Grants for charities providing domestic abuse safe accommodation (including refuges) in England to ensure existing services remain open and to create additional capacity and support during the coronavirus/COVID-19 crisis.
Funding body: Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government (MHCLG)
Maximum value: £ 100,000
Application deadline: 20/07/2020
Background
The Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government (MHCLG) has secured £10 million as part of a £76 million Government package of support for the most vulnerable in society.
Objectives of Fund
The fund will support domestic abuse safe accommodation charities from 1 April to 31 October and will help ensure that:
- Safe accommodation services can continue operating and keep bed spaces open for victims and their children fleeing from abuse during COVID-19 emergency.
- Safe accommodation services can help more victims access these life-saving services.
Value Notes
The £10 million fund is being awarded in two rounds:
- Round 1 is awarding £8.15 million to 147 service providers through 103 successful bids across all regions of England.
- Round 2 will award the remaining £1.85 million on a rolling ‘first come, first served basis’.
MHCLG expect prospective applicants to apply for a maximum of £100,000 per individual bid, however, it will consider bids of more than £100,000 in the case of consortium bids or when bids demonstrate exceptional value for money.
Match Funding Restrictions
During this unprecedented time, MHCLG expects charities to contribute something towards the additional costs they are facing from their own resources
Who Can Apply
Applicants must be charities providing domestic abuse safe accommodation services in England, who meet the definition of being a charitable, benevolent or philanthropic institution in the Charities Act 2006.
Bid applications must be submitted by service providers of domestic abuse safe accommodation, or the lead applicant acting on behalf of a consortium
Applications are ‘strongly’ encouraged from consortiums of service provider partners.
Location
England
Restrictions
The following are not eligible for funding:
- Capital costs.
- Costs incurred before 1 April 2020.
- Costs that are met by other income sources, whether from local authority funding, charitable grant funding, other Government COVID-19 support packages, or any other sources (this does not limit separate applications to different COVID-19 support packages for separate service elements).
Eligible Expenditure
The funding is to be used for revenue costs (costs associated with maintaining existing services and additional capacity to meet increase in demand) incurred as a result of the coronavirus/COVID-19 outbreak. This includes the following:
- Maintaining existing services (where not met by other income sources or fundable from existing resources of charity) such as:
- Staffing costs for additional staff cover.
- Purchasing of essential supplies, such as food and toiletries for residents where usual support channels are unavailable.
- Meeting additional COVID-19 costs, such as deep cleaning.
- Purchasing office equipment to enable remote working where this is practicable.
- Costs of services for additional capacity to help address increased demand, including accommodation costs of additional bedspaces and staff to support these additional victims.
- This does NOT include normal running costs as this fund aims to address the impact of COVID-19 on domestic abuse safe accommodation charities and the additional costs they are facing as a result.
How To Apply
Round 2 has opened for applications which will be considered on a rolling ‘first come first served’ basis.
Bids will be accepted from 5 June until 20 July 2020 or until the funding has been exhausted, whichever is sooner.
The prospectus and application form are available on GOV.UK website. The prospectus for round 2 remains the same with minor updates and clarifications to help bidders in submitting their applications.
The completed application form should be submitted by email to DomesticAbuse.Fund@communities.gov.uk
Useful Links
GOV.UK – Domestic Abuse Safe Accommodation: MHCLG COVID-19 Emergency Support Fund