The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) has provided the £150million Community Ownership Fund to help communities across the UK to take ownership of assets at risk of closure. It is a four-year fund that runs until March 2025.
The fund forms part of a package of UK wide levelling-up interventions, helping to support recovery, build opportunity and empower communities to improve their local places.
The Community Ownership Fund’s four strategic objectives are:
- To provide targeted investment for communities to save and sustain community assets that would otherwise be lost to community use.
- To strengthen capacity and capability in communities, supporting them to shape their places and develop sustainable community businesses.
- To empower communities in left behind places to level up.
- To strengthen direct links between places across the UK and the UK Government.
The following ‘in-kind’ match funding (otherwise known as ‘non-cash’ match funding) will also count as an eligible source of match funding:
- Donations of goods relevant to the project that would otherwise have been purchased.
- The value of a discount on a long-term leasehold or freehold, for example as part of a Community Asset Transfer. The value of such a discount must be professionally valued.
- Professional services that would otherwise have been paid for, as evidenced by an appropriate discounted invoice.
Applicants are not required to have all match funding sources secured at the time of project application.
Who Can Apply
Applications will be accepted from voluntary and community organisations from all parts of the United Kingdom who have a viable plan for taking ownership of a community asset at risk and running it sustainably for community benefit.
To be eligible, the applicant must be an incorporated organisation which is set up to deliver charitable purpose, social purpose or public benefit. Eligible organisation types include:
- Charitable incorporated organisation (CIO).
- Scottish charitable incorporated organisation (SCIO).
- Co-operatives including Community Benefit Societies.
- Community Interest Company (CIC).
- Not-for-profit company limited by guarantee.
- Parish, town or community council.
How To Apply
There will be four bidding windows per year, so applicants will have an opportunity to apply approximately every three months until March 2025.
There is a two step application process:
- The first step in the application process is to submit an Expression of Interest. This can be done at any time and an outcome is usually conveyed within three to four weeks of submission.
- If successful, applicants will be sent an email containing a unique application form link when a new round opens. Groups can apply in any bidding window suitable for the timings of their project up until the programme closes in March 2025. It does not have to be the next round.
The current round (Round 3 Window 2) is open from 30 August 2023 and closes at 11.59am (midday) on 11 October 2023.
Guidance documents and application forms are available from the GOV.UK website.
In addition, My Community, the official delivery partners for the Community Ownership Fund support programme, has published a number of different guides on their website which new applicants may wish to refer to.
These include:
- What is the Community Ownership Fund?
- Frequently asked questions
- Editable version of the Community Ownership application form
- How to write a strong Community Ownership Fund application.
- Community Ownership Fund Advice and Support
- Community Ownership Fund stories
Community Ownership fund, Prospectus: Community Ownership Fund: prospectus – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Community Ownership Application form: COF_application_form_word_export.docx (live.com)
For further information on how to obtain this fund, please contact the following:
- Enquiries
Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC)
2 Marsham Street
London
SW1P 4DF
United Kingdom
Tel: 030 3444 0000
Email: COF@levellingup.gov.uk