Notice

Guidance for applicants - Space for All Fund 2023

Published 1 September 2023

This notice was withdrawn on 24 October 2024

The call is now closed.

1. THE SPACE FOR ALL FUND 2023 (REF: UKSAG23_0041)

2. GOVERNMENT STRATEGY

In 2021, HM Government published its National Space Strategy. Its first goal is to grow and level up our space economy. To achieve this, interventions unlocking growth in the UK space sector include nurturing talent and inspiring the next generation into Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) careers. Under its ten-point plan, an initiative to upskill and inspire our future space workforce will contribute to growth.

The UK Space Agency helps to deliver the National Space Strategy. As described in its Corporate Plan 2022-25, part of the Agency’s Value Proposition and role is to champion space and inspire STEM education and lifelong learning. Delivering against the National Space Strategy’s ten-point plan, the Agency’s Inspiration delivery priority aims to inspire young people to pursue STEM education and attract talent to the UK space sector.

3. AIMS OF THE SPACE FOR ALL FUND 2023

Under our Inspiration Priority, we are making at least £500,000 available* under this scheme during this comprehensive spending review period ending 31 March 2025. This will be an extremely competitive process in which we seek to offer grants likely to be between £50,000 and £100,000 for each award.

Our aim is to:

• develop new ways to reach young people from all backgrounds, that are modern and relevant to the technologies they are accustomed to, their values and social environments;

• encourage young people to pursue STEM education by using the exciting and inspiring context of space;

• increase the prevalence of regular, long-standing interventions and projects in the UK that will make a lasting impact on the choices of young people;

• inspire, support, engage and encourage students throughout their academic and social journeys into the world of work;

• sustain students through periods where they may otherwise be unsupported and lose focus and interest in STEM.

*Additional funding may be available subject to business case approvals.

4. OBJECTIVES OF THE SPACE FOR ALL FUND 2023

4.1 Your project must fulfil the following objectives.

• Develop an intervention that is high quality, accessible and easily updateable or modernised.

• Develop an intervention that is self-sustaining, can continue to deliver long after the grant funding ceases and is not reliant on government funding to continue.

• Encourage the uptake of STEM and/or raise science capital**.

** “Science capital refers to science-related qualifications, understanding, knowledge (about science and ‘how it works’), interest and social contacts (for example, knowing someone who works in a science-related job).” (ASPIRES, 2013)

4.2 Your project may focus on the following objectives.

• Develop an intervention that makes use of new or modern technologies or platforms, for example, gaming, social media, VR/AR, machine learning, AI, etc.

• Seek to introduce and develop STEM skills in students which are in demand (for example, coding, robotics) and/or skills useful in business such as communication, teamworking, etc.

• Use space and demonstrate topics wider than just human spaceflight.

• Focus on groups that are underserved or disadvantaged.

• Focus on diversity in STEM and the space sector.

• Support teachers in innovative ways, for example, develop classroom resources and bring to life aspects of the STEM curriculum and relate them to real life and diverse role models.

• Focus on raising awareness of the relevance of space to UK citizens, how space benefits the planet and its people, UK achievements in space, and how STEM subjects increase life opportunities.

• Develop activities or resources that contextualise space in a way which is relevant to young people of today, for example, how Earth observation satellites support our climate monitoring.

Where possible, we encourage the development of projects that can be free for the public to use and access, to improve access for underserved or disadvantaged groups. However, we recognise that this is not always possible and will consider all projects on their merits.

Projects may involve elements of research and development and may not necessarily reach young people and audiences during the grant-funding period. In such instances, we would require an evaluation of the future impact following the delivery of the intervention. Any pilot delivery as part of the project will need to be evaluated and the impact and reach provided as a detailed report.

The UK Space Agency would expect some photos and videos of successful projects for use in its promotion of funded projects across its social media platforms. (All the related permissions and consents should be sought and secured from the data subjects as necessary.)

4.3 Projects will not be funded if:

• they are engagement projects or events that will only reach a group(s) once,

• they will entirely rely on government funding to continue,

• they do not provide any benefits after the grant ends, or

• they do not use space or have any relevance to space.

4.4 Your project can target specific or multiple audiences, examples include:

• all age groups of young people,

• disadvantaged or underserved,

• diverse communities,

• parents,

• teachers,

• club leaders, and/or

• home schoolers.

5. TIMETABLE

We anticipate the following schedule:

• opening of award scheme – 1 September 2023

• deadline for proposals to be received – 5pm 27 October 2023

• outcome notification – w/c 27 November 2023

• grant-funded work on projects to start from – 4 December 2023

• grant duration to end by – 21 March 2025 (but projects expected to continue beyond the grant period)

6. ELIGIBILITY

There are a series of requirements for eligibility to receive grant funding.

• Grant Recipients must demonstrate the ability to effectively manage a project.

• Grant Recipients must have a UK bank account and all grant payments will be made in UK sterling (as per grant funding agreement).

• All project members must have in place and provide evidence of appropriate anti-bribery and anti-corruption policies.

• All project members must provide evidence of a process for declaring and managing conflicts of interest.

• All project members must be able to provide evidence that they are General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) compliant.

• Projects cannot work in areas that are in active conflict and any travel to overseas must comply with Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) recommendations.

• Projects must pass due diligence checks on company viability (financial standing assessment, governance, conflicts of interest, technical expertise).

• Formal teaming, or equivalent agreements between project partners must be in place within 60 days of grant signature.

• Projects must comply with the rules stated in this guidance document.

Eligible organisations include academic or research institutions (including schools, universities, research councils and UK Space Agency partners), charities, trusts and companies (including not-for-profit).

Subject to further guidelines below, grants may cover all types of expenses, including:

• contributions to salaries,

• costs of materials, and

• travel and subsistence.

Subject to further guidelines below, grants may not cover:

• fees for people already in paid employment where the proposed work could be reasonably undertaken as part of their normal duties,

• unclear costings and those which do not appear to be based on valid estimates, or

• expensive items (for example, equipment or buildings) unless they are intrinsic to the success of the project.

7. SUBSIDY CONTROL

This competition does include the provision of funding that is not classed by the UK Space Agency as a subsidy. You should still seek independent legal advice on what this means for you, before applying.

Further information about the UK Subsidy Control requirements can be found within the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation agreement and the subsequent HM Government guidance.

‘No subsidy’ status is only granted to organisations which declare that they will not use the funding:

• in any way which gives them selective economic or commercial advantage, and

• in any way which would determine the funding as a subsidy as defined by the EU-UK Trade Cooperation Agreement.

It is the responsibility of the lead organisation to make sure all collaborators in the project remain compliant with these requirements.

It is important to note that it is the activity that an organisation is engaged in as part of the project and not its intentions, that define whether any support provided could be considered a subsidy.

Applicants can apply for funding for up to 100% of eligible project costs.

8. APPLICATION PROCESS

8.1 Submitting your application

The application form is included as a separate document. Up to a maximum of six additional sides of A4 may be included with your application form (for example, text, diagrams or photographs) to support your application. An additional four sides of A4 can be included for evaluation forms, publicity materials and/or resources produced for projects from which this project is a spin-off or extension (if applicable). Any other material submitted will not be included in the grant assessment. We must also receive a signature on the application form from an administrative authority in your organisation (for example, Head of Department, Head Teacher or someone else in a senior position in your organisation).

8.2 Deadline

All applications should be submitted by no later than 5pm on Friday 27 October 2023.

8.3 Submitting your Application Form

Please complete and submit the application form, with any attachments, by email to: education@ukspaceagency.gov.uk. Please quote reference UKSAG23_0041 on all correspondence.

8.4 Notification and payment of awards

Payment will be by BACS transfer only. Successful applicants must be able to submit their bank account details within 10 working days of notification of the award by completing a Word format AP1 Supplier Maintenance Form (which will be sent at the time of notification). If this is not completed in 10 days, the award may be withdrawn. These details are treated in the strictest of confidence.

Payment is made in arrears, on completion of your project.

Staged (milestone) payments may be made, especially if your project requires payments against invoices for large items or against certain milestones. There is space on the application form for you to detail these milestones for us to consider. These interim payments and their associated deliverables need to be agreed with us before you start spending against the award and will be detailed in the grant agreement.

Payment is never made in advance of work being done.

Grants may extend over to the end of financial year 2024/2025, as required, from the date the Grant Funding Agreement (GFA) is executed (signed).

Grant-funded work on Projects to start no earlier than 4 December 2023.

Grant duration to end by 21 March 2025 (but projects expected to continue beyond the grant period)

The commencement date of the project, that is, from when costs to be reimbursed under the grant can be incurred from, should be the date the grant is executed (signed). Please be aware that it is not best practice to backdate the project commencement date from the date of execution, so successful applicants should not delay in returning signed grant agreements, risking shortening the project window. Until a grant is signed, no commitment to funding has been made and, therefore, no work should be undertaken.

The final claim for the grant will need to be received by the UK Space Agency by Friday 21 March 2025 to enable the payment to be processed before the end of the financial year. For this purpose, final report and grant claim form templates will be issued to successful applicants.

9. ASSESSMENT OF APPLICATIONS

Applications will be referred to an evaluation panel comprised of judges with experience in STEM-based education and outreach projects from a range of backgrounds including industry, academia and both public and private sectors, who will score and rank them against the criteria below. The judges will then meet to finalise the marks and funds will be provisionally allocated to the highest ranked applications.

10. EVALUATION CRITERIA

Each application will be assessed with respect to four criteria:

1 Alignment to objectives

2 Quality

3 Feasibility

4 Value for Money

Each criterion will be scored on a scale between 0 to 10 taking into consideration the following.

10.1 Alignment to objectives

• How far does the proposed work align to the objectives of the UK Space Agency’s Inspiration priority?

• How far does the proposed work align to the objectives of the Space for All Fund 2023?

10.2 Quality

• Have the applicants put together a clear, easily comprehensible application?

• How far does the applicants’ experience support their delivery of the project?

• How will the applicants promote the project to their audience and support access for difficult to reach groups?

• How well thought through is the evaluation plan and how well does it support the UK Space Agency in understanding the impact of the project?

• How well-described is the impact – including numbers reached and quality of experience for those involved; and the projected future impact, including second order benefits (wider benefits that are not a direct output of the project)?

10.3 Feasibility

• How likely is the project to meet its objectives?

• Are there realistic timescales?

• Is there a competent team behind the project?

• Is there a clear list of project deliverables?

• Do the applicants have a robust plan for managing project risks, issues and putting in place timely mitigations?

10.4 Value for Money

• Are the sums requested appropriate and has a full and itemised breakdown of costs been included in the application?

• Can the resources/project output be used again and deliver long term?

• Have the applicants explored reasonable alternative routes of funding their project, and explained why these were discounted?

• Is there a need for funding, for example, would this project happen without UK Space Agency?

11. EXCLUSION CRITERIA

Applications will be automatically disqualified if they:

• do not relate at all to the work of the UK Space Agency,

• are intended to reach international audiences only,

• do not meet the core criteria.

12. REPORTING REQUIREMENTS

A final report (including project summary, delivery numbers, evaluation report, and financial report), summary of spend with Value Added Tax (VAT) receipts, etc., and invoice will need to be submitted before payment can be made in arrears on the completion of your project.

Where staged payments have been requested and agreed, interim reports, summaries of spend with VAT receipts, etc., and invoices will need to be submitted before payments can be made in arrears.

13. CONFIDENTIALITY

The information you supply on the application form will be treated in confidence and used by the UK Space Agency in accordance with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) rules.

All applications are in confidence, although we propose to publish project titles and summaries of funded projects on the UK Space Agency website and in press releases. If you are not happy about this, please contact us.

The UK Space Agency may also contact you about its space education and outreach programme in the future. The UK Space Agency will not disclose your information to any third parties.

14. GUIDELINES FOR PROJECTS

14.1 Cost Recovery

The funds from Grant funding are on a cost recovery basis only. Grants are solely intended to cover the cost of delivering the agreed activity or goal. Any surplus funds not spent will be lost to the project unless there are alternative arrangements agreed.

Grant recipients cannot receive any funding from other grants/contracts to undertake the same activities.

Grant funding cannot be rolled over between financial years without explicit consent from UK Space Agency.

15. FINANCE POLICY

All partners must use a separate, project-specific, bank account or project accounting code for project funds to enable a clear audit trail.

15.1 Invoices

The UK Space Agency will only pay on actuals; therefore, we expect invoices may differ from forecasts. Should actual costs incurred be greater than the value of the milestone value, these costs will be borne by the Grant Recipient, unless the additional expenditure has been agreed with the UK Space Agency ahead of the costs being incurred and a Grant Change Notice (GCN) executed.

15.2 Staff Costs

Staff costs must be calculated on a cost recovery basis only and broken down by pay costs and overheads separately.

15.3 Pay costs

Pay costs are calculated based on your Pay As You Earn (PAYE) records. They should include gross salary, employer National Insurance (NI) contributions and employer pension contributions. Pay costs must not include:

• any profit margins,

• commercial charge-out rates,

• allowances for bonuses and benefits in kind,

• business development,

• travel and subsistence.

These pay rates will be subject to checks during the negotiation stage by internal or external teams to ensure that day rates reflect actual costs. High payroll costs will be challenged and evidence (such as pay slips, etc.) must be provided to justify that the rate is on a cost recovery basis only.

When making grant claims against labour costs, actual costs claimed must be supported with timesheets of those individuals who have worked on the project.

In the budget breakdown, you are asked to provide a pay cost per day. Using actual gross monthly payroll costs, please assume 260 working days in the year, less annual leave and public holiday entitlements.

16. OVERHEADS

Due to the low value nature of the grants to be awarded under this call, the UK Space Agency will not consider overheads higher than 20%, as per some of our other calls.

Overheads should be stated separately from the pay costs, charged at 20%. This 20% overhead should be recorded in the overhead column in the budget breakdown, this allows you to claim 20% of your pay costs as overhead. This includes both direct and indirect overhead. The overheads relating to contingent workforce / consultants should be included within their daily rate, and not included in either the calculation of the 20% overhead allowance.

17. VAT RULES

Grant funding is outside the scope of VAT so you cannot charge output VAT on top of your submitted costs. If you incur non-recoverable input VAT costs, you cannot pass this on to UK Space Agency.

18. INELIGIBLE EXPENDITURE

The following costs are ineligible.

• Payment that supports lobbying or activity intended to influence or attempt to influence Parliament, Government or political parties, or attempting to influence the awarding or renewal of contracts and grants, or attempting to influence legislative or regulatory action.

• Using grant funding to petition for additional funding.

• Input VAT reclaimable by the Grant Recipient from HMRC.

• Payments for activities of a political or exclusively religious nature.

• Goods or services that the Grant Recipient has a statutory duty to provide.

• Payments reimbursed or to be reimbursed by other public or private sector grants.

• Contributions in kind (that is, a contribution in goods or services, as opposed to money).

• Depreciation, amortisation or impairment of fixed assets owned by the Grant Recipient.

• The acquisition or improvement of fixed assets by the Grant Recipient (unless the grant is explicitly for capital use.

• Interest payments (including service charge payments for finance leases).

• Gifts to individuals.

• Entertaining (entertaining for this purpose means anything that would be a taxable benefit to the person being entertained, according to current UK tax regulations).

• Statutory fines, criminal fines or penalties; or liabilities incurred before the issue of this funding agreement unless agreed in writing by UK Space Agency.

• Employee paid benefits and bonuses.

• Alcohol.

19. TRAVEL AND SUBSISTENCE

The following outlines the guidelines for travel and subsistence costs. Value for money must always be considered. If for any reason the set limits cannot be adhered to (for example, to accommodate a reasonable adjustment), you must seek prior written approval from the UK Space Agency. No claims for alcohol will be accepted.

The UK Space Agency reserves the right to not settle claims which have breached these guidelines. All expenditure must be supported by actual, itemised receipts.

Limits:

• Accommodation: £154 per night

• Breakfast: £5.50

• Lunch: £5.50

• Dinner: £16.50

Travel:

• All travel claimed must be using Economy rates.

• Tolls, Ferry Costs, Parking and congestion charge: Receipted costs for ferries, and toll bridges and roads unavoidably incurred during your business journey may be claimed. Reasonable parking charges may be claimed. Receipted congestion charges unavoidably incurred on your business journey may be claimed.

20. GRANT FUNDING AGREEMENT

The grant funding agreement template is included as a separate document. Applicants must sign up to the terms as set out in the grant funding agreement.

No material changes to the terms will be considered. Minor changes may be considered if an applicant can demonstrate that agreeing to the provision within the Grant Funding Agreement would result in the applicant breaching its statutory or regulatory obligations. Grant applicants wishing to propose changes should not make changes directly to templates, but engage with the call lead and advice will be provided.

21. GRANT RECIPIENT CODE OF CONDUCT

All organisations in receipt of grant funding must abide by the UK Government Code of Conduct for Grant Recipients: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/754555/2018-11-06_Code_of_Conduct_for_Grant_Recipients.pdf

22. DUE DILIGENCE

The UK Space Agency will carry out due diligence on grant applications as required using internal and, where necessary, external subject matter experts. The scope and degree of due diligence is determined by the value, nature and complexity of the grant scheme. All applications will be subject to basic checks such as credit reports and Companies House checks.

Additional pre-award due diligence may include but is not limited to the following.

• Technical assessment of the proposed project: including technical viability and sustainability.

• Financial assessment: organisation financial standing/health, assessment of project costs, aid intensity values and match funding contributions.

• Economic impact/Value For Money assessment.

• Commercial: viability and/or commercial sustainability of the proposed solution, market position, demand and/or interest in technology, terms of the Grant Funding Agreement.

• Programmatic: alignment to aims and objectives of the programme, programme plan which demonstrates the project can be delivered within the funding period and the critical path, risks and issues, details on project partners and/or subcontractors.

Post-award due diligence may include but is not limited to the following.

• Technical assessment of milestone deliverables against acceptance criteria to allow milestone payments to be released.

• Financial: assessment of expenditure for each milestone payment and reporting on planned costs, follow up review of financial standing/health if it is a multi-year project.

• Commercial: change management including any variations to time, cost, scope, or GFA terms; review of milestone deliverables as required.

• Programmatic: project progress and impacts of any delays, risk assessment and mitigation activity; and

• End of project review: has the technical and economic value been realised? Lessons learned and continuous improvement.

Grant Applicants who opt to work with project partners, companies involved in delivery of the project under a flow down agreement rather than a subcontractor, will assume all responsibility for partner due diligence.

Applicants will need to demonstrate they have carried out a sufficient level of due diligence with regard to their proposed project partners and subcontractors. Applicants will need to demonstrate they have carried out minimum checks at proposal stage, which may require further scrutiny if the proposal is to be funded.

To meet this requirement, applicants can provide evidence of due diligence carried out supported by the resulting information or submit a partner reasonable assurance statement. The evidence should be consistent with the checks that we would conduct on our Grant Recipients, for examples, financial standing, technical ability and scrutiny of the breakdown of costs. Any costs associated with project partner due diligence is considered a bidding cost and is to be borne by the applicant.

Applicants must provide evidence that they, and project partners have in place of appropriate anti-bribery and anti-corruption internal policies, and a process for declaring and managing conflicts of interest.

23. DISCLAIMER

This guidance is not a substitute for taking independent legal advice on your eligibility status, before applying for funding. Every applicant is responsible for securing their own independent legal advice to ensure they are lawfully eligible.

Please note the UK Space Agency is unable to award organisations that are considered to be ailing and insolvent companies. We will conduct financial viability and eligibility tests to confirm this is not the case following the application stage.

If you see an error in this guidance

Email: Commercial@ukspaceagency.gov.uk

24. QUESTIONS YOU MAY HAVE

Can I propose starting the project before 4 December 2023?

We ask that grant-funded work on projects commences no earlier than 4 December to allow time for the evaluation, due diligence checks and execution of grant agreements.

Can I finish my project after 21 March 2025?

In order to reimburse project costs that have been expended and pay invoices by the end of the financial year, we will need a final report (including project summary, delivery numbers, evaluation report, and financial report) by 21 March 2025. However, it is expected that projects will continue beyond the grant-funding duration and, for as such, we would expect to receive a simple report every 12 months for at least two years to show how the project progressed and who it reached.

Can anyone apply for an award?

Anyone can apply for an award, but Grant Recipients must have and maintain, with a reputable insurance company, a policy or policies in respect of all risks which they may incur out of their performance under a grant agreement. At a minimum, Grant Recipients need to have insurances in place which are required by law, for example, public/employee liability insurance and cover for death/personal injury.

25. HOW TO CONTACT US

If you have any questions that are not answered in these notes for guidance, please contact the education team at education@ukspaceagency.gov.uk