1. Introduction:

The purpose of these guidance notes is to assist organisations completing an application form for the Communities that Care Investment Fund 2013/14.Please ensure that you:

  • Read through the criteria and individual specification for each strand of the fund.
  • Complete all sections of the form, any section left blank will mean that we have an incomplete understanding of your proposed project.

2. Eligibility:

In order to be eligible for funding your application must:

  • Be for activities or services that benefit Lewisham residents
  • Be from a constituted third sector organisation with charitable aims and objectives
  • Have a written Equal Opportunities policy that covers all equality strands

We will not fund:

  • Political parties, activities that promote religion, any group which promotes or perpetuates discrimination on grounds of race, gender, age, disability, sexuality, religion, employment status or responsibility for dependants.
  • Individuals or organisations that do not have an organisation/company bank account (grants cannot be paid into an individual’s personal bank account).
  • Retrospective spending.

3. Purpose of the Fund:

Approximately 3,500 adults over 85 and 26,000 over 65 reside within Lewisham. This is a diverse group with a significant number of people from black and minority ethnic groups. It is estimated that the proportion of the population aged over 50 will grow significantly over the next 50 years.

Many older people will maintain their health and wellbeing into their later years. Others may face challenges such as social isolation, increasing frailty, declining mental health and the ability to access services and programmes. While life expectancy is increasing, healthy life expectancy is not increasing at the same rate. People are spending a longer time living with conditions that can seriously reduce their quality of life, such as dementia, arthritis or the effects of a stroke.

The Communities that Care Investment Fund seeks to develop services to support people to live independently and maintain a high quality of life.

4. Background to the Fund:

(a)Personal Assistants:

Lewisham is supporting residents with a learning disability, mental health condition, physical or sensory impairment to live their lives as they wish. Personal budgets, where every person eligible for publicly-funded adult social care will have a clear, upfront allocation of funding, will enable them to make informed choices about how best to meet their needs. However, for this to work properly people need a range of services to choose from that reflect the full diversity of their lives, needs and aspirations.Currently the pool of self employed personal assistants is very limited which restricts the choice of those in receipt of personal budgets.

(b)Preventative Community Development:

Lewisham Council is in the process of realigning its model of social care to increase its focus on prevention and community based support. Four neighbourhood teams of health and social care professionals are being developed around GP practices to provide person centred care preventing hospital admission, managing long term conditions and enabling people to remain as independent as possible within their home.

GPs will be able to make referrals to the teams using a single process with clear information regarding the community support being given to a patient. Designated neighbourhood leads will build relationships and trust across the wide range of disciplines and resources available to each team. The range of support services that can be accessed by each neighbourhood will include information and advice, equipment / telecare services, enablement, therapists, safeguarding, palliative care and support for carers.

The existing approach to support planning is delivered through a process of brokerage from conventional services. To further develop the concept of personalisation, it is envisaged that a new delivery model will be established with support brokers working in partnership with service users to identify outcomes and how these can be met by services within the community.

For people to stay independent for longer, they need to have stronger networks and feel more connected to their communities. They also need to be able to access a range of services in their communities that reflect the full diversity of their lives, needs and aspirations. Additional investment to support a community development programmeis required to achieve a whole system approach to prevention and community support. This programme will make better use of existing community resources, improve the range of services available within communities and increase access to services.

5.What we are looking for:

We are looking for VCS organisations to respond to specifications in the following areas:

Specification: / Maximum amount available
1. Project To Develop Personal Assistants / £100,000
2. Preventative Community Development Programme / £600,000

We are looking to award each grant to a single organisation. The organisation could be the lead member of a consortium of organisations working collaboratively to deliver the specification.

A specification for each area has been produced. Please read the individual specification in detail before developing your application.

6. Assessment Criteria:

We will look at the following areas when assessing your application:

(a)Quality: The track record of the organisation and individuals involved, the level of innovation, the commitment to the core values outlined in the specification and the proposed range of activities will be used to assess the quality of the proposed project.

(b)Effective Management: the application should demonstrate the organisation’s ability to effectively manage the proposed programme of work to achieve the proposed outcomes. The application should outline experience of successfully managing a similar activity, the key stages of managing the project, how risk will be managed and how the activity will be evaluated.

(c)Financial Sustainability: value for money, the organisation’s track record in achieving external funding and approach to managing finance will be used to assess the financial sustainability criteria.

(d)Partnership working: the involvement of partners in delivering the planned activities as well as the organisation’s track record in working effectively with partners will be sued to assess the partnership working criteria.

(e)Marketing: the organisation’s approach to promoting activities and track record in delivering against marketing objectives will be used to assess the marketing criteria.

(f)Geographic spread: the organisation will need to demonstrate that it is able to deliver the funded activity across the borough, focussing activity in areas of highest need.

7. Deadline for application

Applications must be submitted by 12noon, 10 June 2013 to: Cheryl Alfred, Grants and

Information, 2nd Floor Laurence House, 1 Catford Road, London,SE6 4RU. Tel: 020 8314 9061. Email:

8. Further Information

If you require further information or advice please contact Carmel Langstaff, Community Enterprise Manager: / 020 8314 7729