Youth Access

New £50 million Advice Plus lottery programme opens

26 November, 2007

The Big Lottery Fund’s new Advice Plus funding programme opens on 29th June with the aim of improving access to high quality rights-based advice for disadvantaged communities. The first round closes on 30th October and will be followed by two further rounds opening in June 2007 and June 2008. Agencies can apply for up to 5 years’ funding with a maximum grant of £500,000, although regional or national bids can be bigger than this. As there are estimated to be about 2,000 advice agencies nationally and only about 100 bids will be successful, competition is expected to be intense. However, through our discussions with the BLF, we have raised their awareness of the potential role that YIACS can play and they are particularly interested in our Youth Access Law Centre model. We understand that direct service provision bids are likely to be strengthened by the inclusion of an element of local infrastructure provision to meet the needs of other local organisations. Bids should also demonstrate joint-working and how the proposed service fits with other advice providers in the area and with local plans, such as any CLS Partnership plan or Children & Young People’s Plan. Bids that do not have the support of other providers and funders or that are in competition with bids from other local agencies are likely to fail, so it’s vital that you discuss your ideas with any other local advice agencies (e.g. CAB or law centre) at an early stage. The BLF is stressing that any service that is planned to continue after the end of the BLF grant must also demonstrate its sustainability, for example in the form of prior buy-in from long-term funders.

See more information on Advice Plus (from 29th June).

If you are considering applying to Advice Plus, we strongly advise you to contact James Kenrick or Pamela Verma from Youth Access’s advice development team (020 8772 9900) to discuss your ideas.

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