Big Lottery Fund

Summary of the programme

The programme has now closed to new expressions of interest.’

On 26 January BIG announced Improving Futures awards totalling £15.2m for 17 groundbreaking projects across the UK.

• Read the press release 
  - 115KB
• Read more about the 17 projects New projects to transform the lives of children - 614KB

Every child deserves the best start in life, but we know that some grow up in difficult circumstances. Some families experience multiple and complex problems – for example, to do with poor health, unemployment, debt or housing problems – which can affect their children’s wellbeing and life chances.

The Improving Futures programme aims to improve outcomes for children within these families.

Following extensive consultation with public and voluntary sector organisations, we have decided to fund partnerships that can offer joined-up support and provision for families with multiple and complex problems at a local level. Interested parties need to be aware of the following:

• Partnerships must be led by voluntary sector organisations, but will need to be supported by or include local authorities in Wales and England, Community Planning Partnerships in Scotland, and Health and Social Care Trusts in Northern Ireland
• Because every family is different, partnerships will need to be able to draw on a broad range of expertise and services to meet their needs, including setting out to help those families considered ‘hardest to reach’.
• We have limited funding to support up to 20 partnerships across the UK, and no more than one expression of interest should be made per local authority area.

Deadlines:

• 12 May 2011 – Deadline for expressions of interest (this deadline has now passed).
• 30 September 2011 – Deadline for full application submission (this deadline has now passed).