short breaks fund faq's
This is a short guide to the various funding programmes within the Short Breaks Fund. Please refer to the detailed guidance for more information.
Better Breaks Programme
- What is the fund for?
- How much money is available?
- Who can apply?
- What kind of projects will be funded?
- How will funding decisions be taken?
- What are the timescales?
- Is there any support for applicants?
Creative Breaks Programme
- What is the fund for?
- How much is available?
- Who can apply?
- What kind of services or activities will be funded?
- How will funding decisions be taken?
- When has the money to be spent by?
- What we can’t fund?
- When will the Creative Breaks Programme be open for applications?
Time To Live Fund
Better Breaks Fund
What is the fund for?
- Better Breaks is part of a new £2m investment by Scottish Government to improve the provision of, and access to, short breaks for disabled children and young people and their carers, especially where the children and young people have multiple support needs
- The fund will be used to help develop existing, new and innovative models of short breaks which will help to support the well-being of carers and of the disabled children and young people they care for.
- The fund will create more opportunities for disabled children and young people, especially those with multiple support needs, to take part in activities which are fun, stimulating and rewarding
- The fund will encourage shared learning and a better understanding of the role of short breaks in supporting caring relationships
How much money is available?
- Better Breaks has approximately £1.2m to allocate as grants in 2013/14. We anticipate that the majority of grants will be between £10,000 and £50,000 each.
- Additionally, the Family Fund is managing a fund of approximately £700,000 called Take a Break which will provide grants for short breaks directly to carers.
- Up to £100,000 has been allocated to fund a programme of learning so that organisations, individual carers and policy makers have the opportunity to understand more about the short break needs of disabled children and young people, and their carers.
Who can apply?
- Voluntary/third sector organisations operating in Scotland can apply
- Organisations do not have to be a registered charity, but their work must have charitable aims.
- Public or private sector bodies cannot apply for funding directly. They may be part of a partnership bid, provided they are not the lead partner
- Organisations that are already funded through the Short Breaks Fund can apply
- Individual carers or families can not apply to Better Breaks but can apply to Take a Break
What kind of projects will be funded?
- Projects which improve and extend short break provision to disabled children and young people, especially those with multiple support needs.
- Projects that build the capacity of mainstream leisure and recreational services to involve disabled children and young people.
- Projects that aim to create and enhance opportunities for disabled children and young people to meet friends and enjoy social and leisure activities, as independently as possible, and that supports families / carers.
- Projects that provide support at key transition stages, where short breaks can assist in helping disabled children and young people through these transitions.
- Projects which help to improve short break provision for 'harder to reach' groups such as black and minority ethnic family carers, gypsy traveller families or single parent families caring for disabled children and young people.
- Projects which support breaks for families caring for very yound disabled children (0-5 years of age).
- Be imaginative! A break can be an activity for a couple of hours, a playscheme over the summer, a residential weekend, an evening youth club, a buddy scheme, etc.
- Grant could fund staff costs, volunteer costs, training costs, transport costs, specialised equipment, etc. where these lead clearly to better access to quality short breaks.
How will funding decisions be taken?
- All applications received will be assessed against the core criteria set out in the detailed guidance.
- The assessment will be undertaken by a trained and experienced external assessor, who will phone you to discuss your application.
- Once assessed, all applications will be considered by a Grants Advisory Panel who will take the decisions on allocating the funding.
What are the timescales?
- The closing date for applications is at 12noon on the 12 December 2012.
- We will inform applicants of the outcome of their application by mid March 2013. Funding will be issued to successful applicants early April 2013 and must be spent by the end of March 2014.
Is there any support for applicants?
- Yes, there will be workshops for applicants in different locations in November. Click here for information. If you want to attend a workshop you must book a place.
- Christi will be available to take phone calls regarding applications on Thursday 29 November, Tuesday 4 December and Friday 7 December. Alternatively, you can book a phone appointment with Christi by ringing the Shared Care Scotland office on 01383 622462 or email her here.
Creative Breaks Programme
What is the fund for?
- The Creative Breaks programme is part of the Short Breaks Fund made available by the Scottish Government to improve the range and the availability of short breaks for carers and those that they care for.
- The aim of the fund is to support the caring relationship and improve the wellbeing of carers and those they care for by building more choice and responsiveness into short breaks.
- The short breaks services that are developed with the fund will focus on the needs of carers of adults, carers of older people, young carers and kinship carers.
- The fund is also an opportunity to stimulate thinking and learning around short breaks: we will work collabratively with the organisations that we fund to improve our understanding of what works well.
How much is available?
- We have a little over £1m to distribute in this round.
- We expect grants to be between £5,000 and £50,000 and to last for a year between October 2013 and September 2014.a
Who can apply?
- Applications are open to third sector organisations in Scotland.
- Applicants do not need to be a registered charity, but the work of the organisation must have charitable aims and would pass the "charity" test. Public or private sector bodies can not apply for funding directly. They may be part of a partnership bid, but must not be the lead partner.
- Organisations can apply for more than one grant for different projects and should bear in mind that each application will be assessed seperately on its own merits.
What kind of services or activities will be funded?
- We want to fund short break development that demonstrates choice, good practice, variety and early intervention. Short breaks might be for a few hours or for several days - what is important is that carers and those they care for must have been involved in designing the proposal.
- Some examples of a short break might be: leisure opportunities for carers and those they care for, either together or apart; residential holidays; befriending projects; care at home or shared lives projects.
- We are also keen to invite applications from organisations that are able to administer and distribute funding to carers directly, so that carers can design and pay for the breaks that suit them best. This might be across a single local authority area, or it might be a condition-specific project cover the whole of Scotland, e.g. for carers of people with dementia.
- We would particularly welcome applications that show how the services they develop would involve carers who are traditionally harder to reach, such as BME carers, LGBT carers and carers from remote and rural areas. We are also keen to attract applications that would develop services in areas of multiple deprivation.
How will funding decisions be taken?
- Your application will be assessed by an external assessor against three sets of competencies which are described in the guidance. To give your application the best chance of success it is vital that you read your guidance and application form notes carefully.
- After that, your application will have a second opinion assessment by a moderator to make sure that there is fairness in the process. Finally, our Grants Allocation Panel will make a decision on whether or not to award a grant.
When has the money to be spent by?
What we can’t fund?
- Individuals are not able to apply to the Creative Breaks Fund. However, many local authority areas have Time to Live Funds that accept applications from carers directly. You can see where these funds exists by clicking here
- We are not inviting applications for projects which aim to work mainly with carers of disabled children and young people. This is because such work now comes under the guidelines of the Better Breaks programme.
- Applications which are solely for core or running costs of an organisation or existing project.
- Projects that duplicate or replace services currently funded by local authorities.
- Larger capital items such as purchases of building, vehicles, etc.
When is the closing date for Creative Breaks 2013?
- The Creative Breaks 2013 programme opens on the 7th March 2013 and closes at noon on the 8th May 2013
Time To Live Fund
What is the Time to Live fund?
- The Time to Live strand of the Short Breaks Fund will provide funding to voluntary organisations which carers and those they support can access directly to enable them to have a short break.
- In 2011 we are piloting the Fund in 12 areas. See the Time to Live page for a list of these areas.
- In 2012/13 third sector organisations can apply to run Time to Live type projects by applying via the Creative Breaks programme.
- Applications are open to voluntary (Third Sector) organisations that can reach all types of carers in the one area and can work in partnership with local arrangements for self directed support. Organisations can apply for more than one area.
- Applicants should apply for the total funding available for the area, and 90% or more of the funding should go directly to careers.
Shared Care Scotland
Unit 2, Dunfermline Business Centre, Izatt Avenue,
Dunfermline,
Fife
KY11 3BZ
Tel:
Work
01383 622462
email:office@sharedcarescotland.com
- A company limited by guarantee registered in Scotland SC161033
- Registered charity SC 005315