England Big Briefing

Welcome to the 2012 edition of Big Briefing. In this edition we update you on how, across the country, Big Lottery Fund (BIG) investments are helping people make a difference on the issues that matter most to them.

In this edition we focus on the £1.5 billion BIG has available in England between 2012 and 2015.

We put the spotlight on our popular flagship programmes Reaching Communities and Awards for All, which remain central to our funding portfolio and are offering grant funding now to groups in your constituency.

We also offer a brief update on more targeted investments we’ve already announced to give babies and very young children from the most vulnerable areas a better start in life; to assist young people furthest away from the job market; to organise services better around adults with complex needs, as well as taking a look at a forthcoming programme to support older people.

There are also links to current funding programmes and awards made in your area.
I hope you find the briefing helpful. You can keep bang up to date by following @biglotteryfund or me personally @peterwanless on Twitter or by following us on facebook www.facebook.com/BigLotteryFund

Peter Wanless

Chief Executive, Big Lottery Fund

In this issue:

• Awards For All
• Case Study: Justvisiting CIC
• Reaching Communities
• Case Study: Pub is the Hub
• Investing in Early Years (A Better Start)
• Investing in Young People (Talent match)
• Multiple and Complex Needs
• Coming soon - Investing in Older People
• Did you know...?
• Looking for funding? 
• Further information 

Funding programmes open to your constituents

You can use our Funding Finder to search for funding programmes that are available for your constituents, while our grants search will allow you to find projects that have been funded in your constituency.

See a list of funding programmes open to your constituents

Awards For All

Our small grants programme Awards for All continues to kick start an amazing array of community projects across the UK.

Awards for All funds projects between £300 and £10,000. In England, over 6,792 awards worth £56.4 million were made in 2011/12.

Awards for All is open to projects throughout the year. We acknowledge all applications and aim to make decisions in no more than six weeks. It is often faster. If you would like Awards for All leaflets for your constituency office or surgeries please contact us.

We recently ran a pilot to allow smaller groups (those earning less than £30,000 per year) to apply for repeat and regular activities which we are now rolling out across the whole of England. So if you are aware of local groups who might, for the first time, apply for regular and repeat activities - until April 2013 and possibly beyond, please let them know.

Here’s an example of how a small grant is making a BIG difference to those most in need.

Case Study: Justvisiting CIC

When a loved one is seriously ill in hospital keeping friends and family updated on their progress can be an emotionally draining experience. Add to that the time and expense involved and you can see why justvisiting.com is proving such a success.
By registering with justvisiting.com people will be able to create their own ‘virtual room’ which relatives and friends can visit. Room Managers can update the status of patients, reply to messages left by well wishers and invite others to visit them online. The whole concept allows patients and their closest loved ones to keep friends and family updated on their situation in their own time, and with a minimum of fuss, freeing up time to concentrate on the more important task of getting better.

The idea for justvisiting.com began in 2006. In February 2009 the project received a lottery cash injection of £10,000 through Awards for All to develop a mobile platform for the website so patients and users have better access to the site from their mobile phones.

There are many reasons that make it difficult for us to visit friends in need but keeping in touch and showing you care is easy with justvisiting.com. Log in and open or visit a room from the comfort of cyberspace. If I can get my head around that I'm sure you can too. Oh and it's FREE so there's nothing to lose...
Bill Bryson OBE, Patron, justvisiting.com

Reaching Communities

In 2012/12 Reaching Communities continued to fund a huge range of projects, making 559 awards worth £148 million.

Reaching Communities aims to improve communities and the lives of those most in need. Grants cover a variety of issues and range from £10,000 to £500,000.

Reaching Communities is open all year round and is popular with national groups as well as small local groups. Groups themselves make the case for what it needed and how they will know they have made a difference. It is a so called "open" or "demand-led" programme. We operate an outline proposal stage so that the best ideas can be identified fast and groups with little chance of success are not put to too much work. Encourage your local charities with a confident understanding of the impact they are making to give it a try.

Case Study: Pub is the Hub

Pub is the Hub was awarded £471,143 through our Reaching Communites programme.
The project aims to address issues relating to poor access to rural services and the rate of closure of village pubs.
Pub is the hub is making the village pub the hub of the community, bringing together vital services, as well as providing a place for the community to come together. Projects offer a variety of services, ranging from post offices, farm shops and community centre’s to lunch clubs, keep fit classes and library services. The projects are even supporting their local economy; so far over 60 jobs have been created through the projects. As well as supporting rural pubs the projects have benefitted over 10,000 people so far, with over 2,000 people reporting reduced isolation and loneliness as a result of the projects.

Investing in Early Years (A Better Start)

The first 3 years of life can profoundly influence children’s life chances. We want to demonstrate a completely new way to design services and support around some of the most vulnerable babies in England today.
In October 2012 BIG announced a £165 million investment over 8 to 10 years in long term early years practices in 3-5 local authority areas.

We have written to all Local Authorities in England asking them express their interest in taking part in this initiative.

Investing in Young People (Talent match)

The ACEVO Commission on Youth Unemployment has estimated that the issue of youth unemployment will cost £10.7bn in lost output during 2012 alone.

Talent Match is an ambitious investment of up to £100million to deliver innovative ways to help young people furthest from the jobs market find work or start their own enterprising business.
BIG has been working with young people to develop Talent match and plan ways of helping thousands of others by targeting 21 hotspots across England where those aged 18-24 are finding it hardest to secure jobs or training opportunities.

We are putting charities at the heart of local partnerships established between local councils, charities, employers, colleges and private sector to work up proposals on how to best help match the talents of young people with skills and opportunities for the future.

Grants range from £1million to £10million and will be awarded for a portfolio of activities lasting up to five years. 
Find out more information about Talent Match

Multiple and Complex Needs

It is estimated that there are 60,000 adults in England with multiple needs* – many of whom lack effective contact with services that meet not just one, but all their needs. These multiple issues exacerbate each other and can lead to a downward spiral of ill-health and harm to the individuals themselves, family and society as a whole.
*Making Every Adult Matter (2009)

We’re investing up to £100m to improve the lives of people struggling under a heavy load of severe problems from homelessness to reoffending, substance misuse and mental ill-health.

This investment will help services come together to provide tailored support for people who live chaotic lives preventing the rotation around various welfare and justice systems which can deepen the problems in their lives.

We will make grants of between £4 million to £10 million in up to 15 selected areas for a portfolio of activities lasting between five and eight years.

Find out more about Multiple and Complex Needs

Coming soon - Investing in Older People

As part of our investment in supporting older people we will shortly be announcing two funding initiatives. These investments build on our Silver Dreams Fund, which is supporting 37 projects totaling over £6 million that pioneer ways to help vulnerable older people deal more effectively with life-changing events.

The new investments will be announced in spring 2013 focusing on preventative and forward looking approaches to ageing well. They form part of our £110 million investment in older people.

With the help of a cohort of older people and extensive dialogue and consultation with expert views within the ‘ageing’ sector in England, BIG delivering these funding initiatives.

Did you know...?

• In 2011/12 92 per cent of BIG’s funding went to the voluntary and community sector, the remaining 8 per cent benefitted after school clubs, world war two veterans and parish and community councils.
• 90 per cent of our awards in 2011/12 were for £10,000 of less, helping local projects make a real difference to their community.
• BIG will be establishing a trust to continue the legacy of the 2012 Olympic Games for communities across the UK.

Helping you help your constituents

Our MP web pages have been set up to provide information sheets on current BIG funding programmes that can be used to deal with constituency queries about funding.  They also provide briefings on BIG’s funding impact and learning by portfolio area and provide opportunities for MPs to arrange constituency visits to BIG funded projects.

Find out more on our constituency page.