The Aged Veterans Fund: background information (archived 26 January 2017)
Published 11 August 2015
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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/aged-veterans-fund/the-aged-veterans-fund-background-information
This document has been archived. The latest information about the Aged Veterans Fund can be found here.
What’s it about?
This additional funding stream has £25 million available over 5 years and will fund projects that support non-core health, wellbeing and social care needs for older veterans (born before 1 January 1950) including surviving World War 2 veterans, those who undertook National Service and other voluntary enlisted veterans who may need some focused support in relation to their health and social care needs.
The type of projects we could fund includes:
- practical support and companionship to improve older veterans wellbeing
- the provision of services to assist individuals in the completion of personal paperwork
- projects to build or enhance access to centres where elderly veterans can meet and avoid isolation
- the promotion of education of aged veterans needs
When?
The main dates you need to know are:
| Open for expressions of interest | 20 August 2015 |
| Closing date for expressions of interest | 21 September 2015 |
| Expression of interest decisions communicated, and invitations to stage 2 sent out, by | 19 October 2015 |
| Deadline for stage 2 applications | 14 December 2015 |
| Stage 2 decisions communicated by | 15 February 2015 |
How much?
Grants of up to £1,000,000 are available this year.
We may be willing to consider applications requesting over £1,000,000 or requiring more than 3 years funding, but applicants must talk to us and receive our consent before applying. The project will have to be an exemplar of its kind to be awarded more than £1,000,000, with well worked up strategic solutions, strong partnership arrangements and an excellent track record.
Who?
We are particularly keen to see portfolio applications from organisations that have a good track record of managing similar strategic partnership projects across regions and nationally.
By ‘portfolio’ we mean a linked collection of projects coordinated by the lead organisation and provided by suitable partner organisations. The lead organisation will be responsible for ensuring that the projects are successful and that the sum of the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.
The lead partner must be a registered charity with a track record of managing large strategic projects, and capacity to manage and coordinate the provision of the proposed portfolio. Whilst expertise in the subject area and in engaging with the beneficiaries is essential to the make up of the portfolio partners, it is important that lead organisations can demonstrate this expertise as well.
Eligibility to be a portfolio partner is not limited to the charitable sector, but all projects must be able to show that they are operating not for profit models.
What are the main criteria?
We know that there has already been much thinking about the issues affecting older veterans and as such we are looking to fund some early projects that can act as benchmarks and trailblazers for the programme.
This will then be followed next year by portfolios of projects which need a longer gestation period, more research and consideration, and time to coordinate appropriate partner organisations.
We envisage asking existing portfolio leads to pull together further portfolios of projects to address gaps and issues that both we and they have identified. However we will also reserve funds for portfolio leads that have not applied in the first year, and who can come in with new ideas and new approaches, or who are looking to provide services or reach beneficiaries not already targeted by existing portfolios.
One of the main considerations for the assessment team and decision makers will be evidence of communication and coordination of bids, which will enable the AVF to have a real impact and to avoid funding competing or conflicting applications.
We want to fund projects which have a real and lasting impact on the quality of life of lives of older veterans. We want to fund projects which directly benefit them and support them with their non-core health, wellbeing and social care needs. Families and carers may also benefit from the projects indirectly.
So we will prioritise projects which directly benefit older veterans and which:
- achieve coordinated outcomes across a portfolio of projects
- address genuine need
- are clearly additional to, and complement other initiatives in the sector, for example government social care initiatives
- plan to share learning and best practice with other projects
The lead applicant must be able to show evidence of their:
- ability to work in partnership
- capacity to manage large multi-faceted programmes of work
- understanding of the needs of older veterans
- ability to identify, reach and engage with older veterans
What next?
We will be launching the Aged Veterans Fund and be open for applications on Thursday 20 August 2015. More information will be available on this website then.
We will also be running a small launch event on 20 August at the main MOD building in London on that day. This is only for those organisations who are considering applying as a lead organisation managing a portfolio of projects. If you wish to attend, please email us at COVENANT-GrantTeamMailbox@mod.uk