recovery. I hear that phrase all the time. What does it actually mean, in plain English?

Owen: It means a grant or a contract pays for the true cost of doing the work. Not just the project worker. So, a fair share of rent, insurance, management time, IT, that kind of thing.

Tom: Right. The bits that keep the lights on.

Owen: Exactly that.

Tom: So, I mean, should groups hold off applying until after the Budget?

Owen: No, I wouldn't. Nobody knows what's going to be in it, and open funds still have their own deadlines. What I would do is keep an eye on the announcements on the day, especially anything on local government and community funding... because, to be fair, a lot of grant money reaches groups through councils.

Hannah: Which links nicely to the cost of living picture. Owen, inflation?

Owen: Yeah. So the latest official figures, from the Office for National Statistics, had consumer price inflation at three point one per cent in the year to August. That's up from two point nine in July. Motor fuels were the biggest driver. And the next figures are due on the twenty-first of October, so, a week before the Budget.

Tom: And for a small group, that matters because...?

Owen: Because your application budget is basically a promise. If you're costing a project that runs into next year, build in realistic increases for things like fuel, energy, wages... and say so in the application. Honestly, funders would much rather see an honest budget than have you run short halfway through.

Hannah: That's a really good point. Okay, Tom, this next one's for anyone who does the books.

Tom: Go on, then. I'm braced.

Owen: It's mostly good news, actually! For charities in England and Wales, new income thresholds apply to financial years ending on or after the thirtieth of September this year. The Charity Commission says the level for needing an independent examination goes up from twenty-five thousand pounds to forty thousand.

Tom: Oh, okay. That's quite a jump.

Owen: The threshold for preparing accruals accounts doubles, to five hundred thousand pounds. And the audit threshold rises to one and a half million. There's also a new Charities SORP, and this week the SORP-making body published a helpsheet on how leases should now be accounted for.

Tom: So some smaller charities might need less paperwork than they thought?

Owen: Possibly, yeah. But do check with whoever prepares your accounts, because it depends on your year end. And the Charity Commission's guidance has all the detail.

Hannah: Right, let's talk new money. Owen, food first.

Owen: So, at the end of September, the government announced almost ten million pounds for what it's calling Good Food Neighbourhoods. Forty-five councils in England, chosen for high levels of deprivation and childhood obesity, will each get two hundred and twenty-two thousand pounds. And the government says it could support things like community food shops, mobile greengrocers, lunch clubs, community kitchens.

Tom: But hang on, that's going to councils. Not straight to groups.

Owen: Right. So if you run a food project in one of those areas, the list of councils is in the government announcement, and it's well worth asking your council how they plan to use it.

Hannah: And there's a really tight deadline on energy, isn't there?

Owen: There is. The Ofgem Energy Redress Scheme has fifteen million pounds open for charities and community energy groups, across six funding streams. It closes at five p.m. on Monday the twelfth of October. One catch, though. You had to register with the scheme by the twenty-eighth of September to be considered this round.

Tom: Ah. So if you didn't register...

Owen: ...then for this round, you've most likely missed it, yeah. But registration's free, and you only do it once. So do it now, and you're ready for the next round.

Hannah: And a couple of local ones caught our eye this week, too.

Owen: Yeah. In the North West, Cheshire and Warrington Combined Authority has put six hundred and fifty thousand pounds into a new grant programme for voluntary, community, faith and social enterprise groups. Round one opens on Monday the twelfth of October, and closes on Sunday the twenty-second of November.

Hannah: Mm-hm.

Owen: And in Essex, the new NHS Essex Community Health Partnership Fund offers grants of up to ten thousand pounds, for community-led projects that build confidence in, and uptake of, vaccines. It starts with an expression of interest, due by five p.m. on the twenty-fifth of November.

Tom: That Essex one's interesting, actually. It's really looking for groups that already have the trust of their communities.

Hannah: Okay! Standout new grants. Tom, these are your picks, aren't they?

Tom: They are, yeah. So first, the Scottish Veterans Fund, small stream, from the Scottish Government. It's a one hundred thousand pound pot, for small, one-year projects supporting veterans and their families in Scotland. It opened on the second of October and it closes on the twentieth of November. Now, important detail. You have to be a legal person. So a SCIO, that's a Scottish charitable incorporated organisation, or a registered company. Unincorporated groups can't apply.

Owen: Yeah, that one catches people out every year.

Tom: It does. And second, for Greater Manchester, the DF Capital Foundation Fund, through Forever Manchester. Awards of two and a half thousand pounds for grassroots community groups with an annual income under seventy-five thousand pounds. That one closes at noon on Thursday the twenty-second of October.

Hannah: Lovely. And the deadlines coming up in the next fortnight?

Owen: Okay, quick run through. Thursday the fifteenth of October, the North Somerset Community Partnership Grant. That's between one and twenty thousand pounds for health and wellbeing work, closing at eleven a.m. Same day, at noon, the Arts Council of Northern Ireland's Musical Instruments for Bands programme, for constituted bands in Northern Ireland.

Hannah: Mm.

Owen: Then Friday the sixteenth, at one p.m., the Avon and Somerset Police and Crime Commissioner's Community Fund. One to ten thousand pounds, for projects that help prevent crime. And Monday the nineteenth, at eleven a.m., the Wessex Water Community Fund, up to four thousand pounds for groups in the West of England.

Tom: And three of those are run by the Quartet Community Foundation. Quartet, like a string quartet. So if you're around Bristol... busy fortnight.

Hannah: It really is.

Hannah: Right. Our practical tip. Tom?

Tom: So this one came from the Directory of Social Change's annual conference this week. The chief executive of the charity Mind, Sarah Hughes, said the question to ask before chasing funding is, and I'm quoting here: would we do this thing if the money wasn't there?

Owen: Mm. I mean, it's a great test, that. Funding for something off-mission can end up costing you more than it brings in.

Tom: Yeah. So my tip is, before you start any application, write one sentence on how it fits your plan. If you can't... park it. And spend that time on a grant that does fit.

Hannah: Brilliant. I love that. And that's it for this week. Full details for every grant we've mentioned, plus a free eligibility check, are at grantmatch dot co dot uk. And always, always read the funder's own guidance before you apply. Owen, thank you.

Owen: Thanks, Hannah. Always a pleasure. See you next week.

Hannah: And Tom, thank you.

Tom: Cheers, Hannah. And cheers, everyone listening. Good luck with your applications.

Hannah: I'm Hannah Clarke, and this has been The Funding Week, from GrantMatch. Take care of yourselves, and we'll see you next week.