Guidance

Safety of Women at Night Fund: guidance to bidders (accessible version)

Updated 16 February 2022

July 2021

Email: [email protected]

1. Introduction and background

1.1. Protecting individuals from violence and supporting victims and survivors is a key priority for this Government. Crimes which fall within the umbrella of violence against women and girls (VAWG) – and the fear of those crimes – is still all too prevalent.

1.2 We know that women and girls are disproportionately affected by certain crime types. For example, they are around four times more likely than men to experience a sexual assault. According to the 2019/20 Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW), 2.9% of women aged 16 to 74 and 0.7% of men aged 16 to 74 were victims of sexual assault in the last year.

1.3 Women and girls have also been found to suffer high levels of sexual and verbal harassment. Examples include a survey by Plan UK in 2018 of 14-21-year-olds that found that 38% of girls experience verbal harassment including sexual comments in public places at least once a month. A YouGov poll of adults in London in 2019 about experience of sexual harassment on public transport found that 37% of women had experienced someone ‘deliberately pressing against them’ compared to 12% of men, and 22% of women had a ‘sexual statement directed against them’ in comparison to 7% of men. Women are also less likely to feel safe walking alone at night in their local area. According to data from the 2019/20 CSEW, 69% of women aged 16 and over said that they felt very or fairly safe walking alone after dark. For women aged 75 and over, that figure falls to 58%.

1.4 The tragic killing of Sarah Everard brought to the forefront concerns about women and girls’ safety in public places. Following the meeting of the Prime Minister’s Crime and Justice Taskforce (CJTF) on 15 March, the Government announced immediate steps to protect women and girls in public spaces, including the rollout of initiatives to improve the safety of women in public spaces at night, including in the night-time economy. This will be delivered through a new £5 million Safety of Women at Night Fund (hereafter “the Fund or “this Fund”).

1.5 The Fund focuses on the prevention of violence against women at night in towns and city centres, including within venues, as well as routes home, through protecting those at risk and/or identifying and targeting potential perpetrators of VAWG in public spaces at night including the night-time economy (NTE). The projects must help women feel safer in public spaces at night and in venues within the night-time economy or on related routes home. The Fund will be open to civil society (charities, community and voluntary organisations, social enterprises and cooperatives), Local Authorities, Police and Crime Commissioners, and the Chief Constable of the British Transport Police.

1.6 For the purposes of this Fund:

• Public spaces are defined as the parts of a town or city (whether publicly or privately owned) that are available, without charge, for everyone to use or see,
• The NTE is defined as economic activity taking place in the evening and night-time. An NTE area is one where there is a concentration of such economic activity. NTE venues are any premises offering food, drink, entertainment, cultural or sporting events at night (between 6pm to 6am).
• Related routes home will include public transport hubs and forms of transport where a charge for use would be applied.

1.7 While the focus of the Fund is on public spaces in the night, this Fund is one aspect of the Government’s work to tackle violence against women and girls in all spheres of society as we know this also occurs in homes, at the workplace, in schools as well as in our streets. The cross-Government Tackling Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy and complementary Domestic Abuse Strategy will help strengthen and advance the response to these crimes. They will have at their heart a focus on prevention, drive forward improvements in the targeting of perpetrators, ensure that we respond to the changing nature of these crimes, and, most importantly, continue to put victims and survivors at the centre of our approach.

1.8 The Fund will sit alongside the £25m third round of the Safer Streets Fund launched on 3 June 2021. Please see the Guidance for Bidders published on Gov.Uk or contact [email protected] for more information. As some public spaces of concern are also of concern in the night, there may be an overlap between these two funds. Should they deem it appropriate, bidders are able to submit proposals into both funds provided they are significantly different. If bidders apply to both schemes, they must clearly outline how the proposals differ to avoid bids being rejected.

1.9 Bidders are advised to read this document, including Annexes, and all documents provided via the Jaggaer portal in full before developing proposals.

2. Overview of the Safety of Women at Night Fund

2.1 This Fund focuses on preventing crimes which disproportionately affect women and girls in public spaces at night and in the night-time economy. ‘Violence against women and girls’ is an umbrella term that encompasses acts of violence and abuse that disproportionately, but not exclusively, affect women and girls. Bidders may also propose interventions that address these areas where they impact groups with other protected characteristics, should they have information this is a problem in a particular geographical area. We strongly encourage and welcome innovative bids from all eligible bidders.

2.2 Civil society (charities, community and voluntary organisations, social enterprises and cooperatives), Local Authorities, Police and Crime Commissioners, and the Chief Constable of the British Transport Police, are eligible to bid. This will allow for a variety of innovative initiatives to be developed and considered, as well as encouraging local partnership working.

2.3 Bids must have a maximum value of £300,000. There will be no match funding requirement. Bidders should be aware that the funding is only given until 31st March 2022 and all spend must be incurred by then, as per regular grant regulations laid out by HM Treasury. Any invoices relating to spend beyond this date (including for future staff or installation costs of purchased interventions) will not be funded. Therefore, bidders should think realistically when selecting areas and designing plans. Bidders should only choose interventions they are confident they can deliver within the funding period.

2.4 Bidders will be required to consult with local or national VAWG stakeholders as well as local organisations that hold responsibility for groups of women or girls within the geographical range of the bid, such as colleges, universities, or local businesses, to ensure proposals reflect the needs of women and girls. Bidders are asked to work with relevant partners to design and deliver local plans in hotspot areas with the outcome of reducing violence against women and girls related crimes. This could be through initiatives that target potential perpetrators, those that seek to protect potential victims or through programmes intended to address offending behaviour. The Fund will not cover physical, situational measures such as street lighting or CCTV.

2.5 No separate funding will be made available for the purpose of self-evaluation. However, as good practice we encourage successful bidders to monitor and evaluate their interventions against their own priorities, both during and after the funding period to understand the impact.

2.6 Successful bidders will be required to commit to working with the appointed independent evaluator who will put together an overall evaluation report which aims to measure impact and gain long term lessons from this pilot fund.

2.7 We recognise that some proposals may be eligible for both this Fund and the third round of the Safer Streets Fund. However, whilst there may be some overlap in terms of objectives and target bids, neither fund will accept duplicate bids. If bidding for both funds, applicants need to outline clearly how their proposals differ and specifically meet the aims of both funds.

2.8 Further information on the application form and questions is included in Annex B. Information on the assessment and scoring of bids is available in the Instructions to Bidders document, available on the Jaggaer e-sourcing system.

2.9 Every grant recipient will be allocated a Home Office lead as a single point of contact to provide support and challenge on plan delivery. There will also be opportunities to share learning and access peer support both through webinars and networking between areas.

2.10 When developing proposals, bidders should also ensure they give due regard to the Public Sector Equality Duty and consider equalities impacts as part of the bid appraisal process through relevant data collection and monitoring.

3. Eligibility and Criteria

3.1 The eligibility criteria are the criteria which bids must evidence to meet the threshold to be assessed. The assessment criteria are the criteria against which bids are scored.

a) Eligibility criteria

3.2 All bids must propose initiatives that protect victims of VAWG and/or identify and target perpetrators of these crimes at night, including in the night-time economy (NTE), and help women and girls feel safer in public spaces and venues within the night-time economy or on related routes home.

3.3 Bidders must ensure they are targeting areas of concern by demonstrating that the chosen area is disproportionately affected by VAWG crimes at night and/or in the NTE or fear of such crimes. The bid must include a convincing argument that the proposal will mitigate the effects of those forms of VAWG.

3.4 All forms of VAWG (with the exception of those specified in paragraph 3.5) occurring in public spaces at night or the NTE will be in scope. This includes action taken to reduce or prevent any of the areas in the following (non-exhaustive) list:

• Rape.
• Assault by penetration.
• Causing a person to engage in sexual activity without consent.
• Sexual assault (including unwanted sexual touching).
• Abduction.
• Harassment.
• Stalking.
• Exposure.
• Voyeurism.
• Upskirting.
• Relevant behaviour under the offences in sections 4, 4A and 5 of the Public Order Act 1986.

3.5 The following areas will not be in scope (due to their online nature or where they occur in private residences or are not related to the safety of women and girls, which is outside the scope of this Fund):

• Offences committed online (including harassment and stalking).
• Domestic abuse/violence offences which have been committed within a private residence.
• Forced marriage and female genital mutilation committed within a private residence.
• So called ‘revenge porn’ and image-based abuse.
• Other offences which have been committed in public spaces which are not associated with safety of women, such as knife crime.

3.6 Local Authorities, Police and Crime Commissioners, the Chief Constable of the British Transport Police, and the civil society (charities, community and voluntary organisations, social enterprises and cooperatives) are eligible to bid.

3.7 Applicants will be eligible to submit one bid for funding with a maximum value of £300,000. A project must do something for which there is a local need, and which would not be provided without this funding.

3.8 Bids will only be accepted for projects intended to operate in England and/or Wales and must identify where the project will operate. This could be one or more geographical areas, but it could also be a system that transports people home from a night-time economy area. Bidders must set out their rationale for choosing that area or transport system. This could be specified in terms of the concentration of licensed premises, night-time footfall in an area, night-time passenger numbers, or the prevalence of VAWG at night and/or related to the NTE.

3.9 There is no requirement for all areas in a bid to be coterminous. The Fund will accept bids that cover areas that are not geographically adjoined. Such bids must show a thematic link between those areas, such as similar levels of VAWG that would suit combination under a single bid.

3.10 Any bid that relies in part on the cooperation of another agency or service will require the endorsement of that agency or service. Where agencies are working in partnership, suggestions on how to develop bids together are included in Annex A.

b) Assessment criteria

3.11 Bids will be evaluated by the Home Office and will be expected to meet a defined pass mark of 60, which relates to providing satisfactory information against questions. Bids will be assessed against the criteria set out in the documents provided via the Jaggaer portal (annexed for reference purposes only below).

3.12 Bidders must provide a convincing argument demonstrating that their chosen area is disproportionately affected by VAWG at night and in the night-time economy, or by a fear of these types of crimes occurring. This may include a high volume of night-time activity in one area. As specified in the eligibility criteria, the bid must also include a convincing argument that the proposal will mitigate the effects of those forms of VAWG.

3.13 In developing proposals, bidders must consult either local or national VAWG stakeholder groups and provide proof they have done so within their application form (Part B, Question 8). Bidders are encouraged to draw on their existing relationships with local VAWG services and to consult diversely, having due regard to the Public Sector Equality Duty. This could include groups that represent male victims as well as victims with other protected characteristics such as disability and race. Bidders must also engage with local organisations that hold responsibility for groups of women or girls - such as colleges, universities, or local businesses – where groups such as these fall within their area of coverage. It is of paramount importance this funding is delivered with the first-hand experiences and voices of women and girls at the forefront. Bids that fail to demonstrate engagement with these stakeholders or relevant local organisations will be rejected.

Ineligible expenditure

3.14 The Fund Grant Agreement will contain information on ineligible expenditure that pertains to all forms of grant funding.

3.15 To ensure the Fund delivers its objectives, there are certain types of activity that cannot be funded by the Fund grant:

• Activity that will take longer than the Fund period to complete (unless there is funding secured for future years).
• Replacing funding for work that is already underway, although funding can be used to expand or improve existing work.
• Funding physical, situational measures such as CCTV and street lighting.

4. Indicative timeline

• August 2021 – Launch invitation to Tender seeking an evaluation partner

• 21 July 2021 – Launch six-week bidding round

• 1 September 2021 - Bidding window closes, and Home Office begins assessing bids

• September 2021 - Home Office begins assessing bids

• September/October 2021 – Home Office completes bid assessment and seeks Legislative Authority from HM Treasury to provide grant funding

• October 2021 - Assessment and notification of independent evaluation partner

• November 2021 – Home Office announces successful bids and grant agreements distributed to successful bidders for signature

Annex A

5. How to Develop Bids in Partnership

The Benefits of bidding in partnership

The different knowledge and perspectives offered by partners can strengthen planning, bidding, and delivery of a project. Sharing and accessing relevant skills, experience and expertise that are not available in a single organisation can be valuable in a multi-faceted project. Partnership bidding may also enable smaller, community-based organisations that lack the resources to make a bid of their own to contribute. Working in partnership on this project could build the foundations for effective longer-term partnerships, delivering better outcomes for public services.

Who can be a partner?

Anyone who benefits from the Fund can be a partner, including:

• Police and Crime Commissioners;
• Police forces;
• Local authorities;
• Civil society organisations;
• Universities and students’ unions; and
• Local communities

The lead organisation

A project must always have a lead organisation, which must be one of those eligible to bid for this funding. The lead organisation takes responsibility for securing funding for the project and ensures that:

• Appropriate arrangements are in place to develop and review their project proposals with partners;
• Its staff have the right skills to achieve the project outcomes;
• All partner organisations can meet their obligations; and
• The appropriate structure for managing the project is put in place.

This will facilitate informed decisions, ensure that project outcomes can be achieved, and that risks, liabilities and obligations are managed effectively.

Identify and involve partners from the outset.

Involving partners from the outset helps to build an agreed understanding of the problem to be tackled and how to approach it, reducing the need for late changes to the bid and the project plan. Partners should welcome the opportunity to contribute at early stages to influence the project outcomes.

A stepped approach to developing a partnership bid

1. Identify potential partners

Are there other organisations in your community or area with whom you could develop a partnership to expand and support your work?

2. Identify sources of evidence

Sources of evidence may include crime data, records kept by existing initiatives that target potential perpetrators, protect the vulnerable or support victims, or from surveys with questions about safety in the NTE.

3. Analyse the evidence

You may consider questions such as: What does the evidence tell you about the nature and scale of VAWG? Are there gaps in the evidence and could they be filled by data from sources beyond the partnership? Does the evidence point to particular geographical areas that should be the subject of a bid? Is there clear evidence of a need for your intervention?

4. Consider options to tackle identified problems

Is there evidence of what works in the space you’re considering? Are there existing initiatives having some impact that could be scaled up? Given the Fund’s timescale, how quickly could the initiatives be set up? Do partners have the expertise necessary to deliver the initiative or would that have to be bought in? How much would each viable option cost?

By looking at several scenarios you can more easily assess if the proposal is impactful; at the right scale; not too risky or contentious; has the support of local people and can be achieved on time.

5. Develop the plan

What will be the projects aims and objectives to achieve? What needs to be put in place to achieve those? How should those tasks be organised and prioritized? Who will complete them? Are the people that will enable the project to happen signed up to it? Estimate the time required for each task to create a timeline in which those tasks will be completed. Identify the resources required and the unmet need for funding.

6. Test the plan

Consult those that will be affected by the project: users of the night time economy and the business community. Think carefully about how you engage people. For example, premises licensees are unlikely to be able to attend evening meetings. Address any concerns that are raised.

7. Agree the plan

Sign-off of the plan by all partners and then submit your bid based on it.

Managing the project

The lead organisation should regularly review progress against the plan’s timelines with partners. It may help to keep a risk register with planned mitigations for each risk. This would enable prompt action to bring the project back on track at the first sign of a problem. Options for discussion should the project fall behind schedule could include assigning more staff to work on the project or cutting out some of the steps to focus on the project’s key features.

Annex B

6. Information on assessment questions

6.1 All documents relating to the Safety of Women at Night Fund will be available via the Jaggaer e-sourcing system (further information is available in Instructions to Bidders). This annex is provided for reference only and bidders must consult all documents on the system.

• Part A: compliance questions – this will include seven questions around area eligibility as well as commercial compliance questions.

• Part B: technical capability and capacity – including questions where bidders will be asked to outline their plan.

• Part C: financial and organisation capability including financial forecast – this section requires you to answer questions relating to the financial viability of your organisation. It also requires a light touch financial forecast for the 2021/22 financial year. Please aim to forecast this as accurately as possible over the remaining months of this financial year. Costs will be compared to those detailed in section B (question 2).

• Part D: declarations – this section includes three final financial and commercial declarations, including agreement from all partners involved in the delivery of your plan.

6.2 Bidders will need to complete the ‘Budget and Funding Toolkit’ attachment available on Jaggaer.

6.3 For projects that will operate in a geographical area or multiple areas (rather than a transport system), organisations will need to submit, as an additional attachment, a map of the target area(s), clearly outlining the geographical boundaries.

6.4 To support areas in developing their plans we have provided further information on Part A and Part C below. The exemplar area (Extown) is fictional, as are the accompanying statistics.

Part A – Details and Compliance

1. Bidder details

Lead Bidder:

• Organisation Name: Extown District Council

• Bid Prioritisation (Primary/Secondary): Primary

First point of contact for communications about the bid:

• Name: Jane Smith
• Role: Policy Manager
• Email: [email protected]
• Phone: 077123 […]

Please include any other key contacts for the bid, for example the finance lead:

• Name:
• Role:
• Email:
• Phone:

2. Please confirm the amount of the Safety of Women at Night Funding you are bidding for in this bid only (up to £300,000).

£300,000

3. Please confirm that (Yes/No):

• If successful, you are able to accept payments quarterly in arrears.
• You accept that the Home Office will only provide funding up to the successful bid amount, for the purpose specified, for activity carried out prior to 31 March 2022.
• The activity you are bidding for is does not already receive national funding

If you cannot confirm any one of these three requests, please provide details as to why. Failure to confirm may result in your bid being rejected.

Yes

4. Please identify the VAWG crimes your bid intends to target that are defined in the Prospectus.

Street Harassment, Stalking, Sexual Assault, Rape

5. Please indicate whether you are or are not submitting a bid into the Safer Streets Fund, and if so, how much Safer Streets funding you are bidding for?

Yes, we are bidding for £300,000

6. Please confirm (Yes/No) that this bid for the Safety of Women at Night Fund and your bid for Safer Streets Fund Round 3 do not propose the same activity in the same location.

(note: you are permitted to bid for different activities within the same location, or the same activity in different locations, provided both proposals are eligible according to each bidding guidance document)

Yes

Part B – Technical Questions

The below section outlines the questions that you will need to answer to outline your plan.

1. The problems underpinning the project proposal have been clearly described (20% weighting). (800 words max)

Your answer should include:

A description of your chosen area and the VAWG crime type(s) in the night or NTE you are planning to target, including an explanation of why you have chosen both the area and the specific crime types/issues. This will need to highlight the concerns regarding the NTE, or in public spaces at night, in the designated area. Summarise the information obtained, and steers received through consultation with key stakeholders. This could include advice on selecting your bid area, or the particular crime types/issues causing concern within the NTE, or in the public space at night, and women’s safety.

This could include, but is not limited to:

• Information about the size and nature of the NTE, and about its users.
• Data on VAWG crimes within the NTE of your area or the public transport systems that serve it, or the public space at night or your area, where available, including trends over recent years. We understand that this data may be limited.
• Anecdotal or statistical evidence of why the problem is of significant concern to the community, and, in particular, women and girls.

Answer:

2. Expected outcomes are clearly described and a convincing case has been made that the project will reduce VAWG or the fear of VAWG at night, including in the NTE (25% weighting)

If your bid is successful, this answer will be inserted into your Safety of Women at Night Fund grant agreement and used to track progress over the course of the fund. An exemplar line has been included in the table template to provide guidance; please remove this for final submission. This answer should include:

• a. Summary (500 words): Please provide a short summary identifying the interventions you plan to deliver, and how they will address the problems described in question one. This may include the results of research suggesting that a type of intervention could be effective, evaluations of similar interventions, or recent experience in delivering the intervention. You should also outline any consultation with key partners.

• b. Response proposal table (no word limit) – please detail: Each of the interventions you propose delivering as part of your plan, including specific totals on how many of each intervention you plan to deploy for each deliverable. The total cost of delivering the entirety of the initiative, accompanied by an indication of how this figure has been reached, e.g. via a quote from a local provider. The total cost should match the total amount of grant funding you are requesting through this bid.

Response proposal template

Summary (500 words)

Initiative

EXAMPLE: 3 Undercover Police Officers to be deployed in local area on weekend evenings

Total cost (highlight where funding is offered as matched funding)

£120,000

Evidence/rationale

The cost for their shift work patterns and training to identify potential preparators in the NTE

3. Delivery:

There is a clear explanation of how the pilot project will be delivered in the time available and with the resources allocated (including plans for how pilot locations will be selected, if applicable), and those plans appear deliverable (20% weighting)

Please complete the below Deliverability Proposal Template detailing how you plan to deliver the initiative within the recommended timeframe (no word limit).

If your bid is successful, the submitted version of the Delivery Proposal Template will be inserted into your Safety of Women at Night grant agreement and used to track progress over the course of the fund. An exemplar line has been included in the template to provide some guidance; please remove this for final submission. This template should include:

• A description of how you will deliver each initiative in the proposed timeframe. A clear description of roles and responsibilities of all parties that are involved.

• A summary of partnership arrangements for the delivery, as well as the governance procedures you will put in place to ensure delivery internally and across different partnership groups.

• Notation of the milestones you will have to hit to ensure you deliver this project before the end of the funded period.

• Your assessment of the main risks to delivery (including where delivery is dependent on external factors – e.g. availability of staff) – and any mitigating actions and contingency plans you will put in place to ensure the project runs as outlined to time and budget.

Delivery proposal template

Initiative

EXAMPLE: Deployment of undercover Police Officers in the NTE

Partner involvement and governance

Partnership with local NTE establishments where concerns are raised about VAWG offences are occurring

Milestones

2 months reporting back to HO evidence on detection of crime within the NTE.

Risks and mitigations

Risk: Other Police pressures are prioritised over fund.

Mitigation: Prepare for other significant events within the area with uniformed Police.

4. Should the project be effective, there are realistic plans for sustaining the impact after the funding period (5% weighting).

Please complete the Sustainability Proposal Template below, detailing how you plan to ensure sustainable impact any interventions that are successful and for which there is likely to be a continuing need beyond the funded period (no word limit). This includes a declaration that you will regularly assess whether your interventions remain impactful.

If your bid is successful, the submitted version of the Sustainability Proposal Template will be inserted into your Safety of Women at Night Fund grant agreement and used to track progress over the course of the fund. An exemplar line has been included in the template to provide some guidance; please remove this for final submission. This template should include:

• The identification of the ongoing costs (if any) to each deliverable/ intervention proposed in your bid
• An indication of how these costs will be met and how the intervention will be maintained beyond the funded period, including identifying any partnership agreements
• Information on how you expect each deliverable to deliver impact beyond the funded period

Sustainability proposal template

Can you confirm that you will regularly assess the impact of your proposals, and commit to sustaining them if they remain impactful?

Yes

Deliverable

EXAMPLE: Safe Space in the High Street

Identify any ongoing costs beyond funded period

£25,000 per year for staffing and consumables

How will these costs be met and the intervention maintained beyond the funded period? Partner agreements should be identified.

We will bid for funding to sustain the safe space to the PCC, the local health authority and to a regional civil society support fund.

How this will deliver impact beyond funded period

This will continue to impact on the NTE and safety for women by providing a place where they can wait in safety for police attendance, await a lift home and recover from the effects of intoxication.

5. The proposed governance structure is appropriate to drive forward the project and, where appropriate, partnership working arrangements are in place (15% weighting).

(500 word limit) Who will be the senior responsible officer for the project. If working in partnership, please set out which will be the lead organisation. Set out arrangements that are in place to develop and review their project proposals

Answer:

6. Evaluation criteria

There are plans to effectively monitor the project’s activities, outputs and outcomes for the duration of the project in order to enable a robust independent evaluation. Bidders will be expected to work with the external evaluator. (15% weighting).

It is important that we understand how your initiative will impact on women within the NTE and public spaces at night and the evaluation process is imperative for future pilots and initiatives. Therefore, any project will require to allow for appropriate evaluation and will need to be of a scale which will allow this.

A) Please write in no more than 400 words how the initiative will allow for meaningful evaluation.

Answer:

B) In no more than 500 words please describe the methodology you will be using to measure and monitor the achievements of your initiative.

Answer:

7. Consultation and Engagement – Please provide the details of the stakeholder groups you have consulted with in the development of this bid.

This should include at least one VAWG stakeholder group and one other type of organisation with responsibility for women and girls, such as a college, provided groups such as these fall within your area of coverage.

This question has a 0% weighting but is a showstopper. Failure to provide details of the groups or organisations consulted in the development of your proposals will result in your bid being unsuccessful.

Details of groups engaged through consultation:

• Organisation name:
• Area of focus/interest:
• Website (if applicable):
• Key Contact:
• Key Contact email address:
• Key Contact phone:
• Key Contact signature:
  
  
• Organisation name:
• Area of focus/interest:
• Website (if applicable):
• Key Contact:
• Key Contact email address:
• Key Contact phone:
• Key Contact signature:
  
  
• Organisation name:
• Area of focus/interest:
• Website (if applicable):
• Key Contact:
• Key Contact email address:
• Key Contact phone:
• Key Contact signature:

(repeat as necessary)

Part C – Financial and Organisational Capability including Forecast Expenditure

1. Please provide a copy of your audited accounts for each of the most recent two years (including details of reserves held).

The relevant document(s) should be attached to this application; confirmation and attachment(s) is/are required; the information provided will be assessed to test the financial viability and robustness of an organisation.

2. Grant funding is (to be ring-fenced) for use only to support delivery of the Purpose; Bidders must operate effective monitoring and financial management systems.

The Bidder is to describe their proposed systems and processes and how this enables them to meet the required accounting standards? If an electronic system is utilised please specify. (300 words)

Please do not include financial procedure or other controls manuals as these will not be evaluated at this stage.

(ref. Terms & Conditions, principally articles 5 to 8)

Answer:

3. The Authority has a target that its funding award should comprise no more than 25% of a Recipient’s annual revenue. Based on the most recent cash flow forecasts / statements please confirm:

• projected revenue for 21/22:

Answer:

• the total amount of Funding bid for during 21/22:

Answer:

• what percentage (%) of the revenue the grant funding bid for comprises:

Answer:

If your request for Funding exceeds this 25% target of annual funding, AND it is more than 6 months since the end of the previous financial year, the organisation should also provide figures showing up-to-date Profit and Loss, Balance Sheet and Cash positions.

4. This section also requests completion of the overleaf template to provide an indication of how funds will be spent over the financial year.

• The milestones and costings provided in Section B will be checked against the financial forecasting table.

• Please complete the overleaf financial forecasting template, detailing your projected expenditure over the remainder of the financial year if this proposal was to be successful.

• Bidders are welcome to complete this on Microsoft Excel and submit as an attachment if preferred – if so, please mark ‘Yes’ in the below box requesting a response to ‘submitted as an attachment?’

Submitted as an attachment? (Yes/ No, completed below)

e.g. No, completed below

• The figures provided in the overleaf template will be compared against the figures provided in Q2 of Part B, so please ensure these figures add to the same total. As these are forecasts, please leave the ‘Actual’ columns empty.

Financial Forecasting Template:

Reporting period	People expenditure (£)		Equipment expenditure - capital (£)		Equipment expenditure - expense (£)		Subcontracting expenditure - capital (£)		Subcontracting expenditure - expense (£)		Other expenditure - capital (£)		Other expenditure – expense (£)		Total (£)
	Forecast	Actual	Forecast	Actual	Forecast	Actual	Forecast	Actual	Forecast	Actual	Forecast	Actual	Forecast	Actual
Aug
Sept
Q2 total
Oct
Nov
Dec
Q3 total
Jan
Feb
Mar
Q4 total
Grand total expenditure

Part D – Commercial and Financial Declarations

1. Financial Declarations:

Please confirm that (Yes/No):

• Your organisation has met the terms of its banking facilities, loan agreements, and creditor obligations during the past year.
• Grant funding will be used only to support delivery of the purpose.
• Expenditure will be closely monitored and reported to the Authority each quarter and at the request of the Authority.

If you are unable to confirm any of the above requests, please answer ‘No’ below and enter details as to which request you fail to meet.

Please be advised that failure to confirm these requests may result in your bid being unsuccessful.

e.g. Yes

2. Commercial Declarations:

Please confirm that (Yes/No):

• You have not had a grant agreement terminated for default in the last three years.
• The funding being bid for from this opportunity is not double funding.
• This organisation has the legal authority to carry out the work proposed in this bid

e.g. Yes

3. Please include the names and signatures of all organisations involved in the development and delivery of this bid.

Name:

Organisation:

Date:

Signature:

Name:

Organisation:

Date:

Signature:

Name:

Organisation:

Role:

Date:

Signature:

(repeat as necessary)