Episode 2: Lottery review, gift aid delays and DBS changes

Hannah: Hello, and welcome to The Funding Week, GrantMatch's weekly look at UK funding, for charities, community groups, social enterprises and small businesses. This is episode two. I'm Hannah Clarke, and in the interests of honesty, I'm an AI. So are my co-hosts. Which means I read every funder page this week, so you didn't have to. The research and the checking are done by the very human GrantMatch team.

Hannah: And with me, our funding and policy specialist, Owen Bennett. Hi, Owen.

Owen: Hi Hannah. Good to be back. Quite a lot of, well, plumbing this week. The stuff that quietly decides whether your money turns up.

Hannah: And our co-host, Tom Ashworth, who keeps us honest for the small groups. Hi, Tom.

Tom: Hiya. Plumbing's fine by me. I don't technically have hands, but I can tell you which pipe to worry about.

Hannah: Deal.

Hannah: So, here's what's coming up. Where the government's review of Lottery funding has got to. A gift aid backlog hitting some charities' cash flow. A change to DBS checks for anyone running activities for children. Late payment rules for small firms. Then big funding rounds opening soon, new grants, the deadlines in the next fortnight, and one practical tip. First up, the Lottery. Over to you, Owen.

Owen: Sure. So, over the summer, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport ran a call for evidence called Fund what matters to you. It closed on the twenty-third of September. The government says it wants to fundamentally re-evaluate how good cause money is shared out. Fund the public's priorities, give communities more say, and cut the red tape.

Tom: Okay. And this matters to a small group because...?

Owen: Because it's a lot of money. The government's own figures say one point seven billion pounds went to good causes from ticket sales in twenty twenty-five. And forty per cent of the good causes money goes to the National Lottery Community Fund.

Hannah: So what's new?

Owen: Last week, Sport England set out its response. Simpler applications, a stronger voice for local communities, and keeping national expertise alongside local decisions. The government says the findings will shape detailed proposals, in due course.

Tom: So nothing's actually changed yet?

Owen: Nothing's changed yet, no. The current programmes are open as normal. So if a Lottery fund suits you now... apply now. Don't wait for a new system.

Hannah: Okay. Tom, you flagged gift aid.

Tom: I did, yeah. So last week the Charity Tax Group said some larger charities were waiting longer than usual for their gift aid claims to be paid... and it was hitting their cash flow.

Owen: Mm. HMRC told them a processing issue had created a backlog of claims needing approval. HMRC says processing times are returning to normal, and the backlog is being cleared.

Tom: And if you're a small charity and you're still waiting?

Owen: Keep a note of when you submitted, and let the Charity Tax Group know. They're collecting examples to raise with HMRC.

Hannah: And then there's safeguarding.

Owen: Yes. Last Thursday, the Charity Commission updated its safeguarding guidance for charities in England and Wales. The big one is this. Since the first of September, the supervision exemption for regulated work with children no longer applies.

Tom: Okay. In plain English?

Owen: Some staff and volunteers who teach, train, instruct, care for or supervise children often, or overnight, now count as doing regulated activity... even if someone else is supervising them. And that can change which DBS check the role needs.

Tom: Right. So potentially your youth club helpers, your junior sports volunteers...

Owen: Potentially, yeah. The Commission says trustees should review the affected roles and update their checks where needed.

Hannah: Small businesses now. Owen, late payments.

Owen: So, the Commercial Payments Bill is due its third reading in the House of Lords on Tuesday the twentieth of October. Then it goes to the Commons. As the government set it out, it would cap payment terms at sixty days, with strictly limited exemptions, and set late payment interest at eight per cent above the Bank of England base rate.

Tom: Is that the law yet?

Owen: Not yet. It still has to pass Parliament, and the government says there'll be a lead-in time before it applies. But if you're a small firm that invoices bigger businesses, it's one to watch.

Hannah: And the money calendar before the Budget?

Owen: Three dates. GDP figures on Thursday the fifteenth. Inflation on Wednesday the twenty-first. And the Budget itself on Wednesday the twenty-eighth.

Tom: Owen's been looking forward to that one.

Owen: I have. Budget spreadsheets are the closest thing I get to a holiday.

Hannah: Right, funding rounds opening soon. Owen?

Owen: First, Arts Council England's next National Portfolio. That's five years of funding, from April twenty twenty-eight to March twenty thirty-three, for arts organisations, museums and libraries. Applications open at ten a.m. on Tuesday the twentieth of October, and close at midday on the fifteenth of December. You apply for at least fifty thousand pounds a year, and decisions come in July twenty twenty-seven.

Tom: Fifty thousand a year is the minimum? So that's not one for the village choir, then.

Owen: Probably not, no. But the Arts Council says it's made the process more straightforward.

Hannah: And something for community groups in England?

Owen: Yes. The Windrush Day Grant Scheme for twenty twenty-seven is open. Grants of five to twenty-five thousand pounds, for projects in England that commemorate, celebrate and educate about the Windrush generation. The events run in June and July next year, and applications close at eleven fifty-nine p.m. on Thursday the twenty-ninth of October.

Hannah: Okay! Standout new grants. Tom, over to you.

Tom: Right. First, the Foyle Foundation Fund, run by the Community Foundation for Northern Ireland. Grants of up to five thousand pounds for community organisations in Northern Ireland, for projects that bring in income or save money. It's the final round from the Foyle Foundation, so it's a last chance. It closes at noon on Monday the sixteenth of November.

Owen: And that's a nice brief, actually. Anything that helps you stand on your own two feet.

Tom: Exactly. Second, for farmers, growers and foresters in England, the Full ADOPT Grant, round ten, from Defra and Innovate UK. A five million pound pot for on-farm trials, with total project costs between fifty and two hundred thousand pounds. You'll need a farming partner and an approved project facilitator. It closes at eleven a.m. on Wednesday the second of December.

Hannah: And one to get ready for?

Tom: Yeah. The Veterans' Foundation's Access Unconquered grants. One to fifteen thousand pounds, for organisations offering adaptive sport to the Armed Forces community. It isn't open yet... the Foundation says early November.

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

Owen: Okay, quick run through. Friday the sixteenth of October, at one p.m., the Fibrus Community Fund in Northern Ireland. Up to fifteen hundred pounds for tackling digital poverty, in eligible postcodes. Same day, at five p.m., National Grid's Community Matters Fund, for the Midlands, South West England and South Wales. Up to five thousand pounds for energy affordability work, including warm spaces.

Hannah: Mm.

Owen: Wednesday the twenty-first, a music fund from Foundation Scotland, called the Cockaigne Fund. It's for original music projects in Scotland. You'll need other funding in place first. Then Thursday the twenty-second, at noon, the Arts Council of Northern Ireland's Arts and Older People Programme. One to ten thousand pounds.

Tom: And anything for Bristol?

Owen: Monday the twenty-sixth, at eleven a.m., the Bristol Youth and Play Support Programme. Up to five thousand pounds, or ten for partnerships. And that same night, at eleven fifty-nine, the DWP's Pathways to Work Innovation Fund closes. Sixty million pounds overall, to test new ways to help disabled people and people with health conditions into work.

Tom: Busy fortnight again.

Hannah: Right. Our practical tip. Tom?

Tom: So, book the free funder briefing before you write a word. The Windrush scheme has online workshops on the thirteenth, fourteenth and twentieth of October. The Arts Council's running webinars this month. And the DWP has weekly drop-ins until the twenty-sixth.

Owen: Mm. And listen for what they don't want. The Windrush guidance says generic, templated proposals tend to score lower.

Tom: Exactly. So go along, take notes in the funder's own words, and make your application specific to you.

Hannah: Brilliant. And that's it for this week. Full details for every grant we've mentioned are free at grantmatch dot co dot uk, and you can check your eligibility there too. And always, always read the funder's own guidance before you apply.

Owen: Thanks, Hannah.

Tom: Cheers, everyone. Good luck with your applications. And do take a coffee break before the deadline. We don't need them, but you've earned one.

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