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Publication type: General
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Contents
Foreword
Through the London Recovery Programme we are working together across London to prioritise those that were most impacted by COVID-19 and to challenge the inequalities in our city.
Far from being the great leveller, the COVID-19 pandemic disproportionately impacted young people. We have seen children’s education disrupted and the longer term impact of restrictions on physical and social activities. It’s taken a heavy toll on young people’s mental health. They have borne the brunt of job losses with limited opportunity leading to poorer employment prospects.
We have listened directly to young people about how the pandemic has affected their life chances, and we’ve heard about the transformational impact that mentors and role models have on a young person’s life. A positive, caring relationship with a trusted adult can promote personal development and wellbeing, as well as enable a young person to access additional opportunities and support provided by a range of agencies.
That is why the New Deal for Young People mission centres on the rights of disadvantaged young people to benefit from relationship-based support and focuses on how we can achieve this by embedding quality, ensuring sustainability in the youth sector and increasing reach. We have committed that by 2024 all young people in need will have access to a personal mentor and all young Londoners will have access to quality local youth activities.
We passionately believe young people are central to London’s recovery in the years ahead and now is the time to unite as a city and provide them with the support when they need it most.
New Deal for Young People Co-Chairs
Jeremy Crook OBE Chief Executive, Black Training and Enterprise Group (BTEG)
Lib Peck Director, London’s Violence Reduction Unit
Martin Pratt Deputy Chief Executive & Executive Director Supporting People, London Borough of Camden
Summary
The New Deal for Young People (NDYP) mission aims to support young people in need, particularly those facing the greatest barriers to realising their potential. This grant funding helps meet the mission’s aim to provide these young people with quality mentoring to help improve their life chances, and to do so in a way that builds long term capacity within local communities. This is one of three linked programmes which will support mentoring for young people most in need and will be underpinned by the quality principles developed through a new Mentoring Confidence Framework.
This Request for Proposal has information for applicants on the process to apply for HeadStart Action grants.
Two grants of up to £150,000 are available for up to two organisations to become a HeadStart Action Lead Delivery Organisation:
- Grant 1: The capacity building lead delivery organisation will recruit and manage up to 10 HeadStart Action grantees (with grant value at around £55,000 per grantee) supporting their front-line work by providing capacity building support, and helping to embed the Mentoring Confidence Framework.
- Grant 2:The employability lead delivery organisation will engage and broker employer partners and lead the delivery of the employability training and work experience and/or job opportunities across London for young people on the HeadStart Action programme.
Delivery is over the period from March 2022 to March 2024.
To find out information about the other two linked progammes, New Deal for Young People Leaders and STEAM Mentoring grants please click here www.london.gov.uk/new-deal-young-people
An online information session about this opportunity is being held from 1:00pm to 2:30pm on Wednesday 8 December 2021. Please note this will be recorded.
The deadline for applications is 5:00pm on Monday 17 January 2022
1. Background
HeadStart Action is a geographically and demographically focused personal and social development programme targeted at young people aged 14 to 18, who are or are at risk of becoming Not in Education, Employment, or Training (NEET) and require greater support. Through youth-led social action and mentoring the programme enables young people to become active citizens, gain confidence, employability skills, aid their personal development and gain work experience.
Since 2018, the programme has mentored 845 vulnerable and marginalised young people to create their own community projects through social action and feel more prepared for further education and employment. It has enabled 366 young people to secure a paid job or work experience opportunity or equivalent.
Following the success of HeadStart Action we are pleased to announce that the programme will evolve and run for another two years as part of the Mayor’s New Deal for Young People. Building on the existing programme we are seeking to develop a consistent employability offer for all participants, while enabling local organisations to effectively support young people in their communities.
We will do this by focusing on three areas of activity:
- delivery of youth-led social action projects and mentoring through grass root organisations
- regional coordination of employability training and work experience
- regional collaboration and support for delivery organisations, including the embedding of the Mentoring Confidence Framework.
We are looking for up to two organisations or consortiums to be HeadStart Action Lead Delivery Organisations and support up to 10 local HeadStart Action grantees and their participants.
This funding will increase HeadStart Action delivery across London and enable collaboration and networking across grassroots youth organisations so that they can deliver quality mentoring support and social action to the most marginalised and vulnerable young people who may not otherwise engage with mainstream services. Through a regional employability training and work experience programme we will offer young people access to a broad range of employability opportunities to ensure young people are better prepared for their futures.
Mentoring Confidence Framework
Work to help improve the quality and capacity of the youth sector will be underpinned by
the development of a new Mentoring Confidence Framework. The Mentoring Confidence Framework will be an agile tool that helps organisations build on their best practice for mentoring and personalised support. Building on the evidence base of what works well, it will outline key principles (a ‘mentoring quality statement’) identified as being essential for effective mentoring programmes. Organisations will be able to use the framework to evaluate their own models and practice and identify strengths and areas for development. A draft mentoring quality statement can be found in appendix 1.
Modular training will be available linked to the Mentoring Confidence Framework and an ongoing community of practice of youth organisations will be facilitated where the sector can share tools and evidence of what works.
The use of the Mentoring Confidence Framework is a common thread running through the three programmes that are open for grant funding, linking them together as all grant holders use the framework and share their practice.
2. Aims and Objectives
The New Deal for Young People mission wants to improve the life chances and opportunities for young Londoners by:
- enabling more young people in need to benefit from quality mentoring and youth activities
- improving the quality of mentoring by building capacity of the youth sector
- increasing strategic investment in London’s youth and mentoring activities
- empowering system change and sustainability within the youth sector.
The HeadStart Action grants will contribute directly to the first two NDYP objectives.
3. Funding Available
- Grant 1: The first lead delivery organisation will recruit and manage up to 10 HeadStart Action grantees supporting their front-line work to deliver social action and mentoring to young people by providing capacity building support and helping to embed the Mentoring Confidence Framework.
- Grant 2: The second lead delivery organisation will engage and broker employer partners and lead the delivery of the employability training and work experience opportunities across London. You will work with the young people recruited by the 10 grantees.
The total amount of grant funding available is £300,000 with the expectation that two grants of £150,000 will be awarded to two separate organisations. The lead organisations would be expected to work together and with the 10 grantees to ensure outcomes for young people.
Delivery is over the period from March 2022 to March 2024.
We encourage applications from partnerships and consortiaReference:2, as well as single organisations. If you are applying as a partnership or consortium you must clearly identify in your application the roles and specialisms of each of your partners and how the lead organisation will coordinate mentoring delivery and capacity building support.
4. Who the Funding Aims to Support
4.1 Young people most in need
Proposals must be informed by knowledge and experience of working with young people at risk of NEET with complex needs.
We want to fund projects that will support delivery to young people aged 14 to 18 who are facing the biggest challenges and who are furthest away from opportunity. Young people will be engaged in HeadStart Action by the 10 local grantees.
Applications for Lead Delivery Organisations should demonstrate how they will recruit and work with the 10 local grantees and the young people recruited by the grantees to deliver HeadStart Action.
An illustrative list of the needs and characteristics of the groups of children and young people that we want to help through the New Deal for Young People can be found below. This list is not prescriptive (or exhaustive) and many young people will also be experiencing multiple disadvantage.
Children and young people:
- with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND), physical disabilities
- who are excluded, or are at risk of exclusion, from school or college
- who are at risk of becoming involved in violence
- who are associated with gangs or impacted by exploitation
- who are experiencing or have been impacted by domestic violence and abuse
- who are young refugees and asylum-seekers
- who have a social worker (Children Looked After, with a Child Protection Plan, Children in Need and Care Leavers)
- who are from low income families / living in poverty
In addition, the following young people might also be engaged:
- young people who identify as LGBTQ+
- young people from the traveller community
- young people who would be the first in their family to go to university
- young people from workless households
- young homeless people (or at risk of being)
4.2 A balanced programme
We want to fund a balanced programme that supports young Londoners who are most in need across the city. We will be looking to fund projects:
- who can support local organisations from across London and the youth sector located in different parts of the capital
- who can deliver quality employment training and opportunities to young people across London, including outer boroughs
We recognise that many organisations will be supporting young people with multiple needs and deliver in many different ways. You will need to explain in your application which lead delivery organisation role you are best suited to do. Your application should evidence your existing experience of working with grassroots organisations.
We are also particularly interested in funding organisations that are led by the communities that they represent and that the communities that projects are aimed at are actively involved in the design, delivery and evaluation of the projects.
4.3 What kind of activity will HeadStart Action Lead Delivery Organisation grants support?
We want to see proposals that are informed by evidence of what works, this evidence may have come from previous projects that you have run, or from elsewhere.
Applicants must prove how they will involve young people in their design and delivery of their project.
4.3.1 Grant 1: Delivery of a capacity support programme to HeadStart Action grantees, including development and promotion of the new Mentoring Confidence Framework
One Lead Delivery Organisation will provide capacity building support to HeadStart Action grantees to develop quality delivery, support organisations to engage young Londoners most in need, and help embed the Mentoring Confidence Framework. You’ll need to give details in your application of the activity that you will deliver including who you expect to be supporting, how you will recuit them, how you will address their needs, the frequency and duration of the support, how you are measuring impact, and your experience of delivery. You will also contribute to the development and promotion of the new Mentoring Confidence Framework. You should also demonstrate experience of grant assessment and management, and how you integrate youth voice into your work.
Examples of activities to deliver this are (but not restricted to):
- recruit, issue grants and manage the 10 HeadStart Action grantees with a grant value of around £55,000 per grantee
- providing ongoing one-to-one or group peer coaching to HeadStart Action grantees. Peer coaching could help them develop their practice, identify their strengths and areas of development and find ways of driving forward actions
- delivering/contributing to webinars or face-to-face events to groups of youth sector organisations in area of specialisms
- supporting a community of practice by bringing together HeadStart Action grantees to focus on a specific area or draft quality statement to share their experiences and the resources or training materials they use
- involving the young people you work with, your staff, your volunteers and your networks in co-producing and promoting best practice
- other activity that you think is needed within a capacity support programme or to develop and promote the Confidence Framework
4.3.2 Grant 2: Delivery of employment training and opportunities for young people aged 14 to 18 who are participating in Headstart Action
Organisation will broker employer partnerships, provide employment training and employer opportunities to HeadStart Action participants. You’ll need to give details in your application of the activity that you will deliver including who you expect to be supporting, how you will address their needs, the frequency and duration of the opportunities, how you are measuring impact, who the employer partners you will seek to engage, and your experience of delivery. You should explain how you will engage and inspire young people. Through the grant-award process you will need to display how you integrate youth voice into your work.
4.3.3 Confidence Framework Coordination
Whilst you will be asked to contribute to the development and promotion of the confidence framework, we will be separately funding an organisation to lead the development and coordinate implementation of the Confidence Framework. The organisation leading the work will shape the framework, offer and coordinate training linked to the Mentoring Confidence Framework principles, and ensure best practice is shared.
You will need to work closely with this organisation, with your fellow ‘Leaders’ and with the organisations delivering NDYP STEAM Mentoring and Headstart Action.
4.4 What is our definition of mentoring?
We are broadly basing our definition of ‘mentoring’ on that used by Nesta: “Drawing on existing definitions, we see youth mentoring as trusting, purposeful and ongoing relationships between a younger person or people, and a person they are unrelated to, which involve the exchange of support, advice, encouragement, and skills development”Reference:3. Mentoring is based around personal need and delivered through strong trusted relationships. Mentors can include a wide range of adults and peers who have a trusted relationship with the young person. Mentors are trained and operate in a supported environment where both the young person and the trusted individual both know the expectations and boundaries of the relationship. We recognise that these trusted relationships can be forged in lots of different environments, including those that are less formal, and delivered in different ways.
5. Outputs and Outcomes
5.1 Outputs
Applicants for Lead Delivery Organiation will be asked to:
Grant 1:
- recruit and manage 10 HeadStart Action grantees, who will go on to support young people through social action and mentoring
- provide capacity building support and help to embed the Mentoring Confidence Framework in 10 HeadStart Action grantees
OR
Grant 2:
- provide at least 10 hours of employability training to at least 360 HeadStart Action participants
- provide all HeadStart Action participants with employer, interview, and work opportunities, so that at least 180 young people receive work experience and/or job opportunities
5.2 Outcomes
By project outcomes, we mean the result, or to what extent the project has led to the desired change. At a programme level we want to achieve the following outcomes:
- improved outcomes for young people benefitting from quality mentoring and personalised support
- improved quality of mentoring or personalised support delivered by youth organisations
Applicants will be asked to identify:
- what will change for the young people and organisations you are supporting?
- how will you measure that change?
Applicants should give as much information as possible on their project’s outputs and outcomes. The table below suggests a range of outcomes which projects may deliver for young Londoners. For those applying for HeadStart Action, applicants should pay particular attention to Increased Engagement and Increased Employment.
6. What will we fund and who can apply
6.1 What we will fund
We will fund:
- operational delivery costs
- core staff and volunteer costs
- monitoring and evaluation costs
- marketing and publicity costs
- associated overhead costs (for example heating, lighting, stationery etc.)
- low value equipment costs (up to £1,000) for audio-visual, sports etc.
- your time and other costs associated with attaining the London Youth Quality Mark
We will not fund:
- capital items
- statutory Physical Education provision (i.e. sport in school time)
6.2 Who can apply for grants
We are looking for organisations to run projects that provide disadvantaged young people with quality mentoring and personalised support. To be eligible organisations need to meet the following criteria:
- Your organisation must be legally constituted. If not, you must be part of a Consortium who is a legally constituted organisation or be in a partnership with a Lead Applicant.
- Your organisation must have a bank account, with two separate signatories, (registered in the name of the applicant organisation) into which the grant can be paid.
- The annual grant proposed should not normally constitute more than 50 per cent of your annual turnover. In exceptional circumstances we will consider applications where this does not apply; you must provide details in your application form.
- Your lead applicant must be able to provide audited/examined accounts for at least one year which comply with the relevant regulatory body.
- You must have a proven track record in the work your organisation does.
- You must have expertise and / or experience in delivering the kind of work set out in your proposal.
- You must have all necessary insurances and safeguarding policies in place and be committed to carrying out DBS checks where required.
- You should have or commit to working towards the London Youth Quality Mark Bronze or above.
7. Instructions for Applicants
For details of who can apply for grants please see section 6.2
7.1 Application Process
Grants will be allocated via an open and competitive application process. A Funding Application Form will be completed by all applicants. These will be assessed and shortlisted applicants will be invited to interview. The interview will include a presentation on your proposed project and questions from a young person and officer panel.
7.2 Submission Requirements
The deadline for applications is 5:00pm on Monday 17 January 2022.
You must complete the Funding Application Form including attaching the following supporting documents and email to [email protected]
- copy of your public and employer’s liability insurance
- your Data Protection Policy
- your Safeguarding Policy
- a copy of your organisation’s most recent audited accounts or accounts signed by an independent and qualified accountant
Please note that as part of the assessment process we will be sharing your application with London Councils, Local Authorities, the London Violence Reduction Unit, Voluntary and Community Sector partners, other funders of youth activities and a panel of young people.
If you have any questions around the application process please contact us by email at [email protected]
Frequently Asked Questions we receive will be published with answers on www.london.gov.uk/new-deal-young-people. We will not publish our response to any FAQs that have been submitted after 10 January 2022.
7.3 Award criteria and evaluation process
The weighting applied to each assessment area is detailed below:
Each of the above areas will be assessed in accordance with the following criteria:
After proposals have been assessed and scored against the assessment criteria, we will take into consideration the overall spread of proposals to be funded. The factors listed below will also be considered when making final decisions about which suite of projects are awarded funding:
- specific target group demographics
- the type of mentoring and the specialisms of the grant applicant
- scale and level of funding requested
- geographical spread of delivery
7.4 Due diligence
We will carry out financial due diligence checks before we offer funding – please see appendix 2 for full details. Successful applicants must provide the required documentation on notification. Please note, local authorities and local authority-maintained schools are exempt from this process.
7.5 Timetable
The grant funding application timetable is detailed below:
8. General Requirements
8.1 Project management
Successful applicants must produce an annual delivery plan with key milestones. You must keep the GLA updated with regular progress reports, linked to key milestones and submit quarterly claims to us. You will be required to complete the London Youth Bronze Quality Mark. More information about this can be found at https://londonyouth.org/what-we-do/quality-assurance/
You will also be expected to be available for an inception meeting. You may be asked to contribute to the GLA’s future good practice activity by speaking at events, providing case studies of what has worked well etc.
8.2 Monitoring and reporting
Delivery organisations must collect standard data on the young people and organisations taking part (including starts, completions and demographic data) and report this on a quarterly basis. This data is in addition to any measures your individual project will have to monitor. This is because we are funding lots of different activities for young people. That means we need to track participation and impact in a standard way across multiple programme streams and projects.
8.3 Safeguarding
Child protection and safeguarding is of paramount importance. You must send your safeguarding policy and data protection policy with your application. Your safeguarding policy should include how you:
- respond to concerns about a child's wellbeing (including disclosures)
- respond to allegations of abuse made against a child
- recruit the right people to work and volunteer with children
- prevent and responding to bullying
- respond to concerns about online abuse
- ensure data, photographs and images of children are taken, stored and shared appropriately; and it should include
- named Safeguarding officer/s
This guidance has been drawn from the NSPCC and is in line with the requirements of the GLA’s Child Policy and Protection Procedures. Once awarded a grant, delivery organisations will be required to report to the GLA if there have been any child safeguarding incidents. If you are a lead partner or consortium we will ask you to provide information on delivery partner safeguarding arrangements and on how your partnership is supporting and monitoring each other’s child protection policies/process.
8.4 Evaluation
We are committed to promoting the highest standards of evidence and evaluation. All applicants will be expected to demonstrate how they will evaluate the impact of their project on the anticipated outcomes.
We will also commission an independent provider to evaluate the New Deal for Young People. Successful applicants may be asked to participate in the overall evaluation.
8.5 Payment
Payment will be based on achievement of key milestones and outputs as set out in the applicant’s grant funding agreement.
8.6 Support for applicants
An online information session about this opportunity is being held from 1:00pm to 2:30pm on Wednesday 8 December 2021. It will be recorded and shared through the GLA and our partner’s networks.
8.7 What other City Hall funds could I apply for?
The following grants are open or will soon open for applications. For information on more City Hall grants see www.london.gov.uk/programmes-strategies/funding-and-innovation
Appendix 1: Draft New Deal for Young People Mentoring Quality Statement
Setting expectation and evidencing impact – Mentors should jointly set expectations with the young person and organisations should be able to systematically demonstrate the impact of their mentoring.
Type of activities – Youth mentoring programmes are particularly effective when mentors employ targeted approaches matched the needs of their mentees rather than a one-size-fits-all approach. It is important that the mentor listens and responds to the needs of the mentee.
Duration and frequency – Studies show that longer relationships between mentees and mentors are associated with better outcomes. High levels of commitment and communication from mentors is important when building the relationship, and regular contact has been shown to be key to the success.
Youth voice – Young people should be given opportunity to shape and direct the mentoring. This could include the design and evaluation of the programme as well as directly being able to communicate what support they need.
Characteristics of a mentor – Positive outcomes rely on the formation of a positive connection between mentor and mentee. Factors such as trust, empathy, authenticity, and mutual respect are considered critical to a quality mentor relationship.
Creating matches - matching mentees and mentors with shared backgrounds and matching in a culturally sensitive way are important for effective mentoring programmes. Shared backgrounds include values, beliefs and interests. Matching processes that give choice and agency to mentees are seen to be effective.
Training of mentors – Mentors need to be equipped with the skills to support young people. Upfront as well as ongoing support, training and supervision for mentors is key.
Appendix 2: Due diligence requirements
- We (‘the GLA’) will carry out financial due diligence checks prior to the offer of funding. This will ensure that any risks to either the programme’s success and project objectives, or the funding itself, has been considered and deemed acceptable. The outcome of the due diligence checks will be given to the project board. They will consider this alongside the technical aspects of the funding application, when deciding which projects to fund.
- The due diligence will comprise of the following checks: liquidity, profitability, return on capital employed, debtors and creditors cycle, the review of Credit Safe reports, Charity Commission checks (where applicable), and the review of insurance documents, finance and procurement regulations to ensure that robust governance arrangements are in place to account for and manage our funding.
- We will only carry out due diligence checks on shortlisted organisations with project proposals that meet our funding criteria.
- Applicants applying for funding as either a (i) Lead Applicant or (ii) a Sole Deliverer should supply Financial Due Diligence Documentation for the Sole Deliverer or Lead Applicant only, and
- Applicants applying for funding as part of a Consortium should supply Financial Due Diligence Documentation for all members. The information will be collated in order to establish the strength of the consortium as a whole.
Financial due diligence documentation
- To support the due diligence process, applicants must provide the following documentation with their application:
- Copy of the most recent audited accounts or copy of the most recent accounts signed by an independent and qualified accountant
- Evidence of public and employer’s liability insurance
- Applicants must provide the following documentation when they are notified that they are successful pending due diligence checks
- Copy of the organisation’s financial regulations
- Statement of the organisation’s cash flow forecast for the current year
- The organisation’s budget for the current year
- Name and contact details of bank
And if relevant:
- Details of previous GLA contracts/grants and values over the last 12 months
- Where applicable, details of your organisation and / or any of your directors / partners / proprietors' bankruptcy, insolvency, compulsory winding up, receivership, composition with creditors, or subject to relevant proceedings
- Where applicable, details of any pending or actual investigation by a consultative committee of accounting bodies in relation to accountancy standards or professional conduct for which your organisation and / or any of its director(s) / partners/proprietor(s) is/has been subject to, including actions taken to put things right.
We reserve the right to require further information upon request.
Other important Information
- For applicants with a charitable status, we will check your details against those held on the Charity Commission’s website. We do this to ensure that you have charity status, that all documents requested by the Charity Commission have been submitted on time and they have no concerns about your status.
- For small organisations or newly incorporated companies without full financial statements a guarantor will be required who will provide a full performance guarantee under-which the guarantor undertakes to fulfil the terms of the grant in the event that the applicant is unable to deliver. Due diligence will need to be carrier out on the guarantor.
Exemptions
- Local authorities, local authority-controlled schools, government bodies and departments are exempt from the financial due diligence process. This status should be clearly highlighted in the application form.
References
- Reference:1www.london.gov.uk/coronavirus/londons-recovery-coronavirus-crisis/londo…
- Reference:2Sole Deliverers: Sole Deliverers are an individual organisation without sub-granting or sub-contracting arrangements. The GLA will issue a grant to the Sole Deliverer. Lead Applicants: Lead Applicants are an individual organisation who is solely responsible for the achievement of the project which is delivered through a partnership. The partnership must be legally bound by sub-granting or sub-contracting arrangements. The arrangement of which will lies with the Lead Delivery Organisation. The GLA will issue a grant to the Lead Applicant. Consortiums: Consortiums are formed of a partnership of organisations who come together to deliver a common objective (the project) and are held jointly accountable for the delivery of the project. Consortiums are a legally constituted organisation (in which case all members must participate in the project). The GLA will issue a grant to the Consortium, and all members must sign the agreement.
- Reference:3www.nesta.org.uk/report/what-makes-effective-youth-mentoring-programme/…
- Reference:4pending satisfactory due diligence checks