Guidance

Appendix A: Grant application instructions and assessment criteria

Updated 18 December 2023

Applies to England

1. General information

This document containing the IPSPC Grant Application Instructions and Assessment Criteria (‘Instructions’), together with the Individual Placement and Support in Primary Care (‘IPSPC’) Local Authority (‘LA’) Grant Guidance (‘Grant Guidance’) document, and all other information and documents to which they refer, are designed to ensure that each completed Grant Application is given equal and fair consideration. It is important, therefore, that you provide all the information asked for in the format and order specified.

The Instructions contain the information and instructions Grant Applicants need to submit a completed Grant Application.

Please read the information and Instructions carefully as non-compliance with the Instructions may result in the disqualification of your Grant Application from this exercise. Grant Applicants need to ensure that they have read all the documentation contained within this pack thoroughly so that questions or clarifications are not raised unnecessarily.

Terms defined in the Grant Guidance shall have the same meaning in these Instructions.

2. Administration of the Grant Application process

The IPSPC Grant Application process opens w/c 11 July 2022, and you have until 5pm 31 August 2022 to email your Grant Application to the Department for Work and Pensions (‘DWP’). Completed Grant Applications should be emailed to the DWP team at: Iaped.individualplacementsupportfund@dwp.gov.uk

Grant Applications received will then be sifted initially for completeness before being passed through to the panel for consideration, scoring and selection. The DWP team will then write to Grant Applicants (using contact details provided) to inform them of the result.

3. Costs and expenses

All Grant Applicants (including Grant Recipients) will be liable for all costs incurred in the preparation and submission of their Grant Application. The DWP will not be liable for these costs and the Grant Recipient cannot use the IPSPC Grant to cover costs incurred in the preparation and submission of their Grant Application.

4. Clarification questions and subscription

A question-and-answer log will be held by DWP following the IPSPC Grant competition launch to manage and monitor all questions raised to provide a consistent response to enquiries.

The log will be distributed to all those who indicate an interest in the initiative. Therefore, please indicate if you would like to subscribe by sending an email to Iaped.individualplacementsupportfund@dwp.gov.uk with the subject heading ‘Question and Answer Log Subscription’. All questions will be anonymised.

Subject always to the DWP’s obligations under FOIA, EIR and any other applicable legislation, should there be anything in your clarification question in which you feel is sensitive to your area, please identify this when raising the question and we will consider whether it should be omitted from the published log. DWP will consider the sensitivity of the clarification question and if it considers the clarification question is sensitive it will provide the opportunity to either retract the clarification question without receiving an answer or confirm that the clarification question is not sensitive (in which case the response will be circulated to all who are subscribing). If DWP considers a clarification question to be sensitive and that providing a response only to the relevant area would not favour or dis-favour any area nor distort competition, then it may respond only to that area.

5. Acceptance and return of Grant Applications

Grant Applications and Profile Templates will undergo an initial selection criteria checks to ensure that all information requested has been received. Those Grant Applications that pass the selection criteria will then be subject to selection appraisal against the Selection Criteria. Grant Applications which pass the selection appraisal will then be subject to the Assessment Criteria, scored, allocated Additional Points (if applicable), and ranked in accordance with the procedures detailed in these Instructions.

6. Data security

Please be aware of sensitive information that you may wish to include in your Grant Application. Use anonymised information if you are referring to a specific example. Do note, the whole of the IPSPC Grant Application process and the issue and use of IPSPC Grant(s) is subject to standard Freedom of Information requests.

In terms of your delivery, should you be selected, information must be protected together with IT systems, equipment and processes which support its use. You must demonstrate an appropriate level of security, for example ISO/IEC27001 standard.

7. Grant Application timetable

Set out below is the proposed Grant Application timetable. This is intended as a guide and, whilst DWP does not intend to deviate significantly from it, there may be occasions, especially around obtaining Ministerial approval, where the timetable will be subject to minor change.

Activity	Date
Launch of IPSPC Grant Application exercise	Week commencing 11 July 2022
IPSPC Grant Application submission deadline	5 pm on 31 August 2022
IPSPC Grant evaluation	August 2022
Successful IPSPC Grant Applicants informed	October 2022
Initial IPSPC workshops	November 2022

Note: Location and dates of initial workshops to be confirmed once the selected successful Grant Applicants are known.

8. Grant Application completion

Grant Application

You should answer all questions using the templates provided, presenting them in the same sequence and using the same references. Please ensure all answers are self-contained with no cross-referencing. Only information entered into the appropriate answer boxes (which may be extended as necessary but should not exceed any applicable maximum word count) will be taken into consideration for the purposes of evaluating the Grant Application.

Responses must not exceed the pre-set margins and space allocation. We have applied a maximum word count on your response to some or all questions. These limits are provided in the Grant Application template and any response more than these allocations will be disregarded and will not be evaluated.

Therefore, bullets, tables, simple graphs, and charts in support of your responses are all permitted. Responses must be presented using Arial font size 12 (English language and black typeface) this includes instances where information may be tabulated as part of the response. The only exception permitted is for illustrative screen shots, graphs and charts, which should be presented within the allocated page limit for the question they are relevant to and must not be embedded separately as this information will be disregarded.

Grant Applications must be completed using Microsoft Word. Files submitted in Microsoft Project, Excel format or PDF will not be accepted.

All acronyms and abbreviations, if used, must be fully explained.

Grant Applicants must complete the Grant Application in full. Any additional supporting documents submitted will not be assessed.

Where a Grant Application is being made on behalf of a Cluster of LAs, all LAs within the Cluster should be listed in the ‘Name and address’ field of the Grant Application, with the name and address of the lead LA first.

Question 1 relates to Selection Criteria. All parts of question 1 of the Grant Application must be answered for the Grant Application to be considered for IPSPC Grant funding. A Yes or No answer must be provided against each question. Only Yes answers will be progressed to the next stage.

Question 2 responses will provide DWP with information regarding the relationships, design, and geography of your LA for consideration in evaluation.

Where the Grant Applicant is a Cluster of LAs, it should be defined by the characteristics of the majority of the LAs in the Cluster e.g., at least 3 of the LAs in a Cluster of 6 must be rural for a Cluster to be defined as rural. Therefore, in the event there is an even split of this characteristic in a Cluster, the Cluster will be defined as:

• Rural

Question 3 relates to the Assessment Criteria, and is divided into 4 parts A-D, which are scored as per the Scoring Methodology in section 9 of these Instructions.

Profile Template

The Profile Template that accompanies the Grant Application must be completed using Microsoft Excel. Files submitted in Microsoft Word, Microsoft Project or PDF will not be accepted.

All acronyms and abbreviations, if used, must be fully explained.

When forecasting how many Participants will start on the provision (‘Initiative Starts’), Grant Applicants should consider attrition rates and those who may be found to be ineligible or decide not to sign up to the provision. Initiative Starts is defined as the first meeting with a Participant following confirmation of eligibility, where they consent to sign up to the IPSPC Initiative.

Grant Applicants must support between a minimum of 1000 to a maximum 3,500 Participants, to ensure the minimum number of Participants is met. Grant Applicants will need to confirm how many Participants they propose to support as part of their Grant Application. Applications will be scored and ranked based on the Grant Application assessment process described in these Instructions. This ranking will be used to identify successful Grant Applications (subject to the required ranking characteristics being met, as detailed in section 9 below).

The IPSPC Initiative aims to support in total a maximum of 21,000 Participants. DWP intends to award 6 IPSPC Grants, but subject to available funds, may award additional grants (‘Additional Grants’) to get as close to (but not exceeding) the target maximum Participant number as possible.

Grant Application submission procedure

The Grant Application and Profile Template must not, under any circumstance, be altered. Your Grant Application may be completed and submitted at any time before the submission deadline using the DWP email address provided.

You are responsible for ensuring that your Grant Application and Profile Template has been fully completed and all information included prior to the Grant Application submission deadline.

Please allow sufficient time to submit your Grant Application. It is recommended that you allow time for a final check to be undertaken prior to the submission deadline. It will not be possible for you to submit any further information after the application exercise submission deadline. Information Technology (IT) problems within your own system will not be considered reasonable grounds for late submission.

You may modify and resubmit your Grant Application at any time prior to the submission deadline. Grant Applications cannot be modified after the submission deadline.

Deadline for submission of Grant Application

All Grant Applications must be received by the submission deadline of 5 pm on 31 August 2022 shown in the Grant Application timetable (section 7).

All Grant Applications received after the submission deadline will be rejected.

Additional materials, documents, and attachments

No additional documentation should be submitted with the Grant Application and Profile Template. Information that forms part of general company literature or promotional brochures will not form part of the evaluation process and should not be submitted.

The Grant Application and Profile Template should not contain any inserted, pasted, or embedded pictures or documents (image files, Adobe Acrobat documents or other word documents) unless specifically requested by DWP.

9. Grant Application assessment process

DWP will undertake a selection appraisal of your Grant Application to ensure that it has met the Selection Criteria set out in these instructions.

Only those IPSPC Grant Applications which meet the Selection Criteria will go forward to then be subject to assessment by DWP against the Assessment Criteria set out in these instructions.

Selection Criteria

To be eligible to receive an IPSPC Grant, the LA Grant Applicant must be:

• located in England
• operating as a Combined Authority or Upper Tier Authority, including Metropolitan (including London Borough Councils) and Unitary Authority

and you must commit to:

• undertaking a minimum of two Fidelity Reviews during the IPSPC Funding Period
• delivering IPSPC in accordance with the minimum performance levels set out in the Grant Guidance document
• carrying out a local impact evaluation of the IPSPC Grant

If a Grant Application fails to answer all the questions in the affirmative, then they will be does not become a ‘Rejected Grant Application’.

Each Grant Application that is selected, will be assessed against the Assessment Criteria which include but are not limited to questions on the following areas:

• The level of engagement, commitment and rationale demonstrated by the Grant Applicant to setting up a new IPSPC provision, understanding what is required to do this, and the costs associated
• How quality support will be delivered, including adherence to the 8 key IPS principles

Assessment Criteria and Scoring Methodology

Each Grant Application will be scored against the Assessment Criteria using the scoring mechanism described. Please note that any questions scored 0 (zero) will result in the Grant Application being rejected, and no longer being considered for IPSPC Grant funding.

The Assessment Criteria are comprised of 7 scored questions (questions 3.1 to 3.7) within the Grant Application.

Each question will be marked out of 6. It is a minimum requirement that each question should score a minimum of 2. Grant Applications with any question that scores a 0 (zero) will be unsuccessful. All questions are weighted equally.

Score	Assessment criteria
6	The response was robust, detailed, well-articulated in all material respects providing strong evidence that the criteria would be met, with no weaknesses or areas of concern with the content
4	The response presented evidence that the criteria would be met, good in many respects but with minor weaknesses or concerns with the content
2	The response provided limited evidence that the criteria would be met, there were major weaknesses or concerns with the content. The response lacked significant detail/or clarity.
0	The response did not provide evidence that the criteria would be met; and was wholly unsatisfactory in terms of content. Major weaknesses, issues or omissions were identified. The response was poorly articulated and/or inconsistent.

Total available marks are out of 42.

Evaluation Methodology

The evaluation method for Grant Applications that have not become Rejected Grant Applications will be as follows:

• Each such Grant Application will be evaluated and given a “Responses to Questions Score” which will be the sum of scores for the responses to each of the 7 scored questions in that Grant Application

Calculation of Additional Points

Grant Applications which have not become Rejected Grant Applications will be awarded Additional Points based on the following measure/priority list:

a. Grant Applications from areas with the lowest employment rates for the target group, which will be determined by reference to:

• Disability employment data (the Disability Employment Gap (DEG)
• Disability Employment Rate (DER)) and ESA+UC Health receipt rates

These measures align well with recognised deprived areas.

This data was included in the initial launch letter issued in June (Grant Competition Launch Letter). It is included again in this package of documents.

LA areas which rank below the median average for LAs in England on:

• both UC Health and ESA receipt will receive 2 additional points
• the DER will receive 2 additional points; and
• the DEG will receive 2 additional points

LA areas which rank above or at the median average for LAs in England on the above indicators will receive 0 additional points.

b. Grant Applications from areas with higher levels of economic inactivity for the target group, which will align with areas most likely to receive and use UKSPF for further funding of IPSPC.

The funding allocations for every area in England will therefore be ranked and LAs that are in the top 25% of allocations will receive 6 additional points.

Total Score

The “Total Score” for each Grant Application which has not become a Rejected Grant Application will be the sum of the Additional Points added to the Responses to Questions Score for that Grant Application.

Note that for Grant Applications on behalf of a Cluster of LAs, an average of each Cluster member’s Additional Points will be used to calculate the Total Score.

Ranking and selection of Grant Applications

The Grant Applications will then be ranked in order by Total Score and the 6 Grant Applications with the highest Total Scores (‘Top 6 By Score’) will be selected to receive IPSPC Grants, provided that the ranking characteristics detailed below (‘Ranking Characteristics’) must be satisfied by the recipients of the IPSPC Grants.

If the requirements of any Ranking Characteristic(s) are not fulfilled by the Top 6 By Score then DWP may, in accordance with the order of importance of the Ranking Characteristics, replace the lowest scoring Grant Application(s) of the Top 6 By Score which is/are not required, in order to satisfy a Ranking Characteristic (taking into account the Ranking Characteristics of higher scoring Grant Applications) with the highest scoring Grant Applications which are required to satisfy the Ranking Characteristics (but which are not within the Top 6 By Score) e.g. if the Top 6 By Score did not contain the minimum number of rural LAs in accordance with Ranking Characteristic (a), DWP would replace the lowest scoring urban LA in the Top 6 By Score with the highest scoring rural LA that was not in the Top 6 By Score.

Having ranked all Grant Applications in accordance with the Ranking Characteristics and (if necessary) applying the tie breaker methodology referred to in section 10 below, the Grant Application evaluation panel will agree on a final selection of 6 LAs to whom IPSPC Grants will be awarded. DWP may then consider the average number of Participants covered by such 6 Grant Applications and determine whether or not, subject to available funds, it wishes to award Additional Grants, as set out in section 8 above (applying the tie breaker methodology if necessary).

The Ranking Characteristics are as follows:

(a) whether the Grant Applicant is rural or urban (see Appendix B: Grant Application)

At least 1 of the IPSPC Grants will be awarded to rural Grant Applicants.

(b) whether the Grant Applicant is located in the North West, North East, West Midlands or East Midlands for England

At least 1 IPSPC Grant will be awarded to LAs located in either the North West, North East, West Midlands or East Midlands.

(c) whether the Grant Applicant is located in London or the South West, South East, or East of England

At least 1 IPSPC Grant will be awarded to LAs located in either London or the South West, South East or East of England.

The Ranking Characteristics above are listed in order of importance and DWP will apply them in this order.

Assessing LA Clusters

LA Clusters should be defined by the characteristics of the majority of the LAs in the Cluster.

For example, at least 3 of the LAs in a Cluster of 6 must be rural for a Cluster to be defined as rural. In the event there is an even split of characteristics amongst the LAs in a Cluster, the Cluster will be defined as:

• Rural

An average of each Cluster member’s Additional Points will be used to calculate the Total Score for a Grant Application submitted on behalf of a Cluster.

10. Tie breaker

In the event of 2 or more Grant Applicants within the ranking characteristics achieving the same Total Score, the tie breaker will be considered by the independent panel members using firstly the highest score for ‘Participant Support’ (question 3.2). If still tied, the highest score for ‘Delivering IPSPC’ (question 3.3). If still tied, the highest score for Additional Points.

11. Post selection notification

DWP will notify named Grant Applicant contacts provided in the Grant Application via email of the outcome of the selection exercise in October 2022. Feedback will be available on request.

12. IPSPC Grant exercise Issue Resolution Process

In the event of any issues, questions or concerns during the IPSPC Grant exercise period, please write to the DWP HLIPS team email inbox at laped.individualplacementsupportfund@dwp.gov.uk so that your query can be logged and actioned.

13. Amendments to the Grant Application process or documents by DWP

DWP reserves the right to:

(a) change the basis of or the procedures for the IPSPC Grant award process at any time.

(b) amend, clarify, add to or withdraw all or any part of the Grant Application Instructions and Assessment Criteria, the Grant Guidance, the Grant Funding Agreement, and any documents attached or annexed there to, at any time during the Grant Application process, including varying any timetable or deadlines set out in these Grant Application Instructions and Assessment Criteria document.

(c) cancel all or part of the IPSPC Grant Application/award process at any stage at any time; and/or

(d) not conclude the IPSPC Grant Application/award process or award a IPSPC Grant for some or all of the funding for which Grant Applications are invited. LAs as potential Grant Applicants accept and acknowledge that DWP is not bound to accept any Grant Application or obliged to award a IPSPC Grant to any Grant Applicant at all.

If DWP deems that none of the Grant Applications received are satisfactory, it reserves the right to terminate all or part of the Grant Application process and/or the IPSPC Grant Initiative.