Combined Funds application and guidance

Summary

The City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council (CBMDC) via its Constituency Area Offices is inviting applications from eligible local organisations to apply for the combined funding of UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF), Householder support fund (HSF) and West Yorkshire Mayor’s Cost of living Fund (WYCA C of LF) to deliver support to households and individuals to reduce the cost of living.

Households have suffered over the past months from the increase in costs including energy and food. There is now further funding available to support organisations in the Bradford district to deliver help to those households that need it the most. It is similarly recognised that organisations are also under strain due to financial pressures at the same time as there is a significant increase in demand for services based within local places.

Due to the urgency of the support needed, organisations applying to deliver this support are required to read the funding call timetable below carefully, and only apply if they are confident the organisation can meet the timescales in addition to the other funding criteria set out.

Programme details

Each Bradford Constituency Area Office (Bradford East, Bradford South, Bradford West, Keighley and Shipley) has been allocated a proportion of the combined funding that is aimed at reducing the cost of living. Organisations can propose to deliver support in one or more area. We expect each area’s allocation to be divided across multiple organisations.

The support needs to meet one or more of the following outputs:

1. Number of households receiving support
2. Number of households supported to take up energy efficiency measures.

In addition, applicants are expected to provide an increase to the following baseline numbers (if relevant to the activity proposed):

1. Improved engagement numbers.

The minimum grant value an organisation can apply for in each area is £2,000 and the maximum grant value is up to £10,000. The grant must be spent by the programme end date of 31 March 2024.

Applicants can include up to 10% of the value of the grant as Management and Administrative costs for delivering the support. This must be set out clearly in the application form.

Examples of support can be (not exhaustive list):

• Food (or other such as hygiene, clothes) parcels
• Establishing new or extending existing warm places
• Support and advice
• Measures to improve energy efficiency for households
• Tangible items for vulnerable groups (slow cookers, hot water bottles, flasks, blankets)

Each organisation must in the application form set out clearly what the funding will be spent on, how they intend to distribute the support / undertake activity. The funding can be used to support an existing activity, please set that out clearly in the application form.

Organisations wanting to deliver support in more than one area/constituency/locality must submit a separate application form to each relevant Area Office and make it clear in each application that they have done this and which constituencies/wards they have applied for.

Note: the funding is revenue only, as such cannot be used towards capital expenditure such as refurbishments or building upgrades.

Scoring priorities

The following priorities will be considered when assessing and scoring the bids:

1. Locally based organisations
2. Activity linked to priorities contained within the Locality Plan(s) and / or Ward Plan(s) for the relevant constituency
3. Value for money (number of outputs delivered for funding required)
4. Evidence for successful delivery of previous/current grant programmes (if applicable)
5. Ability to deliver within the timescales given.

How to apply

The information below sets out key dates and eligibility criteria

• Call launch: September 2023
• Deadline for submitting application(s): 30 September
• Internal Grants Panel Meetings: Week commencing 9 October 2023
• Report to Area Committees: October 2023
• Grant offer letters issued: November 2023
• Payments made by Bradford Council: November 2023
• Ongoing monitoring: Claims submitted including delivery of outputs and progress reports: February 2024 to March 2024
• Programme end: 31 March 2024

Questions prior to the deadline, and completed application forms must be submitted to the relevant District Area Office via the below email addresses:

Bradford East

bradfordeastinformation@bradford.gov.uk

01274 431066

Bradford South

BradfordSouthAreaOffice@bradford.gov.uk

01274 431155

Bradford West

BradfordWestInfo@bradford.gov.uk

01274 432597

Keighley

KeighleyAreaCoordinatorsOffice@bradford.gov.uk

01535 618008

Shipley

ShipleyAreaOffice@bradford.gov.uk

01274 437146

The following must be submitted with your application form:

1. Your organisation’s constitution or rules
2. Latest audited accounts or bank statements
3. Quotations from expenditure listed and details of any income anticipated
4. Any other relevant information to support your application

Eligibility criteria

Applicant eligibility

• Organisations based in the Bradford district can apply for this funding within the respective Constituency area(s).
• The organisations must be constituted and provide evidence of this with the application by enclosing a copy of the organisation’s constitution or relevant governance document.
• The organisation must provide details of their bank account.
• The organisation must pass all CBMDC due diligence checks.
• If the applicant has received funding from CBMDC to deliver projects previously, they must be able to demonstrate successful delivery of the project(s). Inability to demonstrate this may result in the application being rejected.
• Any type of organisation can receive funding, subject to subsidy control policy. Declaration of previous funding received must be completed in the application form.
• The following scoring methodology will be used:

Score	Term	Explanation
0	Unacceptable	Failed to provide a response, or the response provided is wholly inconsistent with the specified Contract requirements and standards with respect to this criterion
1	Poor	The response has material weaknesses, issues or omissions, lacking detail, clarify and/or evidence with regard to many elements of the criterion, and associated specified Contract requirements and standards.
2	Fair	The response has some weaknesses, issues or omissions, lacking detail, clarity and/or evidence with regard to at least one element of the criterion, and associated specified Contract requirements and standards with respect to this criterion.
3	Satisfactory	The response addresses all elements of the criterion and associated specified Contract requirements and standards; but is not fully detailed or fully backed up with clear evidence in some areas; some issues, weaknesses, or omissions in some areas.
4	Very Good	The response covers all elements and almost all of the other elements of the criterion and associated specified Contract requirements and standards; and with relevant and detailed information, backed up with clear evidence; with a few minor issues, weaknesses, or omissions.
5	Outstanding	The Response covers all elements of the sub criterion and associated specified Contract requirements and standards; and with a high level of relevant and detailed information, backed up with clear evidence; and demonstrates a robust and coherent understanding of the requirements; and with no issues, weaknesses or omissions.

Funding terms

• The funding will be issued as a grant, to deliver the agreed activity as set out in the grant application and final grant agreement.
• The activity must take place after the grant offer letter has been issued, and not have been paid for previously. If this is for continuing a project, please clearly demonstrate the additionality the funding requested will provide.
• Successful organisations are required to submit to deadlines set out in the grant offer letter, for the relevant period, a completed claim form including evidence of outputs achieved and evidence of eligible defrayal documents:
  • Receipts or invoices for goods/services bought, showing clearly date of purchase, goods/service bought, and supplier details
  • Evidence of payment leaving applicant organisation’s bank account such as business/organisation bank statement matching the invoice details
  • Date of purchase/payment must be after the offer letter date (grants will not cover activity that occurred before the date of the offer letter).
• Grant payments will not be made for any activities outside of what is agreed in the grant agreement.
  • Changes to agreed activity must be discussed first with the relevant area office, there is no guarantee a change will be allowed.
• Any grant monies not defrayed by the applicant by the deadline will need to be repaid to CBMDC.
• You commit to deliver certain outputs and/or outcomes as part of your grant agreement. Information on how to evidence delivery of these will be set out in your grant offer letter.
• If evidence of outputs and outcomes delivered is not demonstrated and evidenced within the agreed timescales or to the specification set out in the grant agreement, the funder will request the grant payment is returned by the applicant.
• Successful applicants details will be shared with WYCA and may be approached for comment or further information from the WY Mayor’s Office.
• The relevant output definitions are:

Output	Definition	Minimum evidence requirement (if applicable)*
Number of households receiving support	Number of households receiving support to reduce the cost of living. A 'household', as defined in the 2011 Census is: 'one person living alone; or a group of people (not necessarily related) living at the same address who share cooking facilities and share a living room or sitting room or dining area', includes houses, bungalows, flats and maisonettes Support is provision that helps reduce the burden of the cost of living.	Type of support provided. Qualitative feedback of each household supported including how it impacted their home. Number of hours of support provided. Equalities data – type of household Postcode of households
Number of households supported to take up energy efficiency measures	Number of households receiving support to reduce the cost of living. A 'household', as defined in the 2011 Census is: 'one person living alone; or a group of people (not necessarily related) living at the same address who share cooking facilities and share a living room or sitting room or dining area', includes houses, bungalows, flats and maisonettes Support is provision that helps reduce the burden of the cost of living.	Baseline data of household position in relation to energy ratings usage and cost of living position. Type of support provided, and the energy efficiency measures taken up.
Improved engagement numbers	The increase in number of individuals engaged in the local area / activity during the last 12 months. Engagement can include physical and digital engagements. What is classed as a 'local area' where events are recorded should remain consistent throughout the collection e.g. should not include / exclude events in neighbouring locations which were excluded / included in previous returns.	Baseline used to measure the improvement. Survey data conducted by the project.   If improving engagement numbers by events/activities supported to be split: Number of live (f2f) ticketed events and total audience Number of live non ticketed (e.g. public space) events with footfall estimates. Number of virtual events and online audience Number of school events and school audiences (segmented by key stage)   If improved engagement is by volunteering – type – including volunteer hours and duration of overall period volunteering (e.g. distinction between 8 hours = 1 x hour per week for 8 weeks; 8 hours = 1 x day of volunteering)   Ticketed and online events: Segmentation of audience by: Age Ethnicity Gender LGBTQIA+ Disability Postcode   Non ticketed events: Target audience (if there is one) Delivery postcode/s

Definitions taken from UKSPF Indicators 13.07.22 and WYCA version 9 March 2023.

*See appendix / document attached for equalities data collection that will be required (where possible) for beneficiaries of support.

Application form and guidance notes

• Combined Funds application form (Word, 1 Mb)
• Combined Funds guidance notes and Equality, diversity, and inclusion required questions (Word, 1 Mb)