Guidance

Youth Investment Fund Phase 2: intermediary grant maker specification of requirements

Updated 14 March 2022

Applies to England

1. Summary of grant funding

The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) intends to provide a grant to a voluntary, community or social enterprise (VCSE) or youth sector organisation, or a joint delivery body led by such an organisation, to act as intermediary grant maker (IGM) for the Youth Investment Fund Phase 2 (YIF Phase 2), to distribute up to £368 million over three years (2022/23 to 2024/25) to eligible places across England. This represents £288 million of capital funding and up to £80 million of resource funding including for fund delivery. The final selection of an IGM will be made by a panel appointed by DCMS, using the assessment criteria set out in Section 11 of this document.

For the purposes of this grant award process, the award for onward grant funding will be approximately £346 million inclusive of irreclaimable VAT (delivery costs not included). The grant recipient will be eligible for an additional resource grant to cover the costs associated with delivery of the YIF Phase 2. Applicants should outline the amount requested to deliver this funding within the application form and provide a breakdown of these costs. Please justify any anticipated costs that fall outside the typical administration benchmark of 2-6% of the total programme funding awarded.

Period of funding agreement

The IGM will be expected to start work in summer 2022, with exact dates to be determined in due course.

The grant agreement with the IGM will be from summer 2022 (date TBC) to the end of the financial year 2024/25, with programme delivery completed and all funding claimed and disbursed by 31 March 2025. The formal agreement is likely to close in June 2025 to account for participation in the final stages of post-event assurance and evaluation. Grant funding from DCMS for the IGM delivery costs will be paid in arrears in instalments during the 22/23, 23/24 and 24/25 financial years.

Grants cannot be paid out for any work undertaken by any applicant or the notified preferred applicant prior to countersignature of the grant agreement.

The IGM will need to submit an interim progress report, with a final report reflecting on grant usage, programme success, and the impact of the activities initiated by the grant funding, no later than 30 June 2025. If an Applicant fails to meet these milestones and/or provides unsatisfactory report[s], DCMS reserves the right to require the Applicant to repay all or part of the grant funding.

2. Introduction

The Youth Investment Fund (YIF)’s objective is to create, expand and improve local youth facilities and their services, in order to drive positive outcomes for young people, including improved mental and physical wellbeing, and skills for life and work.

The YIF will provide a step change in the provision of safe spaces for all young people. It will provide youth organisations with truly innovative spaces, and allow them to deliver more and better activities to underpin these facilities, reaching more young people. It will achieve savings on facility running costs, benefiting facility operators (and the taxpayer), and enable more resources to be focused on the activities that directly enrich the lives of young people. YIF will help to level the playing field of youth services and facilities, so that young people across the country have equal access to high-quality spaces and activities within their reach.

YIF Phase 1 (21/22)

In 21/22, £10 million of capital investment is being released for early disbursement into projects that allow organisations to expand or enhance their offer to young people, such that they improve mental and physical wellbeing, and skills for life and work. This funding can also be invested into projects that improve the operational effectiveness and efficiency of organisations working with young people, so that they can focus more resource on their core purpose. YIF Phase 1 is being delivered by BBC Children in Need, for completion by 31 March 2022.

YIF Phase 2 (22/23 to 24/25)

The Youth Investment Fund Phase 2 will deliver up to 300 facilities that represent positive value for money, are environmentally sustainable and enable positive activities for young people aged 11 to 18 (up to 25 for young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities) in eligible places across England, by 2024/25. The Youth Investment Fund Phase 2 (YIF Phase 2) is a commitment to young people to transform and level up the out-of-school youth sector. It will provide truly innovative youth facilities in levelling up priority areas, and early-stage/seed resource funding to underpin them, enabling more positive activities that deliver improved mental and physical wellbeing, and skills for life and work for young people.

This funding will drive value for money facilities that youth organisations can afford to sustain. Utilising modern methods of construction (MMC) and other innovative construction techniques, as well as supporting redevelopment projects that expand youth service provision, the YIF will achieve savings on facility running costs, benefiting operators — and the taxpayer — so that resources can focus on activities that enrich young people’s lives.

3. Timetable

Due to the need for the full £368 million of funding to be delivered by the end of the 2024/25 financial year, delivery at pace is critical, and the provisional timetable for delivery of onward grants below reflects this.

All funding must be distributed by the IGM to VCSE, youth sector or local authority organisations by 31 March 2025.

Resource funding to deliver the YIF Phase 2 should also be claimed by 31 March 2025. Any uncommitted funds must be returned to DCMS within three months of programme closure, by 30 June 2025.

Event	Timing
Fund setup, including launch of application portal for round 1 of funding	July - September 2022
Receiving, sifting and assessing grant applications for round 1 of funding	September - October 2022
Provide a final list of all proposed grantees to DCMS for information	October 2022
Awarding of grant funds to recipients, including signing Grant Agreements	October 2022
Grant recipients begin delivery of funded projects	October 2022
Project monitoring	November 2022 onwards - March 2025
Participation in fund evaluation and reporting	October 2022 to June 2025
Participation in post-event assurance	May 2023 - July 2025
Completion of grant management and handover of audit information and assets	By end of June 2025

Proposed application timetable and administrative arrangements

Proposed Application Timetable and Administrative Arrangements	Date
Publish grant competition and invite applications	22 February 2022
Deadline for clarification questions from applicants (anonymised questions and answers will be published on GOV.UK shortly after this date)	4 March 2022
Virtual engagement session, to explain the opportunity in further detail and answer any queries	w/c 7 March 2022
Deadline for application submissions	12pm (noon), 29 March 2022
Shortlisting of applications for interview	30 March - 5 April 2022
Virtual interviews with shortlisted applicants	6 - 12 April 2022
Notification of preferred applicant	TBC - April 2022
Funding award (following internal government approvals)	TBC - expect July 2022
Funding start date	TBC - expect July 2022
Interim report (if required)	To be confirmed with applicant
End of project delivery	31 March 2025
Deadline for participation in evaluation and post-event assurance	30 June 2025
Final report submission	30 June 2025

The proposed timetable is only a guideline. DCMS reserves the right to make any changes it deems necessary to the proposed timetable. Please note, release of this funding and any subsequent grant agreement is dependent on DCMS securing sufficient approvals and is not guaranteed. DCMS will confirm the availability of funding to the successful applicant as soon as possible. Costs incurred in completing this application will not be eligible for funding.

4. Funding purpose

The YIF’s objective is to create, expand and improve local youth facilities and their services, in order to drive positive outcomes for young people, including improved mental and physical wellbeing, and skills for life and work.

The YIF Phase 2 is a commitment to young people to transform and level up the out-of-school youth sector. It will provide truly innovative youth facilities in eligible places, and early-stage/seed resource funding to underpin them, enabling more positive activities that deliver improved health and wellbeing and skills for work and life for young people.

This funding will drive value for money facilities that youth organisations can afford to sustain. Utilising modern methods of construction (MMC) and other innovative construction techniques, as well as supporting redevelopment projects that expand youth service provision, the YIF will achieve savings on facility running costs, benefiting operators — and the taxpayer — so that resources can focus on activities that enrich young people’s lives.

The YIF Phase 2 will work with eligible places in England to level up youth provision, assessing and distributing grants to deliver the indicative fund objectives below, subject to demand. Please note that these objectives are still being shaped and may be subject to some change.

The YIF Phase 2 will:

1. Increase the number of regular positive activities undertaken by young people in the targeted areas by 45,000 per year, by 2026/27.

2. Provide new and redeveloped facilities delivering positive activities to young people, funded through self-reliant funding models.

3. Improve the environmental sustainability of the youth sector estate in target areas through energy efficiencies and/or low carbon heating.

4. Reduce the environmental impact of construction activities across the programme, by funding facilities with the lowest reasonable carbon footprint across their lifetime.

5. Reduce build and ongoing running costs, by supporting new or redeveloped youth facilities that demonstrate 20% reduced annual running costs by 2025/26, compared to ageing youth facilities.

DCMS is seeking to appoint an IGM — a VCSE or youth sector organisation, or joint delivery body led by such an organisation, with substantial experience in grant delivery, capital funding including for construction and significant redevelopment projects, and knowledge of the youth sector. This IGM will administer approximately £346 million (delivery costs not included), over 3 years, in the form of an onward grant through a limited competition to eligible places. Additional resource funding will be available in the form of a grant to cover the costs of the IGM to deliver the programme.

The IGM will:

• work in eligible places with stakeholders, including VCSE and youth organisations and local authorities
• develop funding criteria, application documents and guidance for applicants
• set up and manage an application portal
• publicise the fund
• provide resources and workshops to support youth organisations in levelling up priority areas to develop applications
• receive and assess applications for multiple funding rounds per year, and make awards
• engage with construction consultants to facilitate use of a framework for purchase of standard builds
• work with national and local funders to secure match funding commitments for the programme
• develop and manage project monitoring processes and documentation, including for construction and redevelopment projects
• participate in a comprehensive evaluation of the YIF Phase 2, working closely with an appointed evaluator and providing data deemed necessary for the evaluation
• participate in post-event assurance commissioned by DCMS
• regularly report progress to DCMS

We anticipate that funding will be awarded to the recipient under section 70 of the Charities Act 2006.

5. Scope of grant funding requirements

The YIF Phase 2 IGM will be responsible for assessing and distributing capital and resource grants of approximately £346 million (not including costs for IGM delivery) to youth sector organisations, VCSEs and local authorities. The breakdown of onward grant funding per financial year is still subject to change and government financial planning. However, to help with applicants’ resource planning, we expect administrative work to be front-loaded for setup of the programme, and onward grant payments to be back-loaded.

We estimate that the majority of capital grants will be between £300,000 and £8.7 million, with around 300 capital grants awarded and resource grants linked to these. This is subject to the volume and quality of applications.

Applicants to the YIF Phase 2 are expected to be youth or VCSE organisations or local authorities.

Onward grants distributed by the IGM must be viable for delivery between 22/23 and 24/25 financial years, with all funding disbursed by 31 March 2025. Capital grants may include, for example:

• large new youth centres/zones, with multiple rooms, including outdoor space and full youth facilities
• medium new youth centres, with one or more rooms/spaces and uses for youth services/activities
• small new modular youth units, using modern methods of construction, or other innovative and efficient construction techniques, consisting of a single main space for smaller youth services/activities
• repurposing of existing facilities, including preserving or reinstating disused or derelict spaces for use as youth centres, where renovation work will expand the capacity, inclusivity or quality of services being offered to young people
• expansion or extension of existing facilities used for youth services/activities, where renovation work will expand the capacity, inclusivity or quality of services being offered to young people

Repairs, maintenance or cosmetic works that do not expand the capacity, inclusivity or quality of services being offered, or do not prevent a facility from falling into disuse, will not be eligible for capital funding.

Resource grants must create, expand or improve local youth services/activities from YIF’s capital-funded facilities, enabling more positive activities that deliver improved mental and physical wellbeing, and skills for life and work for young people. Resource grants should be used as early-stage or seed funding for youth activities from new or redeveloped youth facilities, to ensure that facilities drive these positive outcomes for young people, and to help enable youth organisations to develop sustainable funding models.

It is essential to recognise funded activity in the period it occurs and within the allocated annual budget profiles. All projects will need to be completed or be unreliant on YIF funding beyond 31 March 2025.

We expect the IGM to deliver multiple rounds of funding, up to four per year, between 22/23 and 24/25.

Performance will be measured and reported frequently against the following KPIs:

Key performance indicators (KPIs)

Nr	KPI	Key indicator
1	Assess and sift grant applications and make awards through multiple rounds of funding per year	Reports provided to DCMS officials every other week detailing the organisations awarded funding.
2	Grants are awarded quickly, recipients are set up on the payment system and grant agreements signed	100% of onward grants awarded and Grant Agreements sent out within 2 months of a funding round’s closure, with 100% of funding disbursed by 31 March 2025. Average number of days taken awarding grant from initial submission by applicants.
3	Use of due diligence programmes to check grantees	Grant recipients run through fraud risk programmes. Number of applications submitted to the fund that are fraud checked in accordance with HM Gov policy (%). All fraud checks completed using Spotlight (data shared with DCMS officials to run through the Spotlight tool). Average time to resolve concerns with submitted applications arising from fraud checks, to satisfy DCMS’s risk appetite.
4	Monitoring information provided to DCMS on a timely basis	Weekly payment schedules shared with DCMS. Monthly information reports provided to DCMS analytics officials (information to be captured will be defined with the appointed IGM at a later date).
5	Money recouped from deliberately misspent grants (fraud, error, misrepresentation etc)	At the end of each financial year of the Grant Agreement, less than 5% of total grant funding misspent and all money recouped to DCMS.
6	Payments made in genuine error, e.g. wrong amount paid or payment sent to wrong bank	No payments made in error.

6. Eligibility criteria of applicants

VCSE sector or youth sector organisations are encouraged to apply for this role. Applicants may apply as a single organisation with or without delivery partners, or may alternatively submit a joint application (for example, as a consortium, joint venture, unincorporated association, partnership or otherwise). This may, for example, apply to entities who feel that alone they do not have the capacity or capability to address the size and scale of the department’s requirement, or wish to bring in additional expertise to meet the department’s required skills and experience for this role. Applicants are responsible for determining the most appropriate approach to delivering their proposal.

The following additional information applies to applicants who put forward a joint approach:

• A lead party must be identified that shall submit an application on behalf of all parties to the joint application.
• The lead party shall be responsible for all communication with the department during the application and appointment process.
• As part of their application, the applicant must submit a structure diagram identifying the roles and relationships between the parties including all relevant companies, their respective parent or ultimate holding companies. The structure should make clear who will be responsible for delivery of the grant and ensure that, as a minimum, the legal obligations and liabilities of the applicant are borne by an entity or entities which satisfy the financial and economic requirements set out in this specification of requirements. Where the joint application is proposing to create a separate legal entity, such as a special purpose vehicle (SPV) or consortium, they should provide details of the actual or proposed percentage shareholding of the constituent members within the new entity and details of its legal and operational structure. An SPV is a legal entity that is formed to perform a specific contract.
• The applicant must submit written confirmation from each party that they authorise the lead party organisation to act on their behalf in relation to this grant competition.
• If awarded a grant, unless otherwise stated in your application, each of the Parties shall be jointly and severally responsible for the due performance of any grant agreement with the department.

Applicants must advise the department if there is any change to their legal status and/or composition during or after the appointment process, and the department reserves the right to disqualify applicants where significant or material changes occur.

Mandatory requirements:

• A youth sector or voluntary, community and social enterprise (VCSE) sector organisation as sole applicant or lead partner of a joint application.
• Experience, understanding of and ability to work with the youth sector.
• Understanding of and ability to work with local government.
• An existing appropriate IT system to support grant management services.
• Substantial experience of grant management and delivery, in particular technical assessment of bids for capital projects, including construction of new facilities and redevelopment or repurposing of existing facilities.
• Sufficient technical, financial, human and logistical capacity within the 22/23, 23/24 and 24/25 financial years to take on this role.
• England-wide reach, with existing local, regional or place-based connections to facilitate local engagement with stakeholders.
• Ability to engage with construction consultants with MMC expertise, to facilitate use of a supplier framework by onward grant applicants for purchase of standard modular builds.
• Existing counter-fraud processes/protocols (such as fraud risk assessments, fraud, bribery and corruption due diligence, and post event assurance), and experience managing counter-fraud processes, particularly with construction projects.
• Experience of communications around large grant funding programmes, including publicising programmes, creating resources/workshops, and providing support to applicants to generate demand, build capacity, network/develop partnerships, and attract high-quality applications.
• Experience securing and managing external match funding sources and/or partners for grant funding programmes.

Desirable requirements:

• Experience working with facilities using modern methods of construction (MMC) and other innovative construction techniques.
• Experience working with research organisations to deliver robust evaluations of grant funding programmes, including collecting and sharing data from grant recipients.
• Ability to offer some match funding, preferably resource funding, to further the programme’s objectives.

7. Strategic / operational project plan

Please note that proposed timings are only a guideline at this point.

Setup and application phase:

Programme setup is expected to be in August 2022, with the first application phase for round 1 of funding from August 2022, and with others to follow in order to deliver multiple rounds of funding per year.

Milestone 1: launch of fund and opening for round 1 applications.

(c.30% of expected effort)

Activity	Description
Initial fund set up, including working with DCMS officials on an application form and guidance, and preparing to load onto a Portal/IT system. Early engagement with eligible places to raise awareness and interest in fund, facilitate local partnerships, support the development of applications, etc. Set up of helpline facility for queries.	Applicants should outline in their applications that they have a robust, existing application portal and IT system to support grant management services, specifically during the application stage. During this initial phase, DCMS and the IGM will work together to ensure the application form and guidance are fit for purpose, including agreement of data collection requirements. The IGM will work with DCMS to adjust the application form and guidance for uploading to their existing grant application system/portal.
Engagement with potential applicants in eligible places	The IGM, supported by DCMS, will be responsible for engaging with Local Authorities, youth and VCSE organisations in the targeted areas to generate demand and attract high-quality applications. This will include facilitating local partnerships and providing resources and workshops to support applicants as they develop projects, as well as answering questions on the application process.
Launch of the fund and opening of round 1 for applications	DCMS and the IGM will jointly produce all communications materials for the launching of the fund and opening of the application process for round 1 of funding — these will be released and promoted through GOV.UK channels and others as appropriate. The application process should also be used as an opportunity for collecting data that could be used to provide a baseline for the evaluation, and to gather further intelligence on demand for youth facilities, in particular where modular construction may be utilised, ready for future rounds of funding. Metrics will be finalised and discussed with DCMS upon appointment. The IGM will be expected to work closely with the appointed evaluation partners to collect and share all the information they request.
Fraud Risk Assessment	During this stage, the IGM should also carry out an in-depth fraud risk assessment to Cabinet Office Grants Functional Standards and Counter Fraud Functional Standards.
Assessment panel set up	The IGM will set up a panel to assess applications to the fund. Whilst DCMS will be represented on this panel, this will be in a purely advisory capacity and DCMS will not be accountable or responsible for any part of the decision-making process. The IGM will be responsible for management of the panel and awarding, managing and monitoring of all grants, providing reports on outcomes to DCMS.

Assessment phase:

The first assessment phase is expected to be in September to October 2022, with others to follow for future rounds of funding.

Milestone 2: participation in assessment panels

Milestone 3: closure of round 1 fund applications

Milestone 4: list of final grant recipients, with larger awards over £1m highlighted to DCMS

(c.30% of expected effort)

Activity	Description
Receiving, sifting and assessing grant applications weekly whilst fund is open	Applications will need to be assessed against eligibility criteria and assessment weightings developed with DCMS prior to launch of round 1. As these applications will require a robust financial assessment and understanding of construction projects, experience of assessing similar grant applications is mandatory.
Preparing a weekly shortlist of organisations awarded funding for review by the assessment panel, and preparing lists of awards for DCMS information	The IGM will be expected to: • perform the initial sift, discarding any applications that do not meet the eligibility criteria • conduct robust financial viability and construction quality checks of applications that do meet the criteria • produce a list of organisations for review at assessment panel, who will perform secondary organisational and reputational checks During this stage, the IGM should also look to begin collecting some preliminary data to inform monitoring of projects and the programme evaluation. Exact requirements will be defined at a later stage.

Award phase:

The first award phase is expected to be in October 2022, with others to follow for future rounds of funding.

Milestone 5: 100% of grants awarded and grant agreements signed

Milestone 6: fraud risk checks carried out on all grant awards

(c.10% of expected effort)

Activity

Description

Awarding of grants to recipients

The IGM will be expected to award recipients with Grant Agreements, setting out the terms and conditions of their grant and confirming the proposed payment schedule and monitoring schedule. The IGM will also be expected to carry out their own due diligence process and fraud risk assessment that meet Cabinet Office’s and DCMS’s minimum grant standards. These can be shared with the IGM ahead of awarding the grants, but will likely include: • completing a due diligence checklist • applying best practice and guidance • reviewing the financial position, governance and reputational aspects of grant recipients • ensuring all due diligence and fraud risk assessments are properly documented and shared with the DCMS policy team • and sharing details with DCMS officials, who will use the Cabinet Office ‘Spotlight’ grants tool to assess and monitor fraud risk.

Management phase:

The Management Phase will be ongoing over the course of the programme, beginning in November 2022, in order to monitor funded projects being delivered over multiple financial years.

Milestone 7: implementation of monitoring schedules for funded projects, through gathering of regular project reports

Milestone 8: weekly/monthly grant reporting to DCMS

Milestone 9: enabling evaluation partner to engage with grant recipients

(c.20% of expected effort)

Activity

Description

Project monitoring

The IGM will monitor all capital and resource funded projects to ensure that payments are being appropriately spent for the intended purpose and to provide quality assurance. IGM applicants should evidence in their proposals how they have previously dealt with monitoring of projects, particularly capital projects including construction and/or redevelopment, and how they will ensure quality control of such projects, such as by use of a Quantity Surveyor. Applicants should evidence how much resource they are prepared to assign for the duration of the fund. We would expect at least monthly reporting data to reflect on fraud risk. The IGM should provide DCMS with a weekly payment schedule to monitor forecast spend. The information the IGM will be asked to collect will be confirmed at a later date (and will likely include steers from other government departments). DCMS officials will work together with the IGM to build the best way of capturing the multiple data requirements we are likely to be asked to provide. IGM applicants will need to ensure the evaluation partner is engaged with onward grant recipients to ensure their participation within monitoring and evaluation activities as required.

Review phase:

The review phase will be repeated at key points over the course of the programme, 2022/23 to 2024/25, in order to conduct evaluation and post-event assurance processes on multiple rounds of funding.

Milestone 10: ensuring the evaluation partner is engaged with recipients, and providing data as required to the evaluation partner and PEA partner.

(c.5% of expected effort)

Activity

Description

Participation in post-event assurance (PEA) and evaluation

The IGM will be expected to participate in post-event assurance exercises on each round of funding, to monitor for misspent or unspent grants (this will be contracted to a separate supplier, so participation requirements will be defined at a later stage). The IGM will be expected to work with the evaluation partner, including helping with setup and gathering of administrative data on the fund and onward grant recipients, for sharing with the evaluation partner in a timely manner. We would expect the evaluation partner to provide a detailed evaluation plan, including methodology, upon appointment, to be agreed by DCMS.

Closing phase:

The closing phase is expected to be in April to June 2025.

Milestone 11: monthly grant reporting to DCMS

(c.5% of expected effort)

Activity	Description
Ongoing fund monitoring and handover of assets and data to DCMS at end of grant agreement.	At the end of the grant period, the IGM will hand over all data and information collected and stored on all grant recipients to DCMS, following participation in post-event assurance and evaluation.

8. Project costs

The IGM applicant must present a financial breakdown of the resource funding request to deliver YIF Phase 2, using the following headings: staffing; materials; administration; overheads; equipment, and travel and subsistence (T&S). “In kind contributions” should not be submitted as part of the financial breakdown but instead may be referred to in a commentary or within the project plan.

The following table is a good example of how project costs / budgets can be presented in Q4.4 of the application form – this ensures consistency across applications.

Cost heading	Description	Costs 22/23	Costs 23/24	Costs 24/25	VAT	Total
New Staff costs
Full Cost Recovery
Training for staff
T&S
Office equipment and materials – Non-fixed assets
Professional costs
+Other
Total
Other income – match funding
TOTAL

The resource grant to cover costs of delivering the fund may be spent on:

• staff costs where they directly relate to programme activity, i.e. salaries, employer’s national insurance contributions, and employer’s contributions to any occupational pension scheme or stakeholder pension scheme
• overheads proportional to the work carried out, including rent, non-domestic rates, heating, lighting, cleaning
• postage, telephone, stationery and printing
• travel and subsistence
• running workshops, seminars and events
• plant and equipment, tools, information technology equipment
• auditor’s fees relating to the funded work only
• communications materials in all media (subject to Cabinet Office Controls)
• paying for specialist help, e.g. construction expertise, MMC specialist support, market research, communications expertise (subject to Cabinet Office Controls)
• giving evidence to Select Committees
• attending meetings with Ministers or officials to discuss the progress of a taxpayer-funded grant scheme
• responding to public consultations, where the topic is relevant to the objectives of the grant scheme. This does not include spending government grant funds on lobbying other people to respond to the consultation
• providing independent, evidence-based policy recommendations to local government, departments or Ministers, where that is the objective of a taxpayer-funded grant scheme, for example, ‘What Works Centres’
• providing independent evidence-based advice to local or national government as part of the general policy debate, where that is in line with the objectives of the grant scheme.

Further detail is being scoped out for what onward resource grants can and cannot cover, and will be shared with the IGM as part of the full grant agreement.

The resource and capital elements of the grant must not be spent on (unless permitting the activities described below is a specific requirement of the grant agreement):

• paid-for lobbying, i.e. using grant funds to fund lobbying (via an external firm or in-house staff) in order to undertake activities intended to influence or attempt to influence Parliament, government or political activity attempting to influence legislative or regulatory action
• using grant funds to directly enable one part of government to challenge another on topics unrelated to the agreed purpose of the grant
• using grant funding to petition for additional funding
• expenses such as for entertaining, specifically aimed at exerting undue influence to change government policy;
• input VAT reclaimable by the grant recipient from HMRC
• payments for activities of a political or exclusively religious nature

Other examples of expenditure which might be prohibited include the following:

• contributions in kind
• interest payments or service charge payments for finance leases
• gifts
• statutory fines, criminal fines or penalties
• payments for works or activities which the grant recipient, or any member of their Partnership has a statutory duty to undertake, or that are fully funded by other sources
• bad debts to related parties
• payments for unfair dismissal or other compensation
• any amounts that do not represent an additional cost exclusively incurred as a result of the work described in the grant application, unless otherwise agreed in writing with DCMS
• overheads allocated or apportioned at rates materially in excess of those used for any similar work carried out by the applicant
• activity that results in commercial gain or profit
• the purchase of land or the purchase and construction of buildings
• costs incurred prior to the date of the Offer Letter including pre-existing debts i.e. provisions, contingent liabilities or contingencies
• running a small grant scheme
• loans
• cash contributions for Landfill Tax refunds
• dividends declared
• costs resulting from the deferral of payments to creditors
• other finance charges
• depreciation and amortisation
• costs involved in winding up a company
• redundancy payments, unless as part of a fixed term contract
• payments into private pension schemes
• payments for unfunded pensions
• compensation for loss of office, bad debts arising from loans to proprietors, partners, employees, directors, shareholders, guarantors, or a person connected with any of these
• travel and subsistence that would give rise to a taxable benefit were the cost to be incurred by, but not borne by, an individual
• other tax (except PAYE)

Value Added Tax. The grant offer will be made on the basis that the costs presented to the department take account of all VAT liabilities. If it is later found that the project costs increase because an error has been made about whether VAT can be recovered, DCMS will not increase your grant to cover this. If the applicant is, after all, able to recover VAT, which it had included in the costs put forward to DCMS, the applicant will be liable to repay all or some of the amount it recovers to DCMS.

DCMS may seek to recover some or all of the grant, if the applicant is performing unsatisfactorily or if the project ceases activity. DCMS may not require all or part of the grant to be repaid where the reasons for unsatisfactory performance or early cessation of work are beyond the control of the applicant and reasonably unforeseen by the applicant.

9. Monitoring and evaluation

An independent evaluation of the YIF Phase 2 will be undertaken and an external research organisation will be commissioned to undertake this. It will be a comprehensive evaluation that will assess the process, impact and value for money of the programme. There will also be elements of reporting on the monitoring of the fund. The overall aim of the evaluation will be to explore the progress of the benefits and impact of the fund to the youth sector, young people and wider society.

The impact part of the evaluation will aim to use robust evaluation methodology either through randomised control trials or quasi-experimental methodology, where possible. The methodology for the evaluation will be explored in a feasibility study which is likely to report to DCMS in the summer of 2022, and then be used to develop specific plans for the full evaluation.

Once an evaluation partner is in place, the IGM will need to work with the chosen research organisation to help inform the evaluation plan in conjunction with DCMS. This plan will focus on how robust data will be collected to demonstrate how the fund has been delivered, its effectiveness, and to gather impact data from young people etc. It will also set out the timeline for the evaluation and key milestones.

The IGM will need to work closely with the research organisation to help deliver the evaluation. It is expected that a research organisation will be appointed and will set up the evaluation in the autumn of 2022. While a research organisation is being appointed, it will be expected that the IGM will work closely with DCMS to make sure that relevant data that is needed for the evaluation is collected during the application stage for round 1 of funding, and also that onward grantees know what to expect in terms of their involvement in the evaluation process, which will be mandatory for all grant holders.

There will be a range of data the IGM and onward grant recipients will need to provide to the appointed research organisation. For the IGM, this will include the application data for all applicants to the fund, data on successful applications (e.g. which organisations received funds, how much funding etc) and project monitoring data. All data from the IGM will need to be provided to the evaluators in an easily accessible format e.g. Excel spreadsheets. For onward grant recipients, this is still to be determined but will likely include data on services/activities being provided and attendance, personal data about young people attending services, data on running costs of facilities, data on any match funding, and any other data around the fund deemed to be relevant. The appointed evaluator will work with the IGM to determine how this data will be collected and any further needs of data collection.

It will also be expected that the IGM will provide contact details of organisations who receive funding so they can take part in follow-up research for the evaluation. This will need to be made clear to recipients of the funding and the data protection issues around this made clear to recipients. The IGM will also be required to formally take part in research activity (e.g. be interviewed by the research organisation to inform the findings from the evaluation), particularly for the process evaluation.

10. Performance reporting and responsibilities

The IGM will produce regular progress reports for DCMS. The frequency of reporting will be agreed with the IGM upon appointment and will be specified within the full grant agreement.

By 30 June 2025, the IGM will provide an end of project report to DCMS confirming that the grant outputs have been delivered to a satisfactory standard and the expected benefits that have accrued or will accrue. This report should reflect on grant usage, programme success, and the impact of the activities initiated by the grant funding. This final report must highlight any best practice or lessons learned. It should cover activities for the full grant period, 2022/23 to 2024/25.

No later than 3 months from the end of the grant period, the IGM will provide DCMS with a statement of grant usage that has been audited by an independent accountant and a final financial statement detailing the use of the grant funding.

11. Assessment criteria

This is a two-stage application process for the appointment of an IGM, with a written application stage and an interview stage.

All written applications will be assessed and shortlisted for interview against the following criteria:

Assessment criteria	Weighting	Relevant Question/s in Application Form
Approach and methodology: Applications must demonstrate an appropriate methodology and delivery plan, and describe how the programme’s outcomes will be monitored. Applications should present a budget which includes all project costs and presents good value for money and efficiency in project delivery.	20%	2.3, 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 3.4, 3.6, 4.3, 4.4, 4.8
Organisation’s capability and experience: Applications must demonstrate that the organisation has the following skills and experience: Mandatory requirements: • A youth sector or voluntary, community and social enterprise (VCSE) sector organisation as sole applicant or Lead Partner of a consortium (pass/fail); Experience, understanding of and ability to work with the youth sector (pass/fail) • Understanding of and ability to work with local government (pass/fail) • An existing appropriate IT system to support grant management services (pass/fail) • Substantial experience of grant management and delivery, in particular technical assessment of bids for capital projects, including construction of new facilities and redevelopment or repurposing of existing facilities (25%) • Sufficient technical, financial, human and logistical capacity within the 22/23, 23/24 and 24/25 financial years to take on this role (20%) • England-wide reach, with existing local, regional or place-based connections to facilitate local engagement with stakeholders (15%) • Ability to engage with construction consultants with MMC expertise, to facilitate use of a supplier framework by onward grant applicants for purchase of standard modular builds (10%) • Existing counter-fraud processes/protocols, such as fraud risk assessments, fraud, bribery and corruption due diligence, and post event assurance, and experience managing counter-fraud processes, particularly with construction projects (10%) • Experience of communications around large grant funding programmes, including publicising programmes, creating resources/workshops, and providing support to applicants to generate demand, build capacity, network/develop partnerships, and attract high-quality applications (10%) • Experience securing and managing external match funding sources and/or partners for grant funding programmes (10%). Desirable requirements: Where all mandatory requirements are met by more than one applicant for the IGM, the following desirable requirements will also be assessed: • Experience working with facilities using modern methods of construction (MMC) and other innovative construction techniques • Experience working with research organisations to deliver robust evaluations of grant funding programmes, including collecting and sharing data from grant recipients • Ability to offer some match funding, preferably resource funding, to further the programme’s objectives.	50%	3.7, 3.8, 3.9, 3.10, 3.11, 3.12, 3.13, 3.14, 3.15, 3.16, 4.2
Grant requested: Applications should specify the revenue grant requested to deliver. The applicant submitting the lowest price will serve as a benchmark, with applicants receiving marks on a pro-rata basis from the lowest to the highest price.	30%	4.1
Total	100%

Each question response will be evaluated and marked on a scale of 0-4 where:

• 0 – Serious concerns: e.g. does not meet requirements, and/or raises serious concerns
• 1 – Minor concerns: e.g. meets some requirements but with gaps and/or some minor concerns
• 2 – Adequate confidence: e.g. meets most/all requirements, but lacks sufficient detail or evidence in some areas
• 3 – Good confidence: e.g. meets all requirements and provides a detailed response but lacks evidence in minor areas
• 4 – Excellent confidence: e.g. meets all requirements, provides a detailed response and evidence which demonstrates a particularly strong understanding of the requirements

Applicants invited to interview will be asked a series of questions to clarify their written answers and provide assurance. Interview scores will build upon scores awarded for written applications. Interviews will be assessed by a panel of government officials, including DCMS officials, and interviews will be assessed against the following criteria:

Interview Assessment criteria	Weighting
Approach and methodology: Answers to clarification questions must demonstrate an appropriate methodology and delivery plan, and describe how the programme’s outcomes will be monitored. Answers should provide assurance on a budget which presents good value for money and efficiency in project delivery.	40%
Organisation’s capability and experience: Answers to clarification questions must demonstrate that the organisation has the skills and experience outlined above and demonstrated through the written application.	60%
Total	100%

12. Application process

Application documents available on GOV.UK include:

• YIF Phase 2 IGM specification of requirements (this document)
• YIF Phase 2 IGM application form
• Government grant funding agreement template

The grant agreement with the selected IGM will be based on government’s grant funding agreement template, which may be tailored to include charges on assets and other provisions.

We are asking organisations who are interested in this role and have the required capacity and skill set to submit a completed application by email to yif@dcms.gov.uk by 12pm on 29 March 2022. Bids submitted after this deadline will not be assessed.

We welcome joint applications to ensure the requisite skills and experience are present in the IGM. Where the application is being submitted on behalf of more than one organisation working in a consortium or partnership etc, please provide relevant information for all of the organisations involved, and make clear which organisation is the lead partner.

DCMS will hold a virtual engagement session in the week commencing 7 March 2022 to explain this opportunity in further detail and answer any queries. Please contact the Youth Investment Fund team on yif@dcms.gov.uk to request further information or to sign up for this event. Clarification questions may be sent to yif@dcms.gov.uk by 4 March 2022. Anonymised questions and responses will be published on GOV.UK shortly after this date.