Well Northants Community Grant application form guidance notes

Well Northants works together with local communities to improve health and wellbeing. The Well Northants Community grant is available to people and organisations who have a great project idea that will help to improve the health and wellbeing of their local community. The project activity must take place in a one of the Well Northants Project areas and address a one of the locally defined priorities.

The application process is in 2 stages:

• Completion and submission of the application form
• Participation in the Community Voting Day

Community Voting Day

The Community Voting Day introduces a way of funding new projects that are delivered in the well Northants Communities. They are: St David’s, Blackthorn and Kings Heath areas of Northampton. And Southbrook in Daventry.

Key parts of Community Voting Day:

• Applicants present their project ideas in an event called a Community Voting Day
• You share your project idea with local people to get their support
• A representative for your application must be available to share information with the community about your project at the Community Voting Day. Your project will not be considered without representation
• The presentation must be in person
• Local people vote for the project ideas that they like best, the final decision about whether your project is successful will be made by the community and shared on the community voting day

Who can apply

We welcome applications from individuals, informal groups in the community as well as more established community groups and organisations. If you are an individual or an informal group you will need to have a sponsor organisation to support your application.

The role of the sponsor organisation is to hold the grant funding on behalf of the individual / group and enable it to be spent as set out in the application form. The individual/ group should follow the policies and procedures of the sponsoring organisation.

Exclusions:

• Items that only benefit  an individual (for example: bursaries and equipment that is not shared)
• Projects that do not fit under one of the priority themes or areas
• Projects that will not improve health and wellbeing of the community
• Contribution to salaries
• Activities promoting political activities or religious belief
• Fundraising activities
• Projects that start before you receive confirmation of this grant award

The application form

The application form is divided into five parts:

• Organisation Details
• About your project
• Bank Account Details
• Supporting Documentation
• Applicant Declaration- to be signed by an authorised signatory of your organisation / sponsor organisation

The appendices to this guidance contain:

• Appendix A: Grant terms and conditions
• Appendix B: Grant terms and conditions on award of grant
• Appendix C: Privacy notice
• Appendix D: Next steps

Additional guidance and support

If you would like any additional support in completing your application or information about the community voting process please contact:  
[email protected]

Guidance

This guidance should be read as you complete each question of the grant application form. It is important that you:

• Complete all the relevant application form sections in full. If a question is not  applicable to your application, please mark this as not applicable (n/a)
• Provide all the documents requested at the same time as your application
• Complete the declarations

Incomplete grant applications and grant applications awaiting further information

To be fair to all grant applicants, we will not accept incomplete applications or applications awaiting further information. Incomplete applications will not be put forward for the community voting day.

Grant application form completion guidance notes

The guidance corresponds to the section headings in the application form. You need to only complete the boxes that are relevant to your application. You can cross reference to other questions to avoid repetition if you wish. Questions that are marked with an Asterix * must be completed.

Organisation Details

1. Contact detail of applying organisation  
This section should be completed by the organisation delivering the project OR by the organisation sponsoring an individual/ group.

Enter the full name of your organisation here, organisation type (for example, Community Group / Club, Recreational Association, Registered Charity, Village Hall Committee, etc), including registered charity number or Companies House registration number where applicable.

Who is the main contact in the organisation for this project.

Finally, please tell us whether you are a sponsor or not.

2. Additional contact details

Insert the contact details of the group/ individual that is being sponsored, if applicable.

About the Service / Project

3. Agreement to Community Voting process

Funding will be awarded by a community voting process. A representative of the project is required to attend the community voting day and give a 3-minute presentation to the community about the project. The final decision about whether your project is successful will be made by the community on the day. Therefore, your project will not be considered without representation on the day.

Please tick the box to show that you agree to the process.

4. Area and priority

Tell us which area your project will be delivered and which of the locally defined priorities your project is addressing. Choose one area and at least one priority.

5. Project / Service Name

Name of the project that you are applying for funding for

6. Brief description of  your project and what you are applying for

State how you will spend the grant. What will you be delivering? Will it be classes, activities, events resources, mentoring, support groups etc? Where do you intend to provide this? At a venue, online, in a park or open space, as part of a walk, ride or tour etc?

7. Brief overview of how this funding will help you deliver Health and Wellbeing improvements to the Community

Tell us about the need you are addressing? Why do you think you might be best placed to deliver it?

8. How will people benefit from your project / service

Please explain the impact that your project will have on people using the service

9. Please identify which communities in West Northamptonshire you will deliver

Identify which communities will benefit from your project e.g. older people.

10. When will you deliver your project?

Is it over a set time period, at the same time every week or month? Is it a one-off event or activity?

11. What will happen when the funding comes to an end?

Tell us about your plans for sustaining your project idea into the future.

Please note: All projects delivered through this funding must deliver their key aims within 6 months.

12. Amount of grant applied for

Enter the total amount applied for

13. Organisations must provide details of the purchases they wish to make

Provide details of the items you wish to fund / purchases using the Grant.  Include: name of supplier, what is being purchased and the price including and excluding VAT.

NB: All amounts claimed must be NET of VAT if you are claiming back from HMRC.  The Council will not pay back the VAT element of your costs if these can be claimed by HMRC.

Indicate if you intend to claim VAT and, if so, please provide your VAT number.

Bank Account Details

Organisations and sponsors will need to hold a UK bank account in their name. The Council is unable to pay this grant into a third-party bank account.    
Include: Name of Bank, Bank Account Payee, Bank Account No and Sort code. Provide organisation name and email address for remittance slip.

Supporting Documents

The following documents are required and will need to be uploaded.

• Documentation to be included with application
• Public Liability Insurance (minimum £5 million)
• Constitution or Governing Documentation
• Equality Policy
• Year End Accounts (Audited Year End Accounts)
• Child Protection Statement (if applicable)
• Vulnerable Adults Statement (if applicable)    

Declaration

14. Agreement and Undertaking

Please read prior to completing the declaration to ensure the application is correctly completed

By signing this agreement, you agree to provide the following reporting:

• End of project monitoring form
• Wellbeing monitoring form as provided by Public Health at West Northamptonshire Council to be completed at beginning and end of project

By signing this agreement, you undertake the conditions in regard to the Data Protection Act outlined in the paragraph ‘Data Protection Act’ on the application form.

15. Declarations

The Declaration should be completed and signed by an authorised signatory of your organisation.

Appendix A

Grant terms and conditions

1. The recipient organisation will not operate for profit for its members.  
    
2. There will be no distribution of assets or funds from this grant to any individual during the existence of the organisation or on its dissolution, other than the payment of salaries or wages that have formed part of the grant application.  
    
3. For grants provided to community and voluntary organisations, the grant recipient shall have a written constitution / Trust Deed, UK bank account and audited accounts.  
    
4. The grant recipient has not committed itself by purchase, contract or other binding agreement to expenditure relating to the project / service for which the grant is being sought (it is not the Council’s policy to fund retrospectively). If work has already commenced, contracts made, or goods, services or equipment has been purchased, you will be unable to claim grant against those costs. You may only place orders / contracts once a funding decision has been made, you have signed and sent back your acceptance of offer form to the Council, and receipt of your completed acceptance of offer form has been acknowledged by the Council.  
    
5. The Council shall reserve the right to suspend, defer, withhold or clawback any or all the grant payments and / or require repayment of all of the financial assistance if:
   1. all terms and conditions of the grant offer are not met in full
   2. any information given to the Council in connection with the application for the grant is found by the Council to be false, misleading, or there has been a failure to disclose any material fact which would have had a bearing on  the initial consideration of the application
   3. there is a substantial or material change in the nature, scale, or timing of the project / service
   4. the project / service extends to purposes other than those specified in the application; or
   5. grant funding is received from any other source, or services are provided in kind, for the same project / service that would result in the  total eligible project costs being reduced to those stated in the grant application  
       
6. All works and activities covered by the grant will conform to all relevant statutory obligations, bylaws, licences, regulations, and consents.  
    
7. The grant-aided assets / activity will be adequately insured, and the organisation will maintain adequate insurance covering public liability. Evidence of insurance cover must be produced for the Council if requested.  
    
8. The Council reserves the right to require the applicant to comply with any relevant recommendations or requirements imposed on the Council by Internal Audit, External Audit or other statutory inspectorate or regulatory body  in relation to the grant.  
    
9. By signing the grant application form your organisation is declaring that the project / service is exempt from State Aid Regulations.  
    
10. Grant payments will be made by the Council in line with the request for payment procedures.  
     
11. The Council may require its grant to be recognised by the use of the Council’s  logo or appropriate wording on promotional literature, website, social media, or via either a poster or a plaque being installed on the premises in a location to be agreed by the Council  
     
12. The Council reserves the right to use photographs, videos, or other promotional material to publicise the grant aid projects / services.  
     
13. The Council reserves the right to inspect the assets and / or activities for which the funding has been sought on giving reasonable notice to the applicant or organisation.  
     
14. If required by the Council, six months from the date of the award, grant recipients will provide the Council with a monitoring report on the use to which the financial assistance has been put, including any metrics or deliverables that may be specific to the project.  
     
15. If required by the Council, not more than twelve months from the completion of the project, grant  recipients will produce a monitoring report on the use to which the financial assistance (grant) has been put.  
     
16. The organisation must have security of tenure on the facilities (including playing facilities) through the ownership of the freehold or by means of a long lease  
     
17. Beyond anything shown in the application, the property will not be subject to a mortgage or loan secured on it without prior consent of the Council.

Appendix B

Grant terms and conditions on award of grant

If you are successful and you are awarded funding, there will be terms and  conditions attached to your grant offer.

The Council will not cover any additional costs or overspends above the amount of the grant award. In exceptional circumstances, the Council may consider additional funding on completion and approval of a new grant application.

Appendix C

Privacy Notice

1. The Council is committed to protecting the privacy and security of your personal information. The personal information we collect will include your name, address, contact details and other relevant information to process the grant application and make grant payments.  
   
   How we use your information collected by the Well Northants Community Grant application process  
    
2. The Council processes applications and makes decisions for the management  of the Well Northants Community Grant programme, draws up offer letters, project manages the grant claim process and makes payments of grant.  
    
3. The Council, in liaison with the grant recipient, reserves the right to enter into publicity and press releases with regards to the project.  
   
   Who will have access to my personal data?  
    
4. Council staff and Councillors involved in the grant application, decision- making and project / service monitoring processes.  
   
   What information is processed?  
    
5. In order to ratify that a grant applicant has a bank account set up in the organisation’s name, at the application stage, for bank or building society accounts we record the account holder’s name, the branch address, sort code, account number and signature and the name, address and contact  details of the organisation / applicant.  
   
   What is the data retention period?  
    
6.  The Council will retain data for five years from the date of receipt of the application and thereafter all personal data will be redacted, leaving the organisation’s data only to be retained for a further period of five years for grants awarded up to and including £5K. And 21 years for grants over £5K or as set out in the terms and conditions of the grant offer letter. Thereafter, once the retention period has expired all documentation shall be securely disposed of by the Council.

Appendix D

Next steps

1. Once an application has been received it will be acknowledged by website receipt or email receipt  
    
2. Your application will then be assessed for completeness. To be fair to all grant applicants, we will not accept incomplete applications or applications awaiting further information. These will require a new submission. This may result in your application missing the allocated funding round and, as a result, a delay until the next suitable funding round is open.  
    
3. You may be asked to provide some additional / information or clarify some points on the application form to assist with the assessment of the application  
    
4. Completed applications will be entered into the relevant community voting day event, applicants are requited to tell the community about their project by giving a short 3-minute presentation.  
    
5. You will know on the Community Voting Day if your application is successful. If you have been successful you will be sent an offer letter and an acceptance  form to sign and return.  
    
6. Once you have returned an appropriately completed and signed acceptance form to the Council, and any other duly completed legal documents required by the Council, you will be sent a Payment Request Pack which sets out how to claim your grant award.  
    
7. Please note, it is not the Council’s policy to fund retrospectively. The grant recipient should not commit itself by purchase, contract or other binding agreement to expenditure relating to the project / service for which the grant is being sought. If work has already commenced, contracts made, or goods, services or equipment has been purchased, you will be unable to claim grant against those costs. You may only place orders / contracts once a funding decision has been made, you have signed and sent back your acceptance of offer form to the Council, and receipt of your completed acceptance of offer form has been acknowledged by the Council.  
    
8. Follow up questionnaires / inspections may be required on completion of the project for monitoring purposes. The details of this will be explained in your offer letter.  
    
9. Successful applications will be promoted through various communication channels to help promote the project / service and the Council’s grant scheme.  
    
10. If your application is refused, the reasons for the refusal will be contained within a notification letter.  
     
11. There is no right of appeal.  
     
12. You cannot reapply for a grant for the same project / service if your initial application has been submitted and refused and you are not asked to resubmit by the Council in writing. Any subsequent grant applications for the project / service will only be accepted, for a following appropriate grant round, if there has been a material change to the application or the amount of funding being requested.

Last updated 15 January 2024