Exciting news!
Better Youth Spaces fund launches today
Better Youth Spaces is £30.5m of capital grants funded by the UK Government and administered by Social Investment Business to help youth organisations to better support the young people they work with.
This exciting new fund will support youthwork in key areas across England by providing grants for equipment, small refurbishments and other capital projects between £5k and £100k. The application form will be online from 10am this morning.
KEY DATES
- 10am on Wednesday 6th August: Better Youth Spaces will open to applications via their website: https://www.sibgroup.org.uk/funds/better-youth-spaces/
- Midnight on Sunday 31st August: Deadline for applications that include refurbishment
- Midnight on Sunday 21st September: Deadline for all other applications (please note the fund could close earlier if it is heavily oversubscribed).
- 30th January 2026: All grants must be spent, evidenced and paid out by 30th Jan or earlier.
KEY INFO
Better Youth Spaces aims to improve:
- the reach of activities provided
- the safety of existing youth facilities
- the youth sector’s capacity and quality to deliver a range of enrichment activities
- the financial sustainability of youth facilities
To apply, groups will need to meet a set of specific criteria, including:
- At least 50% of their provision must be for children/young people.
- They must be a registered charity, non-profit (like CIC, CLGs with dividend, asset and mission lock), local authority, uniformed group or community benefit society.
- They must be located in one of 42 locations listed below.
See the full eligibility criteria and FAQ’s on the website
Eligible areas
The fund is available to not-for-profit youth organisations in 42 priority areas which includes Halton and St Helens selected by the government based on the Income Deprivation Affecting Children Index (IDACI) at the upper tier local authority level.
The easiest and most reliable way to check and ensure eligibility is to use the eligible postcode checker.
Webinars
Sign up to join a webinar midday on Wednesday 13 August. They will share more about how the funding works, the application process, and particularly cover questions around refurbishment projects. There will be time for Q&A.
Watch the previous webinar here, with Q&A for more information
‘Thank you again for all you do to support and invest in young people across England.’
Jack & the team at Social Investment Business
For all enquiries, please contact: jack.wakefield@sibgroup.org.uk