We expect projects to focus on addressing issues of disadvantage affecting children and young people. We define disadvantage as:

• Illness, distress, abuse or neglect.
• Any kind of disability.
• Behavioural or psychological difficulties.
• Living in poverty or situations of deprivation.

When making an application, you need to:

• Show that a clear majority of children to benefit from a grant are experiencing disadvantage.
• Tell us about the children and young people your project is working with.
• Describe how the disadvantages they experience affect their lives.
• Describe how you reach the disadvantaged children and young people who can benefit most from the project.
• Tell us how you will target the hardest to reach children and young people.

Children and young people are at the centre of everything we do. All children have the right to protection from harm. We recognise our responsibility to safeguard the welfare of all children and young people we work with. We commit to practice that protects them. 

You must show how you will protect children and young people in your care, and support them to develop. Your application will need to demonstrate that:

• Your organisation has its own Safeguarding Children and Young People Policy and procedures
  • This policy is in your organisation’s name
  • Everyone involved – including the children and young people – knows about your policy and procedures, and uses them in day-to-day work
  • Your policy gives clear steps to take in the event of an incident or concern
  • This should include who to inform, and how to contact them
• Your organisation has a named person responsible for safeguarding
• Appropriate and regular background checks are carried out
  • This applies to all staff, volunteers, and committee members who work directly with children and young people
• All staff, volunteers, and committee members receive safeguarding children training
• Safeguarding training is relevant to people’s roles, covers your organisation’s policy, and is updated regularly
• Your organisation takes appropriate steps to ensure the children and young people in your care are safe and supported
• This could be by doing risk assessments, or by requiring supervisors to hold relevant qualifications

These measures help to ensure the child or young person in your care has a good experience when taking part in your work. 

If your funding request is progressed to full application stage, we will want to find out more about your approach to safeguarding. 

We are not and cannot be an expert in safeguarding. We work alongside the NSPCC and other leading organisations to promote best practice in safeguarding children and young people. 

The NSPCC website has resources on safeguarding children and young people in the voluntary and community sector. Please pay particular attention to the following guidance: 

• Introductory guide to safeguarding and child protection for the voluntary and community sector 
• Safeguarding Self-Assessment Tool 

Additional safeguarding advice and resources can also be found on the NCVO, the  Charity Commission for England and Wales, the Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR) and the Charity Commission for Northern Ireland webpages.

When making an application, you need to show:

• How you have taken children and young people’s views into account when planning the work and the differences it will make in their lives
• How you will continue to consult and involve them as the work progresses
• How any children and young people involved in running or managing areas of the work will be supported

We know that there may be reasons why some work may only offer limited consultation. You will need to be able to explain why this is the case.

We don’t fund work that statutory bodies (such as schools or local authorities) have a duty to provide. We do not fund work that duplicates or substitutes these activities.

We can consider applications for additional services that are beyond the state’s responsibility. In these cases, we would expect you to show clear evidence that this is an additional service.

We don’t fund general awareness-raising, or issue-based educational work where the target group is not specifically identified. This applies where the work is aimed at a general population of children and young people.

For us to consider activity in this area, you must show that it’s specifically targeted at:

• Children and young people already disadvantaged by the issue, or
• Children and young people at particular risk of being disadvantaged by it

Examples might include work focused on issues such as sexual abuse, domestic violence, or alcohol/drug use.

We will not fund: 

• Bursaries
• Sponsorship or subsidy for fee-charging activities that are unaffordable for disadvantaged children and young people

If you are charging fees for your work, please see our policy on Fees. 

We don’t fund capital or building projects. This includes new construction, as well as renovation or conversion of existing premises and venues. This also includes improvement work on playgrounds, sports pitches and landscaping for gardens.

Charitable Incorporated Organisations are eligible to apply, and should be registered with the Charity Commission (or OSCR in Scotland) in the same way as charities.

The documents you’ll need to provide in each nation are the same as those we require from charities.

We consider work with a childcare element, including crèches, only when the focus is on providing a quality developmental experience for the children themselves.

We may consider applications for work that supports parents, or which offer training in parenting skills, as long as it will directly benefit the lives of children and young people. Very clear evidence of these outcomes will need to be provided.

If your work directly supports certain groups of especially vulnerable children and young people, you’ll be unable to apply for less than £15,001 per year.

• In particular, this means work with children affected by child sexual exploitation, child criminal exploitation, or serious youth violence.
• Our approach to funding work in these areas involves making larger grants, and building deeper relationships with delivery organisations.

Like all applicant organisations, community amateur sports clubs must meet our Minimum Standards for grantmaking. Clubs will need to have a clear and robust Safeguarding Policy in their local organisation’s own name. This must include clear steps to take in the event of an incident or concern about a child, including who to inform locally and how to contact them. We do not accept policies that are in the name of another organisation, for example, a partner organisation, a parent organisation or a related organisation. This means that, if you are applying as a community amateur sports club, we do not accept policies for organisations such as The Football Association or Gaelic Athletics Association.

The people and organisations we fund will:

• Work in the heart of their communities, particularly in times of crisis.
• Put children and young people at the centre of everything they do, from design to delivery.
• Address the challenges the children and young people face, build their skills and resilience, empower them and extend their choices in life.
• Be keen to keep learning about their work so that their ability to make a difference in children and young people’s lives can keep on improving.

We consider applications from registered CICs that meet our Minimum Standards for Grantmaking. This includes: 

• Being registered as a Company Limited by Guarantee (CGL). If you are a Company Limited by Shares or registered as a Private Limited Company we will not fund you 

• Having a Governing Body (e.g. Directors) of at least three members. At least one member should be independent. By ‘independent’ we mean governing body members who are not related to each other or living together 

• Where Directors are paid for services to the CIC this must be clearly detailed in the Governing Document and appropriate. We would not expect Directors to be paid for their role on the Governing Body 

• Having a named ‘asset lock’ clause in the Governing Document. This shows that your organisation’s assets will be distributed to a named not-for-profit organisation with similar charitable aims in the event of closure 

• Providing a signed accounts document which meets our requirements (we are unable to accept micro accounts) and shows the organisation to be solvent. By solvent we mean that the value of your current assets is greater that the value of your current liabilities 

CICs must also show that the work is focused on the needs and aspirations of children and young people. This must be over and above the business needs of the company. 

Applications should show how the work responds to a clearly identified need. They should also take the views of children and young people into account. 

Here are links to some useful information from the Office of the Regulator of Community Interest Companies: 

• How to form a CIC 

• Community Interest Companies: Guides 

All organisations should show a strong culture of supporting online safety and digital resilience for children and young people. Your Safeguarding Children Policy should cover how you ensure safe, responsible online activity by staff and children.

Policy must be age-appropriate, and relevant to the organisation’s activity. It should evidence effective controls and support in digital environments, including:

• Supporting and empowering young people to manage their online lives more effectively
• Supporting and developing digital resilience for young people in age-appropriate ways
• Relevant recent updates to core Safeguarding Policy, procedures, training, and Code of Conduct
• Unified approach to the real and virtual worlds that children, staff and volunteers will be active in
• Suitable privacy controls for young people using interactive technology

For more information, please refer to NSPCC’s Online Safety resources.

Thinkuknow also provides an online education programme dedicated to protecting children and young people, run by CEOP (the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Command).

For more resources to help young people self-manage their online lives, we recommend BBC Children’s Own It.

Organisations can hold consecutive grants of up to 9 years in total.  

By “consecutive” we mean 9 years of funding which could have up to a 12 month gap in-between each grant. Once an organisation reaches 9 years of consecutive funding, they will be unable to reapply to BBC Children in Need for 3 years.  

Currently, we are only able to fund 1 in 8 of the applications we receive. Both our Project and Core streams support work for up to three years. Being a current or previous grantee is no guarantee of being offered further funding. We will consider each application on its own merits, and in line with our National and Regional areas of interest.  

Please also see our policy on Continuation Funding. 

Organisations that already hold a grant from us can apply to our Project Costs or Core Costs streams, as long as the current funding is due to end within 12 months. You won’t be eligible to apply for other BBC Children in Need funding if you already hold a grant from us which has more than 12 months left to deliver. 

 Currently, we are only able to fund 1 in 8 of the applications we receive. Both our Project and Core funding streams support work for up to three years. Being a current or previous grantee is no guarantee of being offered further funding. We will consider each application on its own merits, and in line with our national and regional areas of interest. 

If you’re successful in applying for a new grant that is to continue the work that you are doing with your current grant, we will not release any new funds until we’ve signed off your final report for the previous grant. You will need to start spending the new grant within 12 months of the date it is awarded. 

Please also see our policy on Consecutive Funding. You can also find more information in our Grants FAQ page here. 

Our Core Costs funding stream supports essential organisational and administrative spending. These are the key expenses required to keep your organisation running.

Core Costs funding can be spent on your organisation’s central day-to-day operations. These might include, for example:

• Management and administration
• HR and payroll
• General office expenses
• Accountancy and audit
• Communications and outreach
• Monitoring, evaluation, and learning
• Governance, regulatory, and compliance costs

Our Core Costs funding stream is for charities and not-for-profit organisations. Applicants to this programme can apply for grants for up to three years. We aim to give quicker decisions for grants of £15,000 or less per year.

Please view our full Core Costs Funding Stream page for further details.

(See also: Project Costs)

We define counselling as any formal therapeutic intervention that provides ‘professional assistance and guidance in resolving personal or psychological problems.’ 

This includes, but is not limited to, counselling, group therapy, play therapy, drama therapy and art therapy. 

If you are providing counselling and therapeutic work, we will ask you some additional questions around this if you are invited to submit a full application form.  

We expect all organisations offering formal, professional counselling or therapeutic interventions to:

• Employ professionally qualified counsellors with:
  • experience of working with children and/or young people
  • access to appropriate clinical supervision
  • active records of continued professional development
  • membership to a professional body (e.g. British Associations for Counselling and Psychotherapy) 
• Provide accessible counselling in suitably private but safe settings (for clients and counsellors)
• Be seen as a non-stigmatising service within the community
• Work within current legislation and guidance
• Assure confidentiality within usual ethical and safeguarding limits
• Show flexibility around local diversity and access needs
• Work in coordination with other services and agencies, while upholding appropriate confidentiality
• Adhere to an established ethical framework and complaints process
• Employ approachable counsellors with good listening skills, to build safe and trusting relationships

Services delivered by colleagues who are not fully qualified must be supervised by experienced and qualified staff. There must be systems in place to ensure safety for clients, workers, and the service.

For more information refer to BACP (British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy). 

Please note, we will not fund general counsellors for a whole school. We would expect any counsellor to be delivering with a specific target group. 

We recognise the Social Model of Disability. This states that there is an unequal relationship within society, and the needs of people with impairments are often not given enough consideration. This can result in social exclusion.

As a result of the barriers faced by disabled children and young people, they may also experience other disadvantages. These can include poverty, isolation, reduced access to leisure and friendship, illness, and restricted opportunities.

We want our funds to support disabled children and young people in ways that:

• Improve their choice and opportunity
• Enhance their abilities
• Encourage their independence
• Build their confidence and self-esteem
• Show disabled young people and adults as positive role models
• Counter negative attitudes and barriers to participation
• Recognise the needs of families and carers

We will not fund any work that reinforces negative stereotypes of disabled children and young people. We expect you to comply with the Equalities Act (2010).

To apply for work involving young children, you need to show that it falls outside of national and/or local statutory provision.

You also need to show that the work directly benefits disadvantaged children, rather than their parents.

Applications may be considered from voluntary organisations that provide services within local authority children’s centres. The voluntary partner applying must be the lead organisation for the work.

(See also: Statutory overlap, duplication, or substitution)

We will not fund fixed equipment (e.g. boilers, lighting, fixed sensory equipment).  

We will not fund non-fixed equipment that totals over £20,000 (e.g. play/sensory equipment). 

We do not fund equipment for the use of – or that will become the property of – a statutory body such as a school or hospital.

When applying for funding for equipment, we will consider: 

• How children and young people will directly benefit as the main users
• Why you need this equipment for your work
• That you’ve considered longer-term issues like insurance, secure storage, durability and maintenance
• How you have achieved best value for money
• Why purchasing is more appropriate than hiring or borrowing
• Who will have access when not being used to deliver work
• We expect any equipment to remain the property of the group rather than an individual 

We do not fund specialist equipment for an individual child or young person. This includes medical equipment. 

We can fund organisations that charge fees to attend their activities. However, we expect to see a clear statement or policy on fee-waiving. This should show that:

• Those who cannot afford to pay fees are considered and cared for
• Those that become unable to continue to pay fees are still supported
• The wider community is aware that fees can be waived in certain circumstances
• You are proactive in sharing your approach to fees and fee-waiving

We work to support organisations that improve outcomes for disadvantaged children. Ensuring that as few children as possible are excluded from activities is central to our decision-making.

We will not fund the cost to cover or subsidise fees. 

See also: Bursaries and Sponsored Places 

Whilst we can fund food as part of a larger piece of work (i.e. lunches for attendees), we are unable to fund food packages for children and families. This includes food banks giving out food and other supplies. We can fund organisations for work related to food, but you must be able to demonstrate the difference that your organisation will make beyond feeding children and young people.

Project Grants: 

BBC Children in Need Project Grants cannot be used to support full cost recovery models. We are however able to fund specific, overhead costs that are directly linked to the work. These might include rent, utilities, or administrative costs. 

For example, we can fund specific costs associated with running a project which have been costed and are proportionate to the work being applied for. We would be unable to fund unspecified costs which are not clearly linked to the Project such as “10% of overheads”.  

Please note you must specify individual costs in your budget. 

Core Costs: 

Our Core Costs funding can be spent on your organisation’s central day-to-day operations. These might include, for example: 

• Management and administration 

• HR and payroll 

• General office expenses 

• Accountancy and audit 

• Communications and outreach 

• Monitoring, evaluation, and learning 

• Governance, regulatory, and compliance costs 

We do not fund any unspecified expenditure in this programme. For example, we do not fund grants for a percentage of all organisational costs/overheads. We expect organisations to be able to articulate specific Core Costs funding is being requested for. 

Please note you must specify individual costs in your budget. 

A governing document (sometimes known as a constitution or memorandum and articles of association) is a legal document that provides rules for how your organisation will operate. It should address: 

• What the organisation is set up to achieve (purposes)
• How the organisation goes about achieving its purposes (powers)
• How the organisation is managed
• How the organisation can use its income (not-for-profit clause or statement)
• What happens if the organisation closes (this is often known a dissolution clause or asset lock)

It should also contain details on: 

• How often the governing body meets
• How to appoint members of the governing body and how long they can act as members of the governing body
• If and how members of the Governing Body can be paid

In order to meet our minimum standards for grantmaking your governing document should state: 

• That the organisation is not for profit. It should clearly show that all income is applied to the organisation’s charitable purposes and is not distributed to members, shareholders or owners
• Charitable aims that are suitable for working with children and young people in the UK
• A dissolution clause or asset lock clause. This must show that your organisation’s assets will be distributed to a not-for-profit organisation with similar charitable aims in the event of closure. For CICs this must be an asset lock which names the selected not-for-profit organisation which funds will be given to. This organisation must have similar charitable aims

We will only fund holidays, trips and outings that will clearly and effectively address the needs of children and young people involved. We will not fund holidays for families where there is little or no project involvement.

• We may fund holidays and residential activities for up to three years, either as the main cost or as one part of your work
• Organisations requesting this type of funding must be able to evidence their safeguarding policy and practices in regular use
• Grantees for this type of work should be able to observe and track its outcomes
• Direct access to, and established working relationships with, the children and young people is essential
  • We will not fund requests to send groups, including families, on trips where activity is not delivered by the grantee organisation
  • We will not give grants directly to residential centres wanting to secure funding for children and young people to attend their centres We only fund trips and holidays within the UK
  • We only fund trips and holidays within the UK. The one exception is for work in Northern Ireland, where trips or holidays to the Republic of Ireland may be considered

Due to wide statutory responsibilities in this area, we will only consider funding accommodation for homeless children or families in very exceptional cases.

We may support activities within accommodation centres that directly address the issues and needs of the children.

In certain cases, we may consider funding refuge accommodation for young people who have run away.

(See also: Statutory overlap, duplication, or substitution)

We do not fund statutory provision, including hospitals and NHS Organisations. 

We accept applications from organisations working in partnership with (or within) hospitals and other NHS services. There must be a clear partnership agreement in place, which must include safeguarding. Please see our policy on partnerships.  

We accept applications from Hospital Charities where the organisation applying for funding: 

• Has safeguarding, governance and financial policies and procedures in its own name 

• Is separately constituted from the Hospital and has its own governing body and governing document 

• Has staff that are employed and managed by the applicant organisation rather than the hospital 

We will not consider applications from statutory health organisations. This includes NHS primary or secondary care bodies, hospitals, Clinical Commissioning Groups, Health and Wellbeing Boards, and equivalents (e.g. Health and Social Care Trusts, NHS Boards and Health Trusts). 

See also: Statutory overlap, duplication, or substitution 

We do not accept applications to support individual children or individual families. We also do not accept applications for organisations to provide welfare funds including costs to purchase items for distribution to individuals. 

Our Emergency Essentials Programme awards welfare grants for individual children and young people. It supports struggling families by funding specific items to meet children’s most basic needs. Examples could include a bed to sleep in, a cooker to provide hot meals, or clothing in a crisis.  

We do not consider full funding for posts that undertake casework attracting any legal aid.

If applying for such posts, please show any legal aid funding received in relation to the previous year’s casework.

For years two and three of such requests, you will need to state:

• How much legal aid you will potentially receive
• How much of a contribution to the post they are requesting from us

We do not fund local government bodies. This includes councils at all levels, including community councils, county councils, district councils, parish councils, unitary authorities, combined authorities and metropolitan boroughs. 

We do not fund medical treatment or research.  

We also do not fund medical aids or equipment for a hospital. 

(See also: Hospitals and NHS Organisations, Individual Children and Equipment) 

We define mentoring or befriending as ‘a voluntary, mutually beneficial and purposeful relationship, in which an individual gives time to support another to enable them to make changes in their life’.

This must take place within a formal and structured arrangement. Sometimes, your work may include staff and volunteers giving more casual advice to children and young people. We do not define this as mentoring or befriending in a formal sense.

If you are providing mentoring or befriending work, we will ask you some additional questions around this if you are invited to submit a full application form. 

We expect all organisations applying for mentoring and befriending work to show:

• A clear link between your aims and the benefit for individual clients/volunteers
• A process for client referral/eligibility, based on equal opportunities best practice
• A robust recruitment and selection process for volunteers
• Solid processes for screening volunteers, and for safeguarding clients and volunteers, including
  • appropriate checks, references, risk assessments, training, insurance, confidentiality statements, and consent forms
  • initial training and preparation for volunteers, as well as ongoing support
• A clear and consistent process for matching clients with volunteers, including
  • documented processes for monitoring the progress of relationships
  • arrangements in place for dealing with relationships that prove unsuitable

For more information refer to the NCVO Mentoring and Befriending Services.

If your organisation is recruiting a Volunteer Co-ordinator, you may be asked to provide a copy of the role description.

We do not fund the purchase of vehicles of any sort. 

(See also: Travel and Transport) 

We have a responsibility to ensure that BBC Children in Need funds are being used in the right way. Our Minimum Standards for grantmaking help us check that organisations are robust, ready to deliver work, and able to keep children and young people safe. 

All organisations applying to BBC Children in Need must meet our Minimum Standards to be considered for funding. We expect all organisations to take full responsibility for these during delivery. Please read the full list carefully before you consider making an application and contact us if there is anything you are unsure of. 

Our Minimum Standards cover three main areas: governance, finance, and safeguarding. We will ask each organisation to provide various key documents to help show that you meet them all. 

Please read our Minimum Standards for our Project and Core Programmes here.  

Please read our Minimum Standards for our Big Sky Programme here. 

National organisations provide services to the whole of England, Wales, Scotland, or Northern Ireland (or any combination of these). 

We can treat independent branches of national organisations as separate organisations. To qualify as independent, branches must: 

• Have their governing document and financial accounts 

• Have their own governing body 

• Be fully responsible for their own finances 

• Have a clear and robust Safeguarding Policy in their local organisation’s own name. This must include clear steps to take in the event of an incident or concern about a child, including who to inform locally and how to contact them. We do not accept policies that are in the name of another organisation, for example, a partner organisation, a parent organisation or a related organisation 

• Staff are employed and managed by the branch rather than the national organisation. 

If the above criteria are met, we can accept applications from each branch as follows: 

For Project Grants 

• UK-wide organisations can have one project grant in each of the four nations (England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales) 

• Within each nation our usual rules apply to local branches of a larger organisation 

For Core Grants 

• Organisations may only hold one Core Costs grant at any time, regardless of where in the UK they deliver their work 

• The organisation cannot hold a Core grant if it has a Project grant anywhere in the UK 

BBC Children in Need does not fund organisations that are not based in the UK, the Isle of Man, or the Channel Islands.

We want to fund organisations that have a strong governance record. 

We will only consider applications for over £15,000 per year from not-for-profit organisations who have registered with the appropriate regulatory body. These include: 

• Charitable incorporated organisations, including Scottish charitable incorporated organisations. You must be registered with the Charity Commission for England and Wales or Scottish Charity Register (OSCR) 

• Community Interest Companies (CICs) limited by guarantee registered with Companies House. We will not accept CICs registered as Private Limited Companies or Limited by Shares 

• Companies limited by guarantee with a clause in their governing document preventing distribution of profit. You must be registered with Companies House 

• Housing Associations  

• Registered Charities including those registered with the Charity Commission for England and Wales, Charity Commission for Northern Ireland and the Scottish Charity Register 

• Religious Institutions and faith-based organisations registered with a regulator 

• Special Schools, with provisions for children with learning difficulties or disabilities that cannot be met within a mainstream setting 

If your organisation is one of the above, please also ensure you meet our Turnover policy.  

(See also: Organisational Structure – Unregistered Organisations) 

We want to fund organisations that have a strong governance record. 

We will only consider applications for more than £15,000 per year from organisations that are registered with the appropriate regulatory body.  

We will consider applications from unregistered voluntary organisations for £15,000 or less per year. We would expect these organisations to meet our Minimum Standards for Grantmaking.  

(See also: Organisational Structure – Over £15,000 per year applications and Child Sexual Exploitation, Child Criminal Exploitation, Serious Youth Violence) 

We can fund groups delivering work in partnership with another organisation. The lead organisation must make the application, and will be accountable for: 

• Delivery of work as agreed
• Safeguarding
• Managing the grant and reporting back
• Management of any workers funded as part of the grant
• Ensuring that the work achieves its stated outcomes

The lead partner must meet our Minimum Standards for Grantmaking. 

A partnership agreement must be in place before you apply, and you will be asked to summarise this in your application. 

BBC Children In Need funds not for profit organisations. Therefore we would not normally expect governing body members to be paid. We would not expect organisations (excluding housing associations) to pay governing body members for their membership of the governing body, other than for legitimate out-of-pocket expenses.

We expect organisations to follow the requirements of their regulator.

If you pay members of your governing body for services outside of their role as a member of the governing body (e.g. as a consultant or a sessional member of staff) you must have:

• a written agreement between the organisation and the individual, which explains what a member of the governing body can be paid to do, when, and how often they can be paid and how much they can be paid
• a conflict of interest policy in place that details how decisions around payments for an individual will be managed by the governing body

If you are a Community Interest Company this must be clearly detailed in your governing document.

If you are a registered charity in England or Wales you must meet all of the following conditions:

• there must be a written agreement between the charity and the charity trustee or connected person. This must set out the amount or maximum amount to be paid
• the charity trustees should be satisfied that it would be in the best interests of the charity for the individual to provide the services proposed
• less than half the total number of charity trustees should be getting paid (directly or indirectly) from the charity
• there is nothing in the governing document of the charity that says you cannot pay a member of your governing body

If you are a registered charity in Scotland you must meet all of the following conditions:

• there must be a written agreement between the charity and the charity trustee or connected person. This must set out the amount or maximum amount to be paid
• there must be nothing in the governing document of the charity that says you cannot pay a member of your governing body
• less than half the total number of charity trustees should be getting paid (directly or indirectly) from the charity
• the charity trustees must have approved the payment

If you are a charity registered in Northern Ireland you must meet the following conditions:

• there must be a written agreement between the charity and the charity trustee or connected person. This must set out the amount or maximum amount to be paid
• there must be nothing in the governing document of the charity that says you cannot pay a member of your governing body
• less than half the total number of charity trustees should be getting paid (directly or indirectly) from the charity
• the charity trustees must have approved the agreement
• the charity trustee being paid must not take part in any decisions about the making of the agreement, the acceptability of the service provided, or setting the price

Most playgroups and playschemes for children under the age of eight years must be registered, unless the law says they are not required to do so.

We will not fund the work of playgroups and playschemes that should be registered and are not.

For more information, please refer to:

• (for England) Ofsted
• (for Scotland) Care Inspectorate
• (for Wales) Care and Social Services Inspectorate
• (for Wales) Estyn
• (for Northern Ireland) your local Health and Social Care Trust

Whilst we recognise that influencing social change is important, we do not fund party political activity, campaigning or direct lobbying.

We do not fund:

• Pregnancy testing, advice, or information/counselling on pregnancy choices.
• Sexual Health Education or Personal, Social and Health Education (PSHE) which is provided in schools or by statutory health services. However, we can consider applications to provide advice and information on sexual health which goes beyond the statutory provision, where a specific target group has been identified.

We do not fund statutory provision, including prisons. 

We will accept applications from organisations working in partnership with (or within) prisons. 

There must be a clear partnership agreement in place, including safeguarding responsibilities. 

An organisation working in partnership with (or within prisons) must: 

• Have safeguarding, governance and financial policies and procedures in its own name 

• Be separately constituted from the prison and has its own governing body and governing document 

• Have staff that are employed and managed by the applicant organisation rather than the prison. 

(See also: Statutory overlap, duplication or substitution and Partnership Work) 

Our Project Costs funding stream supports the aims and delivery of a specific piece of work. This work will usually be time-limited, and based on a defined set of activities.

Project Costs are for charities and not-for-profit organisations. Applicants to this programme can apply for grants for up to three years. We aim to give quicker decisions for grants of £15,000 or less per year.

Please view our full Project Costs funding stream page for further details.

(See also: Core Costs)

We consider applications from faith-based organisations, but we do not fund the promotion of religion. 

This includes: 

• Any activity that involves converting someone to a religion (proselytising)
• Any funding for staff whose job description and/or person specification requires a particular faith
• Any funding for volunteer expenses or associated staff (e.g. Volunteer Co-ordinator) where the role description requires a particular faith

We may consider applications for work offering respite care to the family of a disabled child or young person.

As the core provision of respite care is a statutory responsibility, you will need to clearly show that the request cannot be met through statutory provision.

(See also: Statutory overlap, duplication, or substitution)

We do not fund schools, academies, universities, pupil referral units (PRUs), or statutory educational establishments. We will consider applications from not-for-profit organisations that work within schools, or in partnership with them. 

We will also fund educational organisations registered as a Special School. Special Schools are provisions for children with learning difficulties or disabilities that cannot be met within a mainstream setting.  

We will only fund Special Schools if they are able to show they: 

• Are a registered charity
• Meet our Minimum Standards for grantmaking
• How the costs being asked for are beyond statutory responsibility and beyond the core delivery of the school
• Meet our policy on turnover
• Meet our policy on school-time work

For Special Schools, we are unable to fund: 

• Core costs – Special Schools are not eligible for our Core costs grant programme
• Capital or building work such as improvements to sensory rooms
• Equipment outside of our equipment policy

(See also: School-Time Work, Turnover, Equipment, Capital and Building Work and Statutory overlap, duplication, or substitution) 

Applications for work with children and young people excluded from schools must show that:

• Our funding does not substitute or overlap statutory funding (we expect this to follow the child)
• The work will be additional to statutory responsibilities
• The work provides a quality of experience that falls outside the requirements of statutory provision

(See also: Statutory overlap, duplication, or substitution)

We will consider applications from not-for-profit organisations that work within schools, or in partnership with them. 

We expect work to take place before or after school, during lunch breaks, or in holiday time. We would not expect young people to be taken out of classes to attend. We will not fund work that takes place in school hours unless the target group are those who are: 

• Affected by Domestic Abuse 

• Affected by Sexual Violence 

• Young Carers 

• Seriously ill (for example, work taking place in hospitals or hospices) 

• Children who rely on transport to and from school which means they are unable to attend activities outside of school (for example, disabled children or those living in rurally isolated communities)  

• Living in Refuge Accommodation 

If you are delivering during school hours, you must demonstrate: 

• A clear rationale for why you are delivering during this time
• That the timing is based on the specific needs of the children and young people

(See also: Statutory overlap, duplication, or substitution) 

We recognise the need to engage sessional staff for delivering specific forms of work or activity for children and young people. This might include short-term or one-off activities, e.g. holiday play schemes.

We believe that, where possible, it is more likely to produce good outcomes for children if organisations offer fixed-term contracts to cover these types of work.

BBC Children in Need believe that all Children and Young People should have access to the same opportunities; however, we also understand that sometimes, it can be beneficial to run projects which only allow a particular gender to engage at any given time, whether for religious, cultural, or practical reasons.

If you are applying for funding to support single-gender provision, we will expect you to clearly demonstrate the following:

• There is a clear reason why this work is only being offered to a single gender.
• Where appropriate/possible, alternative provision is offered for any excluded groups.
• Activities are not divided based on assumptions of what each gender may or may not engage with.

We may consider applications for work that supports parents, or which offer training in parenting skills, as long as it will directly benefit the lives of children and young people.

Clear evidence of these outcomes will need to be provided.

We may consider applications for staff training that can clearly evidence a link to better outcomes for children and young people.

We will not fund training that is primarily to enhance an individual’s professional development.

Sometimes you may choose to use or work with another organisation or a person to deliver part of your work. This could be on a subcontracting basis; for example, bringing in a musician to deliver workshops as part of a youth group.

We recognise that this can be a reasonable and sensible approach to take. However, please note that all organisations applying for funding must:

• Have a direct relationship with the children and young people taking part in the work
• Take full responsibility for meeting Minimum Standards around finance, governance and safeguarding during delivery
• Ensure that anyone subcontracted during funded work understands and follows your organisation’s policies and practices throughout

(See also: Partnership Work)

We do not fund the purchase of vehicles of any sort. 

 We understand that for many funded projects and organisations, transport is a vital part of ensuring children and young people can take part and be included. We will fund taxis, minibus or coach hire, and public transport for trips and project work, and fuel, insurance or maintenance costs of vehicles owned by funded organisations, where proportionate with the overall costs of the work. We expect projects to have appropriate policies and procedures to manage any risks this element of their work presents, and to have the appropriate licenses, documents and insurance in place.   

Unfortunately, we are unable to fund bus passes or season tickets for individual children and young people.  

We recognise that climate change will affect the children and young people you work with and encourage all organisations we fund to consider ways they can reduce their impact on the environment. 

We seek to prioritise smaller, local organisations. As a result, for Core Grants we will not fund any organisations with a turnover of over £1m in the most recent, complete financial year.  

For Project Grants, we understand that in certain circumstances, larger organisations can be best placed to deliver work to the communities that need it most. If your organisation has a turnover of over £2m in the most recent, complete financial year you may only apply for a Project Grant if you are:  

• A Hospice  

• A Refuge  

• Delivering work that is a strong fit with our geographic and thematic areas of interest and can evidence why your organisation is best-placed to deliver the work

If you fit into the above, you must have a conversation with your local team who will advise on whether you should apply. You can find out how to contact your local team here.  

We define UK-wide delivery as:

• those where the children and young people who benefit live in two or more nations in the UK, or in multiple local authorities/ counties
• and where the activity aims to benefit children and young people across these areas, who may not have a natural ‘community’ around them where they live.

Our definition of UK-wide delivery applications does not include work which is taking place locally but on the border of two nations or regions.

UK-wide delivery projects can have a significant impact for children and young people especially for those who are disabled or affected by illness. This may include work to address common issues across the UK.

The specialist support and expertise these projects offer may not be available locally for children and young people affected by some conditions. Applicants often mention reducing isolation as an important outcome, as children and young people are supported to be with others who understand what they are going through.

A project or worker might be based in one location, but deliver a service to children and young people all over the country. This could involve:

• Face to face delivery
• Online or telephone support
• Children travelling to a location to take part

If you apply to us for UK-wide delivery, a centrally based decision panel will consider your application.

Like all applicant organisations, uniformed organisations must meet our Minimum Standards for grantmaking. Groups will need to have a clear and robust Safeguarding Policy in their local organisation’s own name. This must include clear steps to take in the event of an incident or concern about a child, including who to inform locally and how to contact them. We do not accept policies that are in the name of another organisation, for example, a partner organisation, a parent organisation or a related organisation. This means that, if you are applying as a local group, we do not accept policies for organisations such as The Scout Association or Girlguiding.

The people and organisations we fund will:

• Work in the heart of their communities, particularly in times of crisis.
• Put children and young people at the centre of everything they do, from design to delivery.
• Address the challenges the children and young people face, build their skills and resilience, empower them and extend their choices in life.
• Be keen to keep learning about their work so that their ability to make a difference in children and young people’s lives can keep on improving.

Legally, you must only pay volunteer expenses for expenditure which has already been incurred. Examples might include refunding a bus ticket, or the cost of petrol, that has been paid for and receipted. 

Expenses cannot be covered in the form of an allowance, or as part of a fixed fee for volunteering. This is typically viewed as pay, which is subject to National Insurance and tax. 

For more information, please refer to NCVO Volunteering, Volunteering Wales, Volunteer Scotland, or Volunteer Now (Northern Ireland). 

We consider applications from women’s refuges across the UK, however, there are certain differences between what we can fund between Northern Ireland, Scotland, and England and Wales.

Applications for refuge workers in England, Northern Ireland, and Wales must be able to demonstrate that the funding will support work which:

• Goes beyond childcare, and makes meaningful impact in the lives of the children and young people involved.
• Supports longer term interventions to address the trauma which children may have experienced, or break the cycle of abuse.
• Is not, and would not, be funded by statutory sources.

In Scotland, we are unable to fund dedicated workers working directly with Children and Young People in refuges, as this is a statutory duty.

This applies to workers working either directly in a refuge, or within the community, on behalf of a refuge.