Policy paper

Communities for Afghans phase 2: application guidance

Updated 17 March 2025

Applicants should read the programme prospectus, all other supporting information and this application form guidance before completing this application form. 

Describe your project in clear and non-specialist language, so that it can be understood by assessors. Avoid technical terms and write acronyms in full. If an assessor cannot understand the activity, it cannot be assessed against the selection criteria and the bid may be rejected.  

The assessment of bids will be based on the information provided in the application form and supporting documents only. 

Scoring criteria 

We will score your response to each of the weighted questions and sections using the following scoring criteria: 

0 – Poor (does not meet requirements) 

1 – Unacceptable (meets a limited number of requirements)  

2 – Acceptable (meets most requirements) 

3 – Strong (meets all requirements) 

4 - Very strong (meets all and exceeds some requirements) 

The 7% funding weighting section within the ‘Value for money’ section will be scored in order of the lowest cost per household receiving the highest score (7%), with the next lowest cost receiving the next highest score (6%), reducing by one each time to 0%, as follows: 

• Lowest cost = 7% 
• Second lowest cost = 6% 
• Third lowest cost = 5% 
• Fourth lowest cost = 4% 
• Fifth lowest cost = 3% 
• Sixth lowest cost = 2% 
• Seventh lowest cost = 1% 
• Eighth lowest cost = 0% 

In the first instance we will assess value for money against proposals for 125 households as a benchmark to compare to other applicants.  

For all bids that score a total of over 50% in the initial assessment, we will then score the value for money of full bids by dividing the total cost by households supported. The applicant achieving the lowest cost per household across either 125 households or any number of households greater than 125 will achieve the 7%.  

Questions 

If you have any questions about your application, contact sponsorship@communities.gov.uk. Your question should be clearly presented with direct reference to the area of clarification required. All questions answered will be shared with all applicants involved in the process, for transparency and fairness in information provided. 

All questions must be asked by 5.30pm on Tuesday 25 March 2025. All responses from MHCLG will be provided by 5.30pm on Monday 31 March 2025. Questions asked after 5.30pm on Tuesday 25 March will not be answered. 

Deadline 

All bids and accompanying documents should be submitted by 11.59pm on 10 April 2025.  

Eligibility 

We need to ask some questions to check you can apply for this funding. 

We’ll ask you about: 

• whether your organisation is based in the UK 
• whether your organisation meets all the eligibility criteria listed in the associated prospectus 
• whether you are able to commence and deliver the project within the timescales set out in the prospectus. We expect projects to begin delivery in August 2025. Delivery of your project must be completed by 31 March 2031. 
• whether within the past 5 years your organisation, or any person who has powers of representation, decision or control within the organisation, has been convicted anywhere in the world of the offences listed below: 
  • Participation in a criminal organisation 
  • Corruption 
  • Fraud 
  • Terrorist offences or links to terrorist activity 
  • Money laundering or terrorist financing 

[Eligibility question 1] Is your organisation based in the UK? 

• Yes 
• No 

[Eligibility question 2] Does your organisation meet all the eligibility criteria listed in the associated prospectus? 

The organisation must: 

• be established for charitable, benevolent, or philanthropic purposes (see list of eligible organisations); 
• have a governing body with at least 3 members; 
• have a governing document they can produce; 
• have capacity to deliver an expected minimum of 125 sponsorship arrangements. Submissions below this number may be unsuccessful should minimum requirements be satisfactorily provided by other Principal Sponsors. Bids should set out the minimum and maximum (between 125 and 500 sponsor arrangements) that will be financially viable. The £4.145 million will be divided by the number of sponsor arrangements a Principal Sponsor and MHCLG agree they will deliver.  

Organisations that are eligible 

• ‘Charity’ – A registered charity with a UK charity number or a registered CIC (community interest company).  
• ‘Community group’ – A group which meets all the following criteria:  
  • Established for charitable, benevolent or philanthropic purposes;  
  • Has a governing body with at least three members;  
  • Has a governing document which they are able to produce;  
  • Can provide accounts for the last two financial years.  
• ‘Community Interest Company’ - a special type of limited company which exists to benefit the community rather than private shareholders.  
• ‘Social enterprise’ - a business with primarily social objectives whose surpluses are principally reinvested for that purpose in the business or in the community, rather than being driven by the need to maximise profit for shareholders and owners.   
• Other voluntary and community organisations.  
• ‘Consortium’ – a group of applicants, with a designated lead partner to manage the scheme, and a system for dividing the work and funds appropriately and effectively. The lead partner must be a charity or a community group with a charitable purpose.   

• Organisations must be based in the United Kingdom and provide an offer that can cover England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.    

• Yes 
• No 

[Eligibility question 3] Are you able to commence and deliver the project within the timescales set out in the prospectus? We expect projects to begin delivery in August 2025. Delivery of your project must be completed by 31 March 2031. 

• Yes 
• No  

[Eligibility question 4] Within the past 5 years, has your organisation, or any person who has powers of representation, decision or control within the organisation, been convicted anywhere in the world of the offences listed below? 

• Participation in a criminal organisation 
• Corruption 
• Fraud 
• Terrorist offences or links to terrorist activity 

• Money laundering or terrorist financing 

• Yes 
• No 

Section 1: Before you start 

This section is unscored.   

Name your application 

Section 2: About your organisation 

This section is unscored. 

• Which of the following categories does your organisation fall under? 
  • Charity  
  • Community Group   
  • Community Interest Company  
  • Social Enterprise  
  • Other voluntary/community organisation  
  • Other type of organisation 
    • [If applicant selects ‘Other type of organisation’] Explain how your organisation meets the eligibility criteria. 
• [If charity] What is your Charity Commission number? 
• [If not charity] What is your company registration number? 
• Lead organisation name 
• Lead organisation address 
• Who is the primary contact for this application? 
• What is the primary contact’s role? 
• What is the primary contact’s telephone number? 
• What is the primary contact’s email address? 
• What is the website address for your organisation (optional)?  
• What are the social media profiles for this organisation (optional)?  
• Is this a joint bid with a partner organisation? For example, a consortium 
  • Yes 
  • No 
  • What is your consortium’s name?  The name you want MHCLG to use when referring to your group of organisations. 
  • List all other organisations involved in this bid 
  • Is there a formal agreement between the lead organisation and the partner organisations? 
  • Yes 
  • No 

Section 3: Your skills and experience 

This section is worth 25% of your total score. 

• What experience do you, and partner organisations where applicable, have of delivering this type of activity or project? [ 250 words] 6% 
• What skills will you bring to the project? [ 250 words] 6% 
• What relevant experience do you have of working with local authorities, Devolved Administrations and Strategic Migration Partners? [250 words] 5% 
• How much have you engaged with Strategic Migration Partners on your specific plans for this scheme? [ 250 words] 2% 
• What resources, including staff, will you use to deliver this project? [ 250 words] 6% 

Section 4: Your project 

This section is worth 40% of your total score. Refer to the guidance for the details of what should be covered in this section.  

• How will you work with and build relationships with devolved administrations, local authorities and Strategic Migration Partners? 2% [ 350 words] 
• How you will recruit and train sponsor groups? You must provide training at least until training can be carried out by a single provider. 2% [ 300 words]  
• How will accommodation be sourced and what steps will be taken to ensure that the properties secured and the tenancies provided are in alignment with housing legislation? 4% [ 450 words]  
• What are the intended geographical areas for supporting and accommodating households? 1% [ 300 words] 
• What is the proposed delivery model?  This should include:  
  • structure 
  • staffing/voluntary resource for number of community sponsors/households 
  • geographical area stated 3% [ 400 words]  
• Do you have alternative proposals for matching households to Sponsor Groups? 3%  [ 500 words]  
• How will awarded funding, budgets and costs be monitored against delivery of the programme? 2% [ 400 words] 
• How will the number of households successfully accommodated and resettled versus the delivery profile be monitored in delivery of your project? 3%  [ 400 words] 
• What are the contingency measures and escalation routes to address issues in delivery in contrast to overall funding/project risk management? 2% [ 400 words] 
• How will you ensure the households are successfully integrated into the local community? 3%  [ 450 words] 

Upload your delivery plan (15%) 

Your delivery plan should: 

• include a fully detailed breakdown of your provision offer 
• highlight any activities you propose to carry out across the entire project (not just for the households in your bid). If applicable, it should highlight the costs associated for these activities separately, outside of the core costs. For example, matching across the scheme.  

Make sure you refer to the prospectus and all other supporting documentation for this part of the application to achieve the best possible score.  

Your delivery plan will be assessed if you score over 50% across all of the word-limited answers. The maximum weighting will be 15% for the full submitted delivery plan when this is assessed. 

Section 5: Risk and deliverability 

This section is worth 25% of your total score. Refer to the supporting information for the details of what should be covered in this section.  

Governance arrangements for your project 

• What is your governance and management structure? 4% [ 300 words] 
• What are your governance processes and procedures? You should include how  matters are escalated and resolved. 4%[ 300 words] 
• How will you monitor and manage delivery of your plan? 2% [ 300 words] 
• How will you deal with issues arising, risks (including fraud risk) and mitigations? 2% [ 300 words] 
• How will you check the quality of accommodation, safeguarding and welfare of households and Sponsor Groups? 4% [ 400 words] 
• How will you ensure the funding awarded is only used for this project? 4% [ 300 words] 
• What processes will you put in place when making payments to Sponsor Groups? 5% [ 500 words] 

Section 6: Value for money 

This section is worth 10% of your total score.  

• How much funding are you bidding for?  This must be more than £900,000 and less than £4,145,000. Exact funding amounts and number of households to be supported will be agreed in the negotiation period, before Grant Funding Agreements are signed. 
• Would you like to bid to fund more than 125 households? 
  • Yes 
  • No  
• Specify the number of households that you (and your consortium, if applicable) intend to support by the end of March 2031. This should include a minimum (of at least 125) and maximum number (of at most 500 households). [200 words]  
• Upload your funding spreadsheet for 125 households 

Provide the total cost of your project based on 125 households with a breakdown of the costs by year and activity. Ensure that they add up to the amount you are bidding for or provide an explanation. This should not exceed a total of £1,036,250 for the 125 households. This will be used as a benchmark for assessment.  

For all bids that score a total of over 50% in the initial assessment, we will then score the value for money of full bids (including bids for higher number of families) by dividing the total cost by households supported. At that point, the applicant achieving the lowest cost per household across either 125 households or any number of households greater than 125 will achieve the 7%. 

Your funding spreadsheet should include:  

• Gross salaries  
• Staff expenses  
• Project costs (for example, IT) 
• Sponsor related costs (for example, DBS checks) 
• Any professional fees  
• Central costs  
• Any additional funding  

MHCLG reserves the right to award varied funding per household, for example if one Principal Sponsor is going to carry out more of the Principal Sponsor activities across the entire scheme. 

This section is worth 7%.  

How value for money will be scored 

The 7% funding weighting section within the ‘Value for money’ section will be scored in order of the lowest cost per household receiving the highest score (7%), with the next lowest cost receiving the next highest score (6%), reducing by one each time to 0%, as follows: 

Lowest cost = 7%  Second lowest cost = 6%  Third lowest cost = 5%  Fourth lowest cost = 4%  Fifth lowest cost = 3%  Sixth lowest cost = 2%  Seventh lowest cost = 1%  Eighth lowest cost = 0% 

In the first instance we will assess value for money against proposals for 125 households as a benchmark to compare to other applicants.  

• [If more than 125 households] Upload your second funding spreadsheet 

Provide the total cost of your project for your preferred total number of households with a breakdown of the costs by year and activity. Ensure that they add up to the amount you are bidding for or provide an explanation. This should include:  

• Gross salaries  
• Staff expenses  
• Project costs (for example, IT) 
• Sponsor related costs (for example, DBS checks) 
• Any professional fees  
• Central costs  
• Any additional funding 

MHCLG reserves the right to award varied funding per household, for example if one Principal Sponsor is going to carry out more of the Principal Sponsor activities across the entire scheme. 

• Have you secured additional funding outside of this grant? This is not a requirement of the project and your answer will not be scored. 
  • Yes  
  • No 

• [If applicant has secured additional funding outside of this grant] State the source of these funds and how you will ensure activities are not double-funded. [300 words] 

• How would you scale up or scale down your project? 3% [ 500 words] 

• Will your sponsor groups fundraise?  This is not a requirement of the project and your answer will not be scored .[200 words]. 

  • Yes  
  • No 
• [If applicant’s sponsor groups will fundraise] Provide details on how your sponsor groups will fundraise and how you will keep this funding separate from this grant’s funding.  [350 words] 

Section 7: Social Value 

This section is unscored. 

• MHCLG aims to secure and maximise tangible social value benefits in accordance with The Social Value Model. Explain how you plan to achieve social value through explicit delivery of this specific grant. [500 words] 

Section 8: Declarations 

This section is unscored. 

Confirm you agree to the following declarations:

• Your organisation is based in the UK  
• Your organisation meets all the eligibility criteria listed in the associated prospectus 
• You are able to commence and deliver the project within the timescales set out in the prospectus. We expect projects to begin delivery in August 2025. Delivery of your project must be completed by 31 March 2031. 
• Within the past 5 years your organisation, or any person who has powers of representation, decision or control within the organisation, has not been convicted anywhere in the world of the offences listed below: 
  • Participation in a criminal organisation 
  • Corruption 
  • Fraud 
  • Terrorist offences or links to terrorist activity 
  • Money laundering or terrorist financing 
  • Your organisation adheres to the government code of conduct 
  • Your organisation has a data handling process in place 
  • You have a bank account set up for your organisation 
  • Your organisation’s safeguarding policies are up to date 
  • The information you have provided is accurate