Opportunity to apply for the Play Enabling Grant 2023-24

Leeds City Council Children and Families Service is excited to announce that the allocation process and opportunity to apply for the 2023/24 Play Enabling Grant is now open to community and voluntary sector providers. We would like to invite applications from organisations who have experience in delivering engaging and sustainable Play projects and activities within local communities or have an interest in developing a local play opportunity. The grant will support opportunities developed for children and young people in Leeds, aged 5-13 years.   

Play is at the heart of our ambition to become a Child Friendly City. It is crucial to children’s happiness and well-being and is the main way in which young people explore, socialise and understand the world around them. We are committed to supporting opportunities for play across the city, particularly in areas of most need. We know that play is a way of bringing communities together, creating opportunities, overcoming barriers and most importantly enabling children to have fun growing up:  a fundamental outcome outlined in the Children and Young People’s Plan 2018-23.

We are looking for creative, reliable and dynamic organisations who can deliver inclusive, accessible, exciting and engaging play opportunities that support children’s emotional, social and physical learning and development.

Key information and criteria

Child Friendly Leeds is focused on supporting, championing and enabling a varied play offer in all areas of the city and therefore ALL applications will be considered by the panel. Please note however that funding is limited so we will be unable to fund all projects and will prioritise areas of most need.

The maximum grant available per organisation will be £5000. Your organisation must be from the voluntary or community sector.

We recognise the time and resource that goes in to applying for funding. This year we have partnered with Leeds Beckett University in order to pilot an approach that aims to relieve some of this pressure. There is the opportunity to work with a small number of students from the Playwork Course, who will support with the fundraising process. Following some guidance and learning from your organisation, the group of students will submit an application for PEG (and other relevant play-related funding pots) on your behalf. There are – of course – a limited number of students and this is only a pilot, so not all interested organisations will have the opportunity to access this project.

 If you would like to find out more and/or get involved, please contact: childfriendlyfriendly@leeds.gov.uk

The following priorities for awarding the grants have been identified:

High Priority

• Grants will be prioritised where applicants have evidenced a local need for the play provision and/or where play provision may be limited;
• We encourage applications from providers who have worked with Scope and gained their ‘Inclusive Activity Award’ or are working towards this.

Other considerations

• We encourage organisations to demonstrate effectiveness and sustainability of their provision

You can read more detail about the criteria and eligibility in the attached PEG supporting guidance document, including information about what the grant is unable to fund.

If you have any specific questions regarding this grant opportunity please contact the Child Friendly Leeds team via the email address above.