Deadline: 9-Jul-24
Applications are now open for the Voluntary Throughcare Grant Fund to establish a national voluntary throughcare partnership of third sector organisations to provide support to people leaving prison after a short-term prison sentence or a period on remand.
Community Justice Scotland will be conducting the grant process and assessment on behalf of the Scottish Government and will be responsible for supporting the future development, monitoring and reporting of the grant fund and throughcare partnership. The future partnership will be funded by the Scottish Government and the final decision on the grant award and on funding in future years will be made by the Scottish Government, subject to approval by Parliament of future Scottish Government Budgets.
For the purpose of this fund, throughcare is the support people receive in prison, and once they leave, to help them (re)settle into the community. This support varies depending on the individual’s needs. It can include finding a home, providing opportunities for work and improved health and wellbeing or mentoring. Throughcare helps individuals develop confidence and social ties, so they can build better lives for themselves, their families and their communities.
Funding Information
- The total amount of funding available annually to support the partnership will be £5,300,000, which will be provided by the Scottish Government.
- It is the intention of the Scottish Government to fund the successful partnership for an initial period of 3 years, with the potential to extend to 5 years subject to performance.
What support will the Partnership provide?
- Applicants will be invited to propose how they would support people leaving prison after a short prison sentence or period of time on remand.
- Applicants will be asked to set out how they intend to structure and deliver support, including any specific focus or approach to delivering the support they would be providing and any outcomes they would seek to work towards achieving.
- The successful partnership, however, must be able to demonstrate that they are able to support the following needs and ways of working through their activities.
- Person-Centred and Needs Led Support
- The National Strategy for Community Justice and the Community Justice Performance Framework identify four key outcomes relating to need that the partnership’s activities should be able to support:
- Access to, and continuity of, health and social care
- Access to suitable accommodation following release from a prison sentence
- Support to enhance their readiness for employment
- Enhanced community integration and support
- As well as these priorities from the National Strategy and the Performance Framework, the research undertaken by CJS and a review of the academic literature has identified the following general support needs commonly experienced by people leaving prison:
- Financial needs
- Employment
- Education and training
- Accommodation
- Individual and social needs
- Substance use
- Physical and mental health
- Social support
- Family support
- The National Strategy for Community Justice and the Community Justice Performance Framework identify four key outcomes relating to need that the partnership’s activities should be able to support:
Eligibility Criteria
- General Criteria
- This grant fund is only open to voluntary sector organisations. This includes (but is not limited to) registered charities, social enterprises and community organisations. Any organisation that is not a registered charity must be constituted on a not for profit basis.
- This grant fund is to establish a single national partnership of voluntary sector organisations. Applications from a single organisation will not be considered.
- Partnerships should include a minimum of 5 partner organisations (including Lead Partner). There is no upper limit to the number of organisations can join a partnership.
- This funding will be provided by the Scottish Government and the successful applicant must adhere to the terms set out in the Scottish Government’s Offer of Grant letter or risk funding coming to an end.
- Lead Partner Eligibility Criteria
- Partnerships must identify a Lead Partner, who will have responsibility for distributing funding to the rest of the partnership.
- To be eligible to apply for funding as a Lead Partner, an organisation must be a Scottish Charity and must also have a “legal personality”, meaning it is legally constituted and can enter into a contract.
- Being a Scottish Charity means that the organisation is entered on the Scottish Charity Register and has a Scottish Charity number.
- Having a Legal Personality allows one or more natural persons to act as a single entity for legal purposes. This is satisfied by being incorporated, so being a Company Limited by Guarantee or a Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation (SCIO) satisfies this, as does having a Royal Charter. Unincorporated organisations, even with charitable status, are not eligible to apply as a lead partner for this funding.
- Community Interest Companies have a legal personality but are not Scottish Charities and are therefore not eligible to apply for this funding as a lead partner.
- There is no minimum turnover or income requirement to be a Lead Partner, however Lead Partners will need to demonstrate their ability to distribute and manage funds and coordinate partnership activities in the grant application form.
- Lead Partners will need to satisfy Scottish Government due diligence requirements that they are suitable organisations to receive grant funding. This includes demonstrating that their organisation:
- Has an appropriate legal status
- Is financially stable (including sending audited accounts for the two most recent financial years)
- Has sufficient and appropriate governance arrangements
- Has sufficient and appropriate audit arrangements
- Supporting Partner Eligibility Criteria
- All organisations joining a partnership application must be voluntary sector organisations.
- Provided they are constituted on a not for profit basis, Supporting Partners to an application do not have to be legally registered or may be registered elsewhere in the UK, provided they can pass appropriate due diligence checks.
- All partners included in an application must confirm that they have been involved in the development of the funding proposals, that they agree to undertake the activities described therein and that they will comply with the terms of the grant.
- Application Limits
- Organisations may only submit one application as a Lead Partner. Lead Partner applicants may also join one other application as a Supporting Partner.
- Organisations not submitting an application as a Lead Partner are limited to joining two applications as a Supporting Partner.
For more information, visit Community Justice Scotland.