Medway Council is inviting members from local voluntary and community groups to apply for funding to
deliver targeted interventions that improve Financial Resilience for individuals, groups and families in
Medway.
The Fund will distribute grants of up to £15,000, enabling organisations to support sustainable solutions
that move individuals and families from financial insecurity toward stability, resilience, and improved
wellbeing.
Priority Cohorts
Applications should clearly demonstrate how they will identify, reach, and prioritise those most in need of
building their financial resilience.
Specifically, it will
- Prevent escalation of financial crisis (e.g. debt, eviction, energy disconnection)
- Build financial capability and independence
- Strengthen community-based support systems
Applicants are encouraged to demonstrate how people with lived experience have been involved in the design or delivery of the service.
Eligible Activities
Applications must demonstrate how the service will reduce inequalities and address barriers linked to
health and crisis risk. Activities may include, but are not limited to:
Funded interventions must demonstrate at least one of the following:
The activities can be:
A. Direct Support- One-to-one financial coaching
- Welfare benefits advice
- Debt advice services
- Crisis navigation casework
B. Preventative Interventions- Early identification of at-risk households
- Outreach in communities or through partners (e.g. health, housing)
C. Capability Building- Financial literacy workshops
- Budgeting, digital banking, or savings schemes
- Behaviour-change programmes (e.g. reducing high-cost borrowing)
D. Integrated Support Models- Co-located services (e.g. advisers in GP surgeries)
- Holistic “wraparound” support (financial + wellbeing)
E. Innovation Pilots- New delivery models using technology or partnerships
- Scalable approaches with potential for wider rollout
Applicants are encouraged to demonstrate partnership working, including links with health services, local
authorities, and community networks.
Application requirements
Applications should clearly set-out the following:
- Number of beneficiaries
- Expected outcomes
- Timeframes for delivery
- Sustainability beyond initial investment
- Monitoring and evaluation
- Be person-centred and trauma-informed
- Promote dignity and inclusion
- Work in partnership across sectors
- Focus on prevention as well as crisis response
Eligible Applicants- Charities and voluntary organisations
- Social enterprises
- Local authorities or partnerships
- Community groups (with appropriate governance)
| Criteria | Weighting | |
| Impact on financial resilience | 30% | |
| Evidence of need | 20% | |
| Delivery approach & feasibility | 20% | |
| Value for money | 15% | |
| Partnership working | 10% | |
| Evaluation & learning | 5% | |
General Fund Guidelines
Medway Council is committed to supporting Medway Residents using resources provided within the Crisis
and Resilience Fund. We value to the work undertaken by the Voluntary and Community sector in
Medway and would like to share funding with the sector.
£500,000 has been allocated to support work within the sector, which will be spread over 5 grants.
The fund aims to support voluntary and community organisations that contribute towards improving the
financial wellbeing of residents and families in Medway.
There are 2 objectives of this fund:
- to improve individuals’ financial resilience and help residents to better manage financial shocks and prevent the occurrence, recurrence and escalation of crises
- to boost local-level support via a joined-up, visible local support network - this includes strengthening resilience networks within local communities, that in turn improves the financial resilience of individuals within these communities
Organisations who can apply:
- Registered charities
- Constituted community and voluntary organisations
- Community Interest Companies limited by guarantee
- Companies limited by guarantee that have a clear not-for-profit clause in their governing document and clear charitable or social objectives
- Community Benefit Societies
To be eligible the organisation must have:
- At least three unrelated people responsible for running the organisation (for registered charities these are your Trustees, for CICs/social enterprises these are your directors)
- A written constitution or set of rules that sets out the purpose and management of the organisation
- A bank account in the name of the organisation with at least two unrelated signatories required for payments
- An appropriate safeguarding policy and EDI policy
- Annual examined accounts for groups over 12 months old.
Exclusions: The fund cannot be used to support;
- the ongoing purchase of food for food banks or similar
- food vouchers for schools, colleges or early years settings
- core organisational costs not linked to CRF objectives
- duplication of fully funded statutory services
- capital projects or major asset purchases (small equipment costs would be acceptable)
- Activities where making profit is a primary aim
- Activities where people are excluded on religious grounds. We can fund religious organisations to work with others towards the objectives of the fund.
- Political groups
- Charitable or fund-raising activities
- Activities that take place outside the City Council boundary
- Activities that do not meet one of the objectives of the CRF
- Costs you owed or promised to pay before your application was approved (retrospective costs)
- General running costs that are not related to the direct delivery of CRF activities or are not commensurate with the sum of funding being requested
Conditions- Guidance should be provided by trained Money guiders and support can be given facilitate training
- Advice must be appropriately accredited – for example debt advice is regulated should be authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority unless exempt.
- community food support applications will be prioritised if the provision integrates or co-locate with Resilience Services. This could include integration with advice services, benefit application support and utility debt support.
- think creatively about new approaches to building sustainable food landscapes, which draw on established best practice and support people to transition away from crisis support to building their financial resilience.
The grants scheme will focus on 5 main themes:
- Support for Carers
- Food Support
- Tackling Health inequalities
- Supporting those over state pension age
- General financial resilience and debt resolution.
Individual fact sheets about each theme are available.
Applications must deliver targeted interventions that improve financial resilience and include
1. Crisis Prevention- Early intervention before financial hardship worsens
- Reducing reliance on emergency support particularly emergency food support.
2. Income Maximisation- Improving access to benefits and entitlements
- Supporting employment pathways
3. Debt Reduction & Financial Stability- Debt advice and management support
- Budgeting and money management skills
4. Resilience Building- Increasing savings habits or safety nets
- Digital and financial literacy
5. System Navigation- Helping people access services (housing, energy, welfare)
Applicants are encouraged to demonstrate partnership working, including links with health services, local
authorities, and community networks.
The projects should have the following principles:
- person-centred to ensure that people’s preferences, needs and values stay central to professional decisions, providing support that is respectful to them
- needs-based to recognise the varied circumstances that individuals may experience, seeking to meet the underlying needs, not just the crisis symptoms
- holistic to provide integrated support that helps the individual and their households, with Authorities considering the wide range of services and actions they have access to
- encompass a no wrong door approach to connect individuals to the right service and support through warm referrals, regardless of their initial point of contact
- trauma informed: Authorities should adopt a Trauma Informed Approach when working with people and families in crisis, considering the six principles of trauma-informed practice
An outcomes-based approach means that funding decisions should be guided by the impact services
have on improving financial resilience. Authorities should be able to demonstrate a clear rationale for how
their chosen services contribute to one or more of the following outcomes, which are explained further
below: increased savings, reduced priority debt, reduced need for emergency food parcels, reduced
material deprivation, maximised income, fewer repeat crisis applications and increased access to
appropriate and quality advice services.
Funding conditions
Grants will be awarded for a maximum of £15,000 paid in two instalments. The first payment of 50% will
be released should your application be successful. The second 50% will be released after the funder has
visited your project and are happy that you are delivering the pledged activities.
The fund will support costs like the examples below. In all cases the costs must relate directly to the
activity you are providing.
Rent
The cost of using premises to deliver your project or to hire a venue for an event Equipment Purchase of
materials and / or hire of equipment to deliver your project / event.
Publicity
Production of a leaflet or newsletter to advertise the activities you are undertaking
Expenses
Training/Travel / parking for staff and volunteers delivering activities (specified pence per mile) Necessary
Courses that you intend to offer volunteers and / or staff Admin costs
Insurance and membership costs, general stationery for running the activity
Salaries
Staffing costs for additional hours / new posts to deliver the activity (inc. recruitment and finance)
Support
Additional specific support that may be needed (e.g. translation costs)
Application Process
Applicants will need to sign up to be an affiliate of the Social Impact Gateway prior to submitting their
funding bid.
If you have not already signed up as a SIG Affiliate, then you can do this by visiting:
Social Impact Gateway Affiliate Application Form
Please follow this
link below to view the guidance information to assist you with becoming an affiliate of the
Social Impact Gateway:
The application gateway will be open for applications from 09:00am Monday 26th October 2026 and the
closing date for applications is 5:00pm Sunday 22nd November 2026.
Application is via the Medway, Swale and North West Kent Social Impact Gateway (SIG) and SIG Affiliates
will be sent a link to the application form once deemed ‘Grant Ready’.
Please ensure you enter your SIG Affiliate Number in the relevant field in the application form.
We look forward to receiving your funding application