Guidance

New Resident Opportunities and Empowerment Grant: frequently asked questions

Updated 30 September 2022

Applies to England

This new grant competition is open to applications from service providers in England.

See the full funding prospectus.

Questions 10 to 24 were added on 25 August 2022

Questions 25 to 27 were added on 31 August 2022

Questions 28 and 29 were added on 2 September 2022

Questions 30 to 37 were added on 26 September 2022

Question 38 was added on 30 September 2022

Q1. What is this funding for?

The Resident Opportunities and Empowerment Grant is a new funding approach over the next 3 years to inspire and enable social housing residents to restore a sense of community, local pride and belonging especially in those places where they have been lost and drive the delivery of higher quality landlord services that are focussed on their needs through a training, capacity building and access to independent information support programme.

Q2. How long will the grant be available for?

Annual funding will be available up to 2025 upon the awarding of the grant. There may be the opportunity for the grant to be extended for a further period from 1 April 2025, subject to funding availability.

Q3. Who can apply for this funding?

We welcome applications from organisations that understand the importance of resident empowerment and engagement in holding landlords to account and promoting a sense of community, local pride and belonging, based in England, with expertise and a proven track record of:

• providing training, capacity building and access to independent information programmes within the social housing sector
• working collaboratively with landlords to deliver outcomes beneficial to residents and their communities
• establishing significant and appropriate sector links and networks, to reach social housing residents, including underrepresented demographics and new audiences
• delivering an offer which supports and add value to the measures set out in the social housing white paper, The Charter for Social Housing Residents
• delivering projects that provide value for money

Q4. Do you accept consortium/ partnerships bids?

We welcome consortium/partnership bids where bidders might want to look for collaborative opportunities that will enhance provision, achieve value for money and generate efficiencies. The application should highlight the role envisaged for each partner in a consortium bid and the skills that they bring. The application must be submitted by the lead partner who will be the accountable organisation for the grant. The grant funding agreement for a consortium bid will be between DLUHC and the accountable organisation only.

You do not need to have a formal agreement between consortium members in place at this stage. If your bid is successful, you will need a consortium agreement, and this will require the approval of DLUHC prior to any funding being released.

Q5. What is the deadline for applying?

The deadline for applying is 11:59pm on 2 October 2022 and completed application forms and supporting documents should be emailed to SHWPPMO@levellingup.gov.uk.

Q6. Will you accept late applications?

Unfortunately, we will not be able to accept applications received after the deadline has passed. This is to ensure fairness to those applicants that have met the deadline.

Q7. When will applicants be notified if they are successful?

Applicants will be informed of the outcome of their bid in October 2022. We will aim to enter discussions with preferred bidders in October.

Q8. How will applications be assessed?

We will complete eligibility and due diligence checks using standard government tools and procedures for all applications received by the closing date. Applications passing eligibility and due diligence checks will be evaluated against 5 specific categories: The Applicant, Quality of Proposal, Outputs and Outcomes, Programme Management, Governance and Risk, Value for money. The evaluation will lead to the identification of a preferred bidder.

Q9. I have a question about my application, can I ask any clarification questions?

You may email any questions to SHWPPMO@levellingup.gov.uk.

We intend to regularly publish clarifications to any questions received on this page. We recommend prospective applicants regularly check back for updates.

The following questions were added on 25 August 2022.

Q10. Is there a minimum annual turnover required for potential providers to be considered?

There is not a minimum annual turnover stipulated for applicants in the prospectus.

Q11. Is the grant for organisations to establish their own training?

The Department is looking to award the grant of up to £500K to a single applicant or a lead partner in a consortium bid for the provision of a Resident Opportunities and Empowerment Programme, for the training, capacity building and access to independent information for any social housing residents, regardless of their landlord. The grant is not intended for landlords to establish training programmes limited to their own residents.

Q12. Is the £500K Resident Opportunities and Empowerment Grant the overall amount of funding available for all applications, or is the £500K the limit for each application?

The Department is looking to award the grant of up to £500K to a single applicant or a lead partner in a consortium bid for the provision of a Resident Opportunities and Empowerment Programme, for the training capacity building and access to independent information for social housing residents. There are not multiple grant awards.

Q13. Are DLUHC expecting to receive a bid from us?

All applications are welcome, and we will assess them under the criteria and guidance as set out in the prospectus.

Q14. Does DLUHC have a preference for individual or consortium bids?

The Department does not have a preference for individual or partner/consortium bids. There is no additional scoring weighting for either an individual or a partner/consortium bid.

Q15. Relevant knowledge and experience – is experience of managing similar programmes referring to government funded programmes?

No. This experience is not limited to government funded programmes.

Q16. Relevant knowledge and experience – does a national support offer have any particular threshold?

No. It is up to bidders to demonstrate how their prior experiences give them the ability to deliver support across England.

Q17. Proposed activities – should these be offers / programmes that are already established, or can they relate to new offers?

The funding is for a programme that provides a diverse spectrum of training, capacity building and access to independent information. We are open to tried and rested methodologies, but also encourage innovation; the important thing is that activities deliver the objectives set out in the prospectus.

Q18. Stakeholder engagement to inform the bid – who are the government thinking of in considering this? Are stakeholders the tenants and residents who will access the services or commissioners / partners / other delivery agents?

It is for bidders to decide which stakeholders they want to engage with. Both residents and delivery partners could be useful groups to engage in developing a programme.

Q19. Outputs and outcomes – do you have a sense for the balance of activities, i.e. single items such as information verses on-going training provision?

It is for bidders to decide the balance of activities to meet the objectives set out in the prospectus.

Q20. E-learning – are you looking for specialist software to facilitate this?

The prospectus does not specify any specialist software for e-learning; however, bidders should note the prospectus asks that training/learning/support should reflect an accessible, inclusive approach for the audience of social housing residents.

Q21. Management – does the Gantt Chart need to be prepared and supplied in a particular format?

The Gantt Chart does not need to be prepared and supplied in a particular format. The bid team has access to standard office software, including Microsoft Office and PDF viewers.

Q22. On reviewing the prospectus it appears that the funding needs to be utilised to deliver a consistent programme across the country as opposed to running a local programme only – is that correct?

If your organisation wants to provide a programme that will be accessible to all social housing residents in England and meets the objectives and outcomes set out in the prospectus, it will be welcome to apply. If your organisation only wants to provide a local programme only, it should not apply.

Q23. Eligibility – can a company limited by shares be part of a consortium as the non-contracting body?

No, under our grant eligibility criteria a company limited by shares cannot be part of a consortium bid even if they are not the lead applicant. However, such a company could be a supplier to the grant recipient.

Q24. Are housing associations eligible to apply either as the lead partner or as part of a consortium bid?

Housing associations usually have a governing document that will explain the organisation’s legal status. It will be the organisation’s legal status that will determine if it’s eligible to apply, rather than if it’s a housing association.

To be an eligible organisation, applicants must be one or more of the following types of organisations:

• Charity – an organisation registered as a Charity with UK charity regulators
• Charitable Registered Society under Co-operative and Community Benefit Societies Act 2014
• A Community Interest Company registered with Companies House
• A Charitable Incorporated Organisation registered with the Charity Commission
• A Company Limited by Guarantee registered with Companies House
• A Cooperative or Community benefit society
• An Industrial and Provident Society (IPS)

The following types of organisations are not eligible to apply:

• Unincorporated organisations
• Companies limited by shares
• Any other profit-distributing organisations
• Councils, other public sector organisations, any companies limited by guarantee whose members are exclusively public sector organisations or profit distributing organisations.
• Individuals

These lists are not exhaustive. Advice should be sought if an applicant believes that the status of their organisation is not listed.

The following questions were added on 31 August 2022.

Q25. Please clarify that it’s not payment by results and that funding will be awarded at the start of the contract.

Grant payments will be made on the fulfilment of specific milestones set out in the grant agreement throughout the period of the programme.

Q26. Is there a fixed geography?

It is important that social housing residents from across England can take advantage of this new opportunities and empowerment programme. To be eligible to apply for the grant, applicants need to be based in England. Applicants need to be able to demonstrate how their prior experiences give them the ability to deliver support across England.

Q27. How are the housing associations chosen? How are tenants identified and/or referred?

It is for bidders to decide how they will deliver the programme to meet the needs of the residents as described in the prospectus. The application form asks applicants how their marketing and branding will drive demand to meet the objectives of the programme.

The following questions were added on 2 September 2022.

Q28. When you talk about marketing, this would be to social landlords as well as tenants, once they are onboard?

It is for bidders to decide where the marketing is aimed to meet the needs of the audience as described in the prospectus. It might include social landlords because that could enable residents to be reached. However, the prospectus also states applicants should explain how processes will be proportionate and accessible for social housing residents to access without their landlord being a gatekeeper/barrier.

Q29. We would identify the landlord partners?

We would expect the grant recipient to develop and implement the approach for engaging landlords.

The following questions were added on 26 September 2022.

Q30. Does the department have any preferred models for calculating social value in bids?

The prospectus does not stipulate a preferred model for calculating social value.

Q31. How will you assess different training models for example quality verses quantity?

The prospectus is clear about how bids will be scored and how the scoring is weighted. It is for applicants to demonstrate in their application how their proposed model meets with the objectives of the programme. As part of the application process, bidders are asked to provide expected numbers for DLUHC’s core KPIs and propose any additional KPIs as part of project delivery. This will assist the assessment team to evaluate quality verses quantity in bids.

Q32. Can you attach reports or evaluation documents to the application form as evidence to support the bid?

It is permissible for bidders to use references to support their answers but reports or evaluation documents should not be attached to the application form to support a bid. Additional information will not be assessed as part of the evaluation process. Applicants should include all the information they want to rely on to evidence their bid in their answers to questions.

Q33. The prospectus stipules a national offer, are there any particular areas that bidders should focus on?

In terms of geography applicants need to be able to demonstrate how their prior experiences give them the ability to deliver support across England. The prospectus also asks how applicants intend to address existing gaps in provision. We are interested in how bidders will reach underrepresented demographics and target residents who are new to engagement activities and/or haven’t had the opportunity to undertake training previously.

Q34. Since the programme is delivered over a period of time, how developed must the application proposal be in terms of budgets and deliverables? Are you looking for fully scoped proposals or are there elements that can be developed at a later stage?

The prospectus is clear about how bids will be scored and how the scoring is weighted. It is for applicants to demonstrate in their application how their proposal meets with the objectives of the programme. As part of the application process, bidders are asked to explain how they will gather and use feedback and other intelligence for the continuous improvement of the programme and how they will work with us under this programme to provide a service that is flexible and adaptable to changing demands.

Q35. The questions and answers document states there will be no extension of the deadline for late applications. Given the current political landscape and other Social Housing White Paper workstreams is this still the case?

We do not foresee any reason to change the deadline for applications. Other Social Housing White Paper workstreams are not a dependency for this programme.

Q36. Would you consider a bid at County or regional level at all?

If your organisation wants to provide a programme that will be accessible to all social housing residents in England and meets the objectives and outcomes set out in the prospectus, it will be welcome to apply. If your organisation only wants to provide a County or regional programme only, it should not apply.

Q37. Can an organisation be included as a consortium partner on more than one application where the organisation is not looking to submit a lead partner or single organisation bid?

It is permissible for an organisation to be included as a consortium partner on more than one application where the organisation is not looking to submit a lead partner or single organisation bid.

The following question was added on 30 September 2022.

Q38. Can a diagram or picture be included within the application form without it being part of the overall word count?

The reasonable use of diagrams and pictures within the application form will not count towards the overall word count.