The Local Community Skills Fund aims to support a wide range of initiatives that will make a positive impact on communities across the UK.

One key focus is to fund innovative local and community-led projects that may not be eligible for traditional funding sources. This could include anything from setting up a community garden to running a digital skills workshop. The fund also seeks to help disadvantaged people develop the skills they need to find employment by providing training and support.

Additionally, the fund will address specific skills gaps in local areas and reach out to communities where access to training and development opportunities is limited. By working with external organisations, the fund aims to create a sustainable model for delivering social impact through funding and match-funding.

Who can apply?

Registered charities with a voluntary income of less that £1m. If your organisation had income of over £1m last year, we will ask for a matching contribution that will be tailored to your size
Registered Social Enterprises, with clearly defined asset locks, with an income of less than £1m
Colleges, FE providers and other City & Guilds customers, where the proposals are clearly additive to existing funding.

Individuals and community groups, but only instances where they have a supporting organisation that is willing to act as the recipient of funds and meets one of the criteria above (for example a local college, Scout Group, charity etc.)

What types of projects will we fund?

The Local Community Skills Fund supports projects that are:

Seeking funding for projects or activities that will be delivered in the UK
Supporting people 16+ who are facing barriers
Supporting the development of skills required to move towards or into employment

The Local Community Skills Fund will not be able to support:

Individual appeals for bursary support or proposals that benefit an individual rather than wider members of the community (this is available through our bursary programme, find out more here).
Long-standing capital appeals, where any donation would represent less than 10% of the total value
Programmes or activity that have already taken place
Religious activity (although we can fund religious organisations if their project benefits the wider community and doesn’t include religious content)
Loan repayments.

Projects will also be viewed positively if they address any of the following:

People with convictions, young people at risk of offending, refugees and displaced people, neurodiverse learners and lower socio-economic groups
Can evidence that they are addressing local skills gaps and/or directly link to job outcomes
Are in a community or region of defined social need (Indices of Multiple Deprivation, DofE cold spots)