Growing your trust can be a difficult and expensive process, but now you have a great opportunity, the Department for Education has just announced a new funding pot of £17m called the Trust Capacity Fund (TCaF) which supports trust growth and development across the country. If you’re in search of funding to expand your trust, TCaF can support your plans. The application process for this funding is now open and will close on 31 December 2019.
What is the Trust Capacity Fund?
The funding will award up to £17million across England and there are 4 strands which have different eligibility criteria:
A1: This will provide support to strong multi-academy trusts (MATs) focusing on growth and innovation in areas of need. The grant value for this strand ranges between £50,000 and £310,000.
A2: This focuses on encouraging strong trusts to grow by converting and improving weaker maintained schools or adding vulnerable academies to their trust and improving them. The grant value for this strand ranges between £50,000 and £200,000.
B: This aims to support the development of mid-sized trusts that have the potential to become strong trusts. For this strand, the grant value ranges between £20,000 and £150,000.
C: This strand aims to create new strong trusts, either by single-academy trusts joining larger trusts, or through mergers enabling existing trusts to grow further, or priority projects identified by RSCs. The grant value for this strand ranges between £20,000 and £100,000.
The eligibility criteria for each strand is dependent on:
- Financial Health
- Size of the trust
- School improvement
- Progress
- Phonics Attainment
- English Baccalaureate (EBacc)
If you would like to find out more, further information can be found in the Trust Capacity Fund Information for Applicants guidance.
Who can apply for TCaF?
You can apply as long as your trust doesn’t have an open Financial Notice to Improve (FntI) and you must:
- take into your trust at least one additional school
- demonstrate how you plan to use the funding efficiently and effectively
- be of sound financial health
You can also use the DfE eligibility checker for confirmation.
How to apply:
This funding is a great opportunity for your trust to gain substantial funding to aid development and growth; To apply you just need to follow the link below and fill in the application form which can be submitted via email, further instructions are on the application form in the link below.
Application Form
The closing date for applications is 31 December 2019, so make sure you don’t miss out.