The Trust Capacity Fund

The Trust Capacity Fund (TCaF): A funding opportunity from the DfE to grow your school or Trust

The next round of Trust Capacity Fund has been announced and will open to applicants on April 6th. The Trust Capacity Fund (TCaF) 2020-2021 is the successor programme to the Trust Capacity Fund 2019-2020. It will continue to support MAT growth and development across England. It will also support selected LA maintained rural schools to collaborate and create new, strong Multi-Academy Trusts.

Criteria for funding applications:

Any funding must benefit the trust as a whole and contribute to trust infrastructure and capacity, as opposed to funding towards the improvement of a single school.

Previous applications for Premier Advisory clients have included:

• ICT development including the procurement of software or services to centralise functions
• Leadership capacity
• CPD costs to develop existing staff to undertake enhanced roles
• Legal costs associated with a merger
• Salary costs for new staff/services, to strengthen the back-office operations to enable MAT growth
• Priority projects from Regional School Commissioners (RSCs) which do not fall under other strands.

Application rounds and deadlines:

There are two periods within the 2020-2021 financial year to apply for the Fund:

• The first opportunity to apply begins on 6th April 2020 running until July 2020
• The second opportunity to apply runs from September 2020 until December 2020

Given the current COVID-19 crisis the first round may be delayed. We do, however, encourage applications to progress as planned, as each one will continue to be reviewed, but potentially delayed to the second round in September.

Is your organisation eligible and how PAG can help?

The DfE offer guidance here. However, there is obviously more to it and can at times feel daunting. This is where Premier Advisory Group can help. Along with talking through the criteria, PAG can write applications on your behalf. To date Premier Advisory Group have secured more than £500,000 for small and large organisations via TCaF 1.

To find out how SBS and Premier Advisory Group can support you with your application, contact us today on 0345 222 1551 • Option 5 or email hello@schoolbusinessservices.co.uk

---