Children’s Services Young Children's Community Support Grant

Grant Purpose

Hampshire County Council has established a new grant programme using funds generated from savings through the recently awarded Children’s Centres contract. The grant programme aims to support wider provision for children under 5 and their families/carers and will be open to organisations offering new and existing services that complement but not duplicate services that are being delivered by Children’s Centres.

The fund will prioritise organisations that have a focus on integrated partnership working with Children’s Centre providers and whose services will enhance engagement with the wider local community.

When to apply

The Hampshire corporate grant process will be followed and  all applicants will be required to submit a Grant Application Form.

Period for applications	Award notification	Period of service delivery
Round 1 24 October 2012 to midnight 18 November 2012	6 February 2013	1 April 2012 - March 2013
Round 2 26 November 2012 to midnight 20 January 2013	10 April 2013	April 2013 - March 2014

Further rounds will announced subject to funds remaining.

Applications received after the deadline for application or incomplete applications will be disqualified. Grant approvals will be confirmed by email.

Proposals must show clearly where spending will occur.

The programme will be available to fund projects up until 31st March 2014. All subsequent years will be subject to successful annual review of the project/service delivery with the scheme delivering the agreed outcomes. Funding in subsequent years is not able to be subject to inflation and will be flat cash.

Eligibility and criteria and who can apply

Voluntary, community and not for profit organisations which include:

• registered and unregistered charities
• voluntary and community groups
• co-operatives
• faith organisations
• social enterprises

or  social enterprises including:

• unincorporated associations
• trusts
• limited companies
• some industrial and provident societies such as community benefit societies
• Community interest companies
• charitable incorporated organisations.

Consortia or partnerships made up of these groups are also able to apply.

While organisations do not need to be a registered charity to apply for funding, organisation must have a written governing document which provides details of aims, objectives and methods of working (for example, a constitution, set of rules or trust deed) and the organisations bank account.

Voluntary and community organisations must have at least three unrelated people on their governing body, management committee or board of directors.

Organisations should be open to all members of the community with interests relevant to publicly stated aims.

Organisations that previously held a contract for the management of the delivery of Hampshire Children’s Centres can apply.

Voluntary organisations with an annual income exceeding £5,000 must be, or undertake to be registered under the Charities Act 1993.

Exclusions:

• Any activity that is considered part of the core purpose of a contracted children’s centre service.
• Any activity that is included in a commissioned/contracted activity that is fully funded by another organisation or other part of Hampshire County Council.
• Any activity that is funded by Hampshire County Council through other corporate grant scheme.
• Any activity that is funded through the early years education single funding formula or two year old funds.
• Any activity that is considered childcare which should be funded by fees or other funding streams.
• Any universal service that does not complement or enhance partnership working with the contracted Children’s Centres.

Criteria

The proposed service complements (but does not duplicate) the delivery of a core purpose service provided directly by a children’s centre, the core purpose is to provide services to enhance children and families:

• Health
• Education, training and employment
• Child development
• Parenting.

The programme will prioritise services that  support increased engagement with the following vulnerable and targeted groups:

• Young Parents
• BME community
• Service Families
• Lone parents
• Workless Households
• Families with disabilities and/or additional needs
• Parents/carers with a disability
• Fathers
• Gypsy, Roma and Traveller Families
• Looked after children
• Transient Families
• Families living in rural isolation (this is a Hampshire targeted group that has been identified through local discretion.)

Please note – the above is an indication of potential need and not a exhaustive list. Local children’s centres will be able to inform on any particular vulnerable and targeted groups in their locality.

The programme will support funding applications which meet the following aims:

• To increase engagement and participation – This refers to universal provision that is accessed by  vulnerable and priority groups. Organisations must be  willing to work in partnership with the local children’s centre to encourage identified families to access a range of appropriate targeted services delivered at the childrens centre.  
• To enhance preventative services – This refers to targeted services delivered either through groups or  on a 1 to 1 basis (e.g. in the family home) that provide support to children and families under 5 and has a direct impact upon child development. For example this can include programmes that support the development of the home learning environment, parenting skills, play and behaviour strategies, healthy lifestyles, emotional well being and work readiness programmes.
• To develop innovative practice –  This refers to bids to trial creative and innovative services  that are aimed at improving outcomes for children under 5  and families.

To be eligible for support the organisation must:

• Provide evidence that there is an identified need for the services.
• Provide evidence that they have consulted and received the support of the appropriate children’s centre management team in identifying how the service can complement the activities of the children’s centre.
• Provide evidence that the children’s centre management has helped in defining appropriate outcomes that can be used to measure the impact of the funding.
• Provide evidence that the service will not duplicate existing provision and will not be provided  by a contracted children’s centre during the period in which the funding is in place.
• Provide a statement of the expected outcomes and benefits of the service to children under 5 and their families. This should specifically highlight how the service will meet the needs of vulnerable and targeted groups.
• Provide evidence the organisation has a recognised legal structure.
• Demonstrate that the organisation agrees to promote the local children’s centre to families.
• Show how the costs of the activities are calculated and include costs only from 1 April 2012.
• Demonstrate how the service provision complies in all respects with all relevant requirements the Childcare Act 2006, Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning act 2009, Equality Act 2010.
• Provide evidence ongoing professional development for all its staff in relation to the delivery of the service for applications of over £5,000.
• Demonstrate they have a safeguarding and child protection policy together with an identified individual whose responsibility is to lead on all safeguarding and child protection matters.

If successful the organisation must:

• Agree to set up appropriate data sharing arrangements with local children’s centres where the families who attend the organisation’s activity/service meet the children’s centre target group criteria and may benefit from additional support from the children’s centre.  The organisation is responsible to ensure data sharing arrangements meet Data Protection Act requirements.

• Acknowledge Hampshire County Council and the Services for Young Children in their publicity.

• Consult with the Council in respect of any proposed changes to the service before they are implemented and any variations to the grant purpose must be agreed in advance with the Council.

• Undertake any promotional and marketing activity that would be reasonably expected to ensure that communities and children's centres are aware of the services available.

• Take all reasonable steps to promote and provide equal access for children with special needs and will have policy of inclusion.

• Record on an assets register and notify to Hampshire County Council in the interim monitoring reports all items purchased utilising grant monies with a value or cost of £500 or more.

• Keep for at least five years after the grant award all financial records including original invoices, receipts for all items purchased with the grant and other documents in relation to the services/activities being supported by the grant and make them available for inspection and for audit at any reasonable time by officers of the Council or their representatives.

• Funded organisations are required to hold £10,000,000 Employers and Public Liability Insurance. If your application is successful and you hold a lower level of cover you will be required to provide a risk assessment for consideration.

• Hampshire County Council requires all organisations providing advice to young people to hold Professional Indemnity Insurance. This level is currently set at £5,000,000 but may be risk assessed down to £1,000,000.

• Hampshire County Council will not award a grant to an organisation that does not hold, or is not willing to obtain the required level of insurance following risk assessment, irrespective of advice given to organisations by third parties.

• Understand that the grant agreement, or any part, share or interest in it, is not to be transferred, assigned or sub-let by the organisation directly or indirectly, to any person or persons whomsoever, without the written consent of the Council.

Financial eligibility

Organisations will not normally be eligible for grants where they hold unallocated reserves in excess of one year's running costs, or where it is judged that these reserves are unreasonably in excess of what is required or not allocated for legitimate purposes.

The Children’s Services Grant Programme has adopted the Charity Commission’s reserves policy in this respect. The Charity Commission’s definition of reserve is:

Income funds that are freely available for its general (unrestricted) purposes. "Reserves" are therefore the resources the organisation has or can make available to spend, for any or all of the charity's purposes, once it has met its commitments and covered its other planned expenditure. It is not yet spent, committed or designated.

Grants are generally a contribution to core costs or service/project costs. Hampshire County Council expects organisations to secure additional funding from other sources, to contribute to the costs in kind (through volunteer time, for example), or both.

Applications from organisations who have been funded through grants streams from Hampshire County Council can be considered but they will be assessed on whether it is appropriate to consider this additional funding. This funding cannot be used to duplicate any services that the Hampshire County Council has already funded but where it is demonstrated there is a need to extend or increase capacity for the project/service this may be considered.

Who we can’t fund

Hampshire County Council’s standard grant conditions stipulate that the following are not able to apply for grant funding:

• Individuals
• Organisations already commissioned for the same service/project via a contract or grant agreement from Hampshire County Council
• Organisations  already commissioned to deliver the operational management and services delivery of children’s centres within Hampshire
• Organisations providing services solely within the unitary authority areas of Portsmouth City Council, Isle of Wight, Southampton City Council or outside Hampshire, which do not support children and young people living in Hampshire.

If an organisation is in any doubt as to whether its project qualifies enquiries should be made to Services for Young Children before submitting an application. All applicants requesting a grant of £10,000 or above should contact Services for Young Children to discuss their proposal prior to submission.

Application assessment and recommendation

Grant applications that are £5,000 and over, that meet the criteria and are being recommended for award, can receive a discretionary payment of under £5000 before the formal decision day. This will be subject to a financial review demonstrating urgent need for the financial support. All discretionary payments will be approved by the Head of Services for Young Children and the decision can be made prior to a grant panel meeting. Any remaining balance of award will be subject to full and final decision by the Executive Lead Member Children’s Services.

Following the closing date, the corporate grant database will be checked to establish the history of grant awards/rejections of the applicant. The applications will then be circulated to officers of Services for Young Children and other Officers of the council as appropriate, together with the local children’s centre manager for comment and consideration of the grant application. Hampshire County Council elected members and local children’s partnerships for the area will be made aware of the application and invited to comment to assist the grant assessment. The application will then be assessed for award at the Services for Young Children Grant Panel.

The grants panel will confirm any discretionary payments that will be needed to be made and recommend to the Head of Service that such a payment of under £5000 will be awarded, partially awarded, or rejected. The Council will notify applicants who have been awarded a discretionary payment of the outcome of their application within 10 working days after a decision has been made.

Following the grant panel meetings, recommendations for applications £5000 and over will be made to the Children’s Services Executive Lead Member. The Council will inform applicants regarding the outcome of their application no later than 10 working days after the decision day.

All grants awarded will be reported to the Children’s Services Executive Lead member at a scheduled meeting.

Payment of grant

Successful applicants will receive a grant agreement which will need to be signed and returned before payment is made. Grant will be paid into an agreed bank account by BACs. Where more than one payment will be made this will be shown in the Grant Payment schedule of the agreement. In general terms however the structure of payments will be as follows:

Grant Payment	Milestone
50% of total grant	Payable on return of signed agreement and returned targets.
25% of total grant	On submission of 6th Monthly monitoring
25% of total grant	On submission of end of year/grant monitoring.

Monitoring

If successful, organisations will be required to sign a grant agreement and submit targets to inform the Council what they aim to achieve over the duration of the grant period. As targets will depend on the value of grant, Hampshire county Council will agree these with the organisation separately once an award has been agreed.

Successful projects will be required to complete a six month and end of year (or end of grant as appropriate) self monitoring report to demonstrate how the project is being delivered and if the proposed outcomes and targets are being met. Depending on the value of the grant and the nature of the service/activity a review visit may also be arranged by Hampshire County Council.

Children’s Centres Quality Performance Visits/annual conversation will also be used to review the outcomes of the funding and the partnership working.

Application guidance notes and online form