The government has overhauled the way charities and other organisations can find and apply for £50bn worth of government grants, claiming its new digital service will slash red tape for applicants and save the tax payer £270m through efficiencies and preventing fraud.
The Find a Grant service is being rolled out UK wide this week following a pilot involving four government departments: the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Department for Culture, Media and Sport, Department for Business and Trade, and the Ministry of Justice.
It is to replace the current system whereby each department provides their own application services for grants “which duplicate each other and can often be hard for external organisations to find and access”, said the Cabinet Office, which is launching the new service.
It is also hoped the grants schemes run by councils and governments in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, will be advertised through the service.
The Cabinet Office has confirmed it “will soon ensure” all eligible UK government grants are advertised using the new digital service, “as well as working with the devolved administrations and local authorities to offer them the opportunity to advertise on Find a Grant”, it added.
Evaluation from the scheme’s pilot estimates that up to £270m can be saved in two years through reducing duplication and other efficiencies as well as preventing fraud.
Applicants involved in the pilot saw the time spent on applications cut by a more than a third (34%), according to the Cabinet Office. It added that there was a 72% reduction in time spent by government officials on managing grants “resulting in huge cost savings for the taxpayer”.
The pilot has also seen a 43% increase in funding awarded to applicants in the north of England.
“The new centralised service automates and standardises processes, and cuts duplication, allowing the government to save taxpayer money,” said the Cabinet Office.
“The service also makes it mandatory for departments to advertise their grants and enables them to step up risk due diligence and fraud prevention.”
So far through the pilot more than 200 grant schemes, worth over £5.3bn, have been advertised on the new service.
Minister @alexburghart today launched our new Find a Grant service, which will help charities like Glasgow-based Enable to save time, so they can continue to help young people in Scotland.https://t.co/QxFUMrRfg9 pic.twitter.com/LcJwWf0iMj
— Cabinet Office (@cabinetofficeuk) June 28, 2023
Cabinet Office parliamentary secretary Alex Burghart said: “This great new service will help organisations find the grants they need at speed - saving everyone time and money.
“That will allow us to focus more money and resources on things that matter to people’s lives, families and communities.
“This will increase accessibility and fairness, making sure that different regions of the UK get their fair share.”
Glasgow based youth disabilities charity Enable has been working with the Cabinet Office to help develop the Find a Grant system.
“Recent research has found that identifying and applying for grant funding is a significant and costly challenge for too many charities and social enterprises, diverting essential time and resources away from delivering for our beneficiaries,” said Enable chief executive Theresa Shearer.
“The Find a Grant service cuts through so much of that. This tool will make applying for grant funding a much faster and more efficient process for the team at Enable and charities across the country, boosting our sector’s productivity so we can make a greater impact supporting and delivering services in our communities.”
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