Enrichment Expansion Programme - Delivery partner grant competition

Purpose of grant funding:

As set out in the government’s National Youth Strategy, we want to halve the participation gap in enriching activities between disadvantaged young people and their peers by 2035. We will do this by working across government with trusted sectors to boost young people’s demand for and the supply of high-quality enrichment provision, utilising youth-led interventions to meet the needs of a range of places and young people.

Later this year, DCMS will be providing grant funding to circa 400 target schools in order to improve their overall enrichment offer.

To support this investment, DCMS intends to provide £16.8m of grant funding (the Enrichment Expansion Programme) to enhance the coordination between the vast, and often fragmented, enrichment offers that are delivered both in and out of school within areas of greatest need. Our aim in funding this provision will be to create support for schools to meet the Enrichment Framework (due to be published this academic year).

The £16.8m Enrichment Expansion Programme will fund an organisation or consortium to deliver activities that increase the number of young people accessing high-quality and varied enrichment offers, particularly for disadvantaged young people in underserved areas. We are particularly seeking to fund an organisation or consortium that will engender long term change in the school-provider ecosystem, for instance by brokering meaningful partnerships between schools, enrichment providers and other key stakeholders or by improving the coordination of the enrichment offer and so bring more enrichment opportunities.

Summary of grant funding:

DCMS is providing £16,833,400 of grant funding to a delivery partner/consortium to improve and enhance enrichment provision and support secondary schools to improve their offer.

We are seeking to provide the grant funding to a delivery partner who can work across the 9 English regions and whose approach can be flexed to ensure its offer of support to schools includes the 400 target schools that DCMS will be funding to provide an enhanced enrichment offer.

The activity we fund through this grant should deliver measurable outcomes against the benchmarks set out in the Enrichment Framework, due to be published this academic year.

This grant will provide resource funding only to be utilised in Financial Years 2026/27-2028/29. DCMS will cover administration costs between 2-6% of the total funding awarded.

An assessment panel, appointed by DCMS, will review bids from eligible organisations using the evaluation criteria set out in Annex A to determine the successful applicant.

Summary of the Enrichment Expansion Programme (EEP)

DCMS is seeking to award grant funding to deliver the outcomes identified below. We are seeking applications which will demonstrate:

• How they will identify and shape best practice in enrichment activity
• How activity can be shaped to meet the needs of young people, particularly those from a disadvantaged background and
• How they will build meaningful and sustainable relationships between schools and enrichment providers that last beyond the duration of this programme

We will favour:

• Schemes which offer the greatest reach to eligible schools receiving funding from DCMS (i.e. will offer the greatest benefit to the greatest number of schools/young people)
• Schemes which demonstrate they will be able to flex provision to provide support to the 400 target schools that DCMS will be separately grant funding

EEP objectives

The objectives of the EEP are to:

• Increase the number of young people taking up opportunities to access high-quality and varied enrichment offers, particularly for disadvantaged young people in underserved areas
• Increase coordination between schools and enrichment providers, including greater use of partnerships, adoption of best practice, and use of local and regional sources of support
• Improve pupil outcomes such as pupils’ wellbeing, school engagement, attainment and behaviour
• Support participating schools to meet the benchmarks outlined in the Enrichment Framework (due to be published this academic year)

Enrichment Framework:

The Enrichment Framework has not been published at the time of this competition, so we are not asking for any details on how you would support schools to meet these benchmarks. Once they are published, we will expect the successful Delivery Partner to incorporate this objective into the design of the grant programme.

Programme Timeline

Due to the scope and scale of the programme, delivery at pace is crucial and a delivery partner must be able to mobilise quickly in FY26/27. An indicative timeline for the programme is below.

Key milestones

2026/2027:

2027/2028:

2028/2029:

School selection

DCMS will determine 400 secondary schools eligible for funding to support the development of their enrichment offer, with a focus on reaching disadvantaged young people. The eligible schools will represent a range of geographical contexts, including urban/rural/coastal, and represent a diverse range of students, including those with SEND or on free-school meals (FSM). This funding will support young people aged 11-16.

We intend to group schools into clusters of 5-8 according to geographic proximity to better allow effective sharing of resources (for example school space or transport), and easier coordination with local services. Each school will receive a small grant to cover staff costs associated with improving their enrichment offer.

DCMS will release more information about the eligible schools in due course. We will favour applications that set out an intention to reach as many of these eligible schools as possible to drive greater impact. We will give preference to organisations whose project demonstrates better value for money by reaching a higher number of schools with a high quality offer.

There is no upper limit to how many schools your project is able to reach provided the project meets the objectives outlined in this document.

Sustainability

DCMS is committed to ensuring programmes are sustainable and have long term benefits to recipients. We will favour applications that demonstrate an approach to support participating schools to sustain their enrichment offer and, where applicable, partnerships with external providers after the end of the grant funding.

Purpose

Delivery partner overview

The £16,833,400 funding aims to secure an organisation or consortium that will provide tailored coordination support to secondary schools to increase access to enrichment opportunities for their pupils. Based on stakeholder engagement on the design of the programme, good practice as a delivery partner may include:

• Providing tailored coordination support to each participating school, for example through the recruitment of enrichment coordinators
• Providing ongoing support to coordination staff working with schools, for example through:
  • Supplying relevant training, including support for SEND/AP provision and delivery of youth empowerment work
  • Partnership building with providers
  • Providing relevant materials (worksheets, guidance, etc.) for coordination staff to carry out their responsibilities.
• Providing support to schools to ensure their enrichment offer is sustained after the end of the grant funding, for example through individual sustainability plans
• Overseeing and bringing together work at the regional level, for example by:
  • Collating insight from programme staff/schools to map regional enrichment provision
  • Utilising regional connections to drive partnerships between schools and local enrichment providers
  • Connecting cross-sector organisations, including relevant Local Authorities, Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) Programme, cultural or sports sector enrichment opportunities and schools
• Bringing together work across the programme at a national level, for example by:
  • Hosting national events and/or conferences to share learnings from the programme
  • Running an online website/platform for sharing information and guidance on the programme

To enable the evaluation of the scheme, we are seeking a delivery partner who will:

• Regularly provide updates on progress, risks and mitigations to government
• Regularly provide collated regional data on provision and partnerships to government
• Regularly collect evidence of best practice and share with government and, where applicable, other participants of the programme including providers and schools
• Be involved and participate in fund monitoring and evaluation, collecting data and supporting the work of the evaluation partner
• At the end of the programme, hand over assets and information to DCMS as outlined in DCMS standard Terms and Conditions

DCMS will be responsible for grant management of and fund payments to the delivery partner.

Organisation eligibility

Applicants may apply as a single organisation with or without delivery partners, or 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 required skills and experience. Applicants are responsible for determining the most appropriate approach to delivering their proposal. If submitting a joint application, we require one organisation to take the lead role as the applicant, main point of contact, payee for funds, and responsible body who agrees to ensure the terms and conditions of the grant offer are upheld by all involved.

To be eligible to apply for the role of delivery partner for the EEP, you must:

• Be a registered company, private company, or Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise (VCSE). DCMS is making this grant award under powers granted to us by s70 of the Charities Act 2006. Therefore, we can only award grants to organisations who are charitable, philanthropic or benevolent in nature. As part of your application to us you should provide evidence that your organisation fulfils this criteria such as memorandum and articles or evidence that you are registered as such an organisation with an appropriate body. If applying as a consortium, the lead organisation must fulfil this criteria; it is not essential that all consortium members do. Organisations must be able to demonstrate that the project is not for profit
• Have sufficient resource, capacity and capability to provide tailored support to all 9 England regions and participating schools/providers
• Have a robust safeguarding policy
• Have organisational capability in programme, project or grant management of a similar scale
• Have appropriate financial management systems and processes to account for grant expenditure accurately and transparently

We will favour applications from organisations that provide evidence of meeting the following criteria:

• Has a track record of working successfully with the youth sector, with strong knowledge of youth enrichment provision and regional needs
• Has a track record of working successfully with schools, including special schools
• Has time and capacity to dedicate to upskilling and support staff working directly with schools, including but not limited to:
  • Safeguarding and DBS policies
  • Youth empowerment and youth voice training
  • Monitoring and evaluation activities
  • Working with (and in) schools
• Has a strong understanding and experience of monitoring/evaluation, including:
  • GDPR
  • Gathering data and evidence across providers, schools, etc.
• Has time and capacity to conduct mapping exercises of enrichment provision, including the ability to assess existing enrichment provision (reports/data/engagement)
• Has pre-existing knowledge/capability to build partnerships across sectors (transport etc)

Your organisation will also need to pass our due diligence checks:

• The annual value of grant award does not exceed 50% of your annual income, as an example: if an organisation applied for an annual £500,000 grant, the annual turnover needs to be £1,000,000 or more in order that the grant is not more than 50% of the annual turnover/income. In a consortium, the grant award cannot exceed more than 50% for the lead organisation’s turnover/income
• We have received and reviewed at least 2 references
• If you have been funded by another part of government, we seek feedback from that department
• You are not already receiving funding for this project, meaning your project is funded twice
• Trustees are identifiable and unrelated to others within organisations, including DCMS, involved in the programme, and there is no indication of fraud
• Where multiple organisations, both within a consortium and as recipients of any onward grants, are located at the same postcode, there is no indication of fraud – if you do have the same postcode as other organisations you will be asked to provide an explanation
• You are able to provide an annual report and audited or certified accounts, covering the last two years or similar documentation

Please note: in the event your last financial year end was more than 6 months ago we may request further accounting information at a later date as part of the due diligence process.

England programme

Youth policy is devolved and this grant is for activities in England only.

Funding

Availability

This grant will provide resource funding only to be utilised in the following financial years:

• 2026/27: £5,257,800
• 2027/28: £5,787,800
• 2028/29: £5,787,800

DCMS will cover administration costs between 2 to 6% of the total funding awarded.

Funding will be allocated separately to school grants to cover staff costs associated with improving their enrichment offer (£2.8m) and evaluation costs (c. £1m). The competition for an evaluation partner will be announced in due course. We will share further details on the delivery partner for school grants in due course.

The maximum grant length for the delivery support partner is 3 years (1 April 2026 to 31 March 2029).

All funds awarded must be spent by 31 March 2029.

Usage

The Enrichment Expansion Programme grant funding must be used for the delivery of the objectives set out above.

The funding may be spent on the following activities:

• Staff costs, where they directly relate to the programme activity i.e. salaries, employer’s national insurance contributions, and employer’s contributions to any occupational pension scheme or stakeholder pension scheme
• Travel and subsistence
• Communication and marketing (subject to cabinet office controls)
• Costs associated with production of resources, for example production costs of guidance, toolkits and/or running workshops, seminars, training
• Administration costs related to delivering the project between 2-6%

The funds may not be used for:

• 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 your organisation(s) from HMRC
• Payments for activities of a political or exclusively religious nature
• Goods or services that your organisation(s) have a statutory duty to provide
• Payments reimbursed or to be reimbursed by other public or private sector grants
• Contributions in kind (i.e. a contribution in goods or services, as opposed to money)
• Depreciation, amortisation or impairment of fixed assets owned by your organisation(s)
• The acquisition or improvement of Fixed Assets (with “Fixed Asset” defined as an asset that would be capitalised under DCMS’s own capitalisation policy, as set out in DCMS’s annual accounts) by your organisation(s)
• Interest payments (including service charge payments for finance leases)
• Gifts to individuals other than promotional items
• 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
• Liabilities incurred before the issue of this funding agreement
• Use in respect of costs reimbursed or to be reimbursed by funding from any other source
• Use to purchase buildings or land

Financial requirements

Please note: The DCMS financial year runs 1 April to 31 March. If successful, payment requests and budget must fit the DCMS financial year.

Payments will be made quarterly and in arrears. You will need to provide a breakdown of actual, eligible expenditure in order to make a claim. We will only pay out the amount you can evidence as spent.

Variations between proposed drawdown amounts and actual drawdown requests across quarters of the same financial year will be accepted, with explanation and justification. However, we will not be able to vary funds across financial years. Any funds not drawn down by the end of the financial year will become unavailable.

DCMS makes payments in arrears and only pays in advance by exception. If you wish to be paid in advance, you will be asked to explain and justify your reasons in your application, this includes ensuring that your request fits with one or more of the ‘payment in advance’ criteria outlined in the application form. Your request will be considered as part of the assessment process. If your application and request to be paid in advance are approved, you will be expected to provide quarterly reconciliation details for the duration of your project detailing any underspend against funds received. You will be required to reconcile any underspend before further funding is released. You will also be required to complete a formal Financial Reconciliation Statement (FRS) form at the end of the financial year.

Whether paid in arrears or in advance, you must be able to transparently report on a quarterly basis and provide evidence of expenditure of the use of the Enrichment Expansion Programme grant. The Enrichment Expansion Programme grant must be shown as restricted funds in your accounts and you must be able to identify separately the value and purpose of the grant in your audited accounts. You will be asked to describe the financial management systems and processes you will put in place to ensure you can achieve this in your application.

Grant monitoring and reporting

DCMS is committed to robust monitoring and evaluation of grant funding, proportionate to the size and length of the grant. Successful applicants are expected to, at a minimum:

• Attend monthly monitoring meetings to provide an update on project progress and expenditure, outlining any risks and mitigating actions taken.
• Attend a Quarterly Project Board and provide papers to evidence progress, provide a finance update and to declare any risks or mitigating actions. DCMS will provide a template for returns.
• Work with the independent evaluation partner and/or DCMS to support delivery of the evaluation and collection of relevant data for the overarching process evaluation and monitoring of impact.

Evaluation

DCMS will separately commission an independent evaluation for the Enrichment Expansion Programme. Successful applicants must work together with the appointed evaluator.

The evaluation will likely include both process evaluation and monitoring of enrichment delivery in schools to understand the delivery, impact and value for money of the programme, its impact on schools’ capability to meet the Enrichment Benchmarks, and capture valuable lessons learnt. We expect that the evaluation will utilise data and evidence collected/generated by the successful applicants.

We expect the delivery partner to provide DCMS and the evaluation partner with data from the mapping exercise in Year 1 and ongoing monitoring data from schools. The delivery partner will need to take part in evaluation activities such as interviews and workshops and support the evaluation partner to collect and utilise programme data. Specific requirements will be discussed in more detail during mobilisation.

Application process

Timeline

The below timeline is indicative and subject to change.

Grant opens for Applications	13 April 2026
Clarification Workshop	w/c 20 April
Clarification Questions Deadline	27 April 2026
Publication of Clarification Questions	3 May 2026
Deadline for Applications	25 May 2026
Application Assessment	June 2026
Notification of Grant Award	July 2026

Assessment

Evaluation criteria

A panel will assess the bids. Please assume that assessors have no or limited background knowledge of your organisation, its aims and what it does. It is therefore important that your application is as clear, concise and unambiguous as possible.

1. Initial sift
We will review your application to check that the information in the body of the application meets the eligibility checklist.

2. Assessment and moderation of eligible bids. We will score eligible bids in line with our key criteria.

The table below sets out what we are looking for, the weighting in the bid evaluation, and the questions we will use to make our assessment. If necessary, shortlisted applicants may be asked to attend an interview. In this instance, we will provide guidance to applicants on the interview process.

Measure	Weighting %	Questions Related
Project Overview: Applicants must be able to clearly explain the project to be completed by 31st March 2029 and how they will provide support to schools to meet the outcomes set out for this fund, including supporting schools to engage with the evaluation and to involve young people and youth voice throughout the programme	30	2.1, 2.2
Project Delivery: Applicants must demonstrate the organisation’s capacity and capability to deliver the project set out in 2.1, including a list of all activities and associated outputs and information relating to staffing	35	3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 3.4
Legacy and Sustainability: Applicants must outline what measures they will put in place to ensure outcomes and outputs remain sustainable once funding has finished, including how they will ensure knowledge sharing to support a potential future rollout	10	4.1
Monitoring and Evaluation: Applicants must outline their data collection processes, including how they will monitor relationships with and support for schools, and reporting to DCMS. Applicants should also consider how they will support schools to engage with the evaluation and how they will share lessons learned across both participating and non-participating schools and DCMS. Applicants will share their relevant experience working with evaluation suppliers. DCMS will appoint an evaluation supplier and the grant recipients will be expected to work with them to complete an evaluation proportional to the size and length of the fund	10	5.1, 5.2, 5.3, 5.4
Project Finances: Applicants must detail the project costs and set out the financial management systems and processes that will be used to ensure Enrichment Expansion Programme grant expenditure is accounted for accurately and transparently. The Applicant should also set out the organisational approach to managing Fraud. Applicants must provide a working budget for their project.	15	6.1, 6.2, 6.3, 6.4, 6.5, 6.6, 6.7, 6.8
Equality and Diversity Statement and Safeguarding Statement: Applicants must set out how the project operates within an equal opportunities and diversity framework, and share details of arrangements for safeguarding young people participating in this project (if applicable).	Unscored	7.1, 7.2
TOTAL	100

The below scoring methodology will be used to evaluate responses:

Application marking scale
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 concerns
2	Adequate confidence: e.g. meets most/all requirements, but lacks sufficient detail in some areas
3	Good confidence: e.g. meets all requirements and provides a detailed response but lack evidence in minor areas
4	Excellent confidence: e.g. meets all requirements and provides a detailed response which also exceeds expectations in some areas and/or demonstrates a particularly strong understanding of the requirements

3. Due diligence
The successful applicant will be subject to comprehensive due diligence reviews and other database searches, including fraud risk indicators. The relevant documentation is expected to be provided alongside your application form. A checklist is provided in the Application Form.

Grant award

Acceptance of funding

DCMS will aim to notify the successful applicant in July 2026.

Your grant offer letter will set out the level of funding and any additional conditions that apply specifically to your grant. The letter will also set out what the grant is for and the payment schedule. Once we have awarded a grant, we will ask you for regular financial and performance monitoring reports and a final project report at the end of the funding term.

Please note:

• Grant money will not be paid until we have received your written acceptance of the terms and conditions attached to your grant offer
• You must acknowledge you have received our grant in your annual report and accounts covering the period of the project
• If there is any breach of the terms and conditions, or your organisation ceases to operate before the grant has been spent, grant monies may have to be repaid
• When the grant ends, the Enrichment Expansion Programme does not have a commitment to provide any further funding for the project
• Anyone found to be acting dishonestly in making an application for funding or spending the grant will be reported to the police and may be liable for prosecution

Grant terms and conditions

The DCMS draft terms and conditions for grant agreements is available on the gov.uk website. The terms and conditions are non negotiable. Submitting a proposal means acceptance of the terms. You should not seek to amend the terms and conditions.

Unsuccessful applications

We will inform all unsuccessful applicants by July 2026.

Please note that the decision will be final.

Advice and support

All available information and guidance relating to this grant funding is contained above and in the application form.

DCMS will hold a clarification meeting on w/c 20 April via Google Meets. If you would like to attend please contact youth-enrichment-team@dcms.gov.uk.

Clarification questions may be sent to youth-enrichment-team@dcms.gov.uk up until Monday 27 April, after which no more will be responded to.

All clarification questions will be anonymised and made public so that all potential applicants are able to access any additional information.

As the application process is competitive, we are unable to provide support in completing the application.

Annex A - scoring criteria

Information provided in any section of your application will be considered across the scoring criteria, where information is relevant.

Please note, anything provided in excess of the word limits provided or out of scope of the supplementary documents requested will not be assessed. This is to ensure fairness across all applications.

The criteria only includes the sections of the application form that are being scored.

Number	Section	Description	Weighting (%)
1	Project overview	1000 words Applicants must be able to clearly explain their project proposal and demonstrate how they intend to achieve the Enrichment Expansion Programme objectives by 31 March 2029, as well as clearly articulating how they will involve young people in the design and development of the project. Assessment question: How convincing is the applicant’s argument for how and why their proposal is likely to meet the objectives of the grant funding within the set timescale? We are looking for applicants to: - Show a clear understanding of the relevant national youth / enrichment policy context for this work - for example, the National Youth Strategy - Demonstrate how they will provide support and what activities they will carry out to meet the outcomes set out for this fund including: - increasing the number of young people taking up opportunities to access high-quality and varied enrichment offers, particularly for disadvantaged young people in underserved areas - increasing coordination between schools and enrichment providers, including greater use of partnerships, adoption of best practice, and use of local and regional sources of support - improving pupil outcomes - which could include aspects such as pupils’ wellbeing, school engagement, attainment and behaviour. - Set out how their proposal is based on evidence, data and lessons learned. You may wish to provide a theory of change to demonstrate this. You can refer to the Green Book on how to develop a theory of change. This will not contribute to the word limit. - Demonstrate how they will effectively support schools to engage young people to design and develop their enrichment offer.	30
2	Project delivery	1250 words (word count does not include the detail set out in 3.1 Project Planning and 3.2 Project Team) Applicants must demonstrate they have a considered project plan and have the capability and capacity to deliver the project effectively. Assessment question: To what extent has the applicant developed a well-structured project plan that aligns with the key milestones set out in the competition guidance? Do they possess the capability and experience necessary to deliver a programme to better coordinate enrichment opportunities at this scale? We are looking for applicants to: - Provide a detailed project plan that sets out the activities and associated outputs that will be delivered in each month of the project - Demonstrate experience in managing enrichment-related activities and programmes - Demonstrate experience in: - Working and delivering across all 9 England regions - The youth sector landscape, with strong knowledge of youth enrichment provision and regional needs - Working with, and providing support/guidance to, schools and enrichment sector organisations to drive improvement - Incorporating youth voice within project design and/or delivery - Coordinating and building relationships between sectors/services - Provide details of key staff with a summary of their relevant credentials	35%
3	Legacy and sustainability	500 words Applicants must set out the long term benefits that will develop as part of the project, and the measures that will be put in place to ensure outcomes and outputs remain sustainable once funding has finished. Assessment question: How confident are you in the applicant’s ability to deliver a project that can encourage and embed sustainability in delivery once the funding has finished? We are looking for applicants to: - Demonstrate clear, long-term benefits for: - Pupils Local enrichment providers - Schools - Your organisation/consortium - Demonstrate how they will ensure outcomes and outputs remain sustainable post-March 2029.	10%
4	Monitoring and evaluation	1000 words (word count does not include the detail provided in 5.4 Lessons Learned and Sharing) Applicants should outline their data collection processes and demonstrate their experience in working with evaluation organisations, including any experience in supporting evaluation processes. Assessment question: To what extent has the applicant demonstrated that they have effective data collection processes that they can utilise to support the programme’s evaluation partner? We are looking for applicants to: - Outline their data collection processes including the monitoring of: - relationships with and support for schools; and, - reporting to DCMS. - Demonstrate experience working with research and evaluation organisations and willingness to work with the evaluation partner to deliver the EEP - Demonstrate how they will utilise lessons learned throughout the project to inform practice. - Demonstrate how they place to share good practice, learning and evaluation more broadly	10%
5	Project Finances	Applicants must demonstrate that they can deliver the project within the total grant value remit, and that they are providing value for money in their delivery of the EEP. Assessment question: To what extent has the applicant provided a detailed and considered budget, and demonstrated effective financial management systems and processes that will be put in place to ensure accurate and transparent expenditure? We are looking for applicants to: - Set out the total cost of delivering your proposed project, including the amount of EEP funding that will be requested and any in-kind support contributed - (Where relevant) Clarify how you plan to award and manage onward grants to delivery partners or procure services via a contract to provide specialist support or resources - Attach a detailed and realistic project budget. This should include a costed activity model and a costed resource model in order to link the cost of resources to the activities, and to distinguish the resource between your proposed coordination support and any overheads - (Where relevant) Justification as to why you may require payments in advance of spend (by exception) - Detail the financial management systems and processes you will put in place to ensure you can account for Enrichment Expansion Programme grant expenditure accurately and transparently. - Demonstrate how you will achieve value for money during the delivery of the programme - for example, how you will offer the greatest reach to eligible schools receiving funding from DCMS	15%