HMPPS Small Grants Scheme Support for Minority Ethnic people on probation in Cumbria
Northwest Probation region is seeking to commission services from local organisations or practitioners that provide tailored support for individuals from minority ethnic communities in Cumbria. The aim is to pilot innovative, culturally responsive interventions that address the specific needs and barriers faced by these communities within the criminal justice system.
- Opening date: (Midnight)
- Closing date:
Contents
Summary
There is a recognised need to ensure that individuals from minority backgrounds have access to tailored support services.
Our objective is to identify and connect with local organisations, community groups, or practitioners who are already engaged with minority ethnic populations in Cumbria and be able to access bespoke services for people on probation. By doing so, we aim to develop partnerships and collaborative approaches that will better support the rehabilitation and reintegration of minority ethnic offenders. This activity will also help us to understand the specific needs and barriers faced by these communities and inform future service delivery models.
We are particularly interested in innovative approaches and culturally responsive interventions that can make a meaningful difference to the lives of minority ethnic offenders. Through this grant, we hope to pilot new ways of working, gather insights, and establish a foundation for more comprehensive and inclusive support within the Criminal Justice System across these geographies.
Sought outcomes and activities:
We are seeking organisations to develop bespoke solutions for minority ethnic people on probation in the county of Cumbria. In working alongside the organisation, we aim to increase our knowledge of the issues faced by people on probation and equip our practitioners to offer better support.
Outcomes could include:
Details of available support
Individualised support for people on probation, dependent on need
Access to culturally appropriate activities and resource
Awareness raising sessions for probation staff (Please note, grant cannot cover direct benefit for HMPPS staff, for example, staff training.)
Provider requirements:
Provider staff working on the grant would need to go through the HMPPS Enhanced Level 1 vetting process, in line with current HMPPS policy. We encourage applications from organisations in which individuals with lived experience are actively involved in the delivery of services.
Benefits:
One of the key benefits of this approach is that individuals are likely to feel more able to engage with their sentence delivery when they receive support from a culturally specific service. This tailored support can foster greater trust, reduce feelings of isolation, and enhance individuals’ confidence in accessing and participating in rehabilitation activities. As a result, engagement and compliance with sentence requirements may improve, ultimately supporting better outcomes for minority ethnic offenders.
The grant is the best option at this stage as it allows North West Probation Service to identify existing services and spot any gaps to support the delivery of future piloting and testing of bespoke service delivery for people on probation.
Expected outcomes:
· Increased engagement with probation and rehabilitation services among minority ethnic cohorts, leading to better support and more positive outcomes.
· Greater access to culturally appropriate support, resulting in more effective referrals and sustained involvement in relevant programmes.
· Improved understanding and awareness of available specialist services for minority ethnic people, both within the criminal justice system and the community.
· Reduced disproportionality in service provision and outcomes for non-White British people on probation through targeted interventions.
· Enhanced collaboration between probation teams, community groups, and specialist support agencies to address the specific needs of minority ethnic individuals.
· Strengthened evidence base regarding what activities and interventions best support rehabilitation and desistance for minority ethnic people.
· The project will increase knowledge of and engagement with relevant support agencies within the prison, and community – now and upon release.
Timescales:
The project will run for approximately 12 months between 1st February 2026 to 31st January 2027. The dates for the activities to be delivered will be agreed with the successful candidates at the award stage and an earlier start date would be welcome.
Funding:
The funding available for this award is £20,000 maximum
The total grant amount will be paid in advance, provided that the grant recipient has given sufficient assurance that the grant will be used for the stated purpose.
Eligibility
The award is open to VCSE (Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise organisations)
The voluntary sector organisation(s) or consortium receiving the grant from HMPPS, should be a registered charity or social enterprise.
Any organisation applying for funding must demonstrate that it meets the due diligence criteria before any award is made. The funding will only be given to organisations where their annual turnover is at least twice the amount of the funding that they are seeking.
Grant funding cannot be used to deliver core services which HMPPS should be delivering
Objectives
· Make a meaningful impact on the lives of individuals seeking positive change.
· To improve people’s experience of probation through the rehabilitation activities.
· To support an individual’s rehabilitation and desistance journey; and
· To improve our knowledge about what activities, work to support people and to encourage rehabilitation and desistance.
Dates
The grant is open for applications until 5 December 2025
The grant scheme will run for approximately 12 months between 1st February 2026 to 31st January 2027.
How to apply
In order to submit a compliant application, applicants must complete all questions in the Apply for a Grant application form. Please note and do not exceed the word counts for each answer. Any information that is included once the word count is exceeded will not be evaluated and will not count towards the evaluated score. Responses must not include diagrams, tables, images or similar.
Applicants are permitted to submit clarification questions via email to HMPPSGrants@justice.gov.uk. For transparency, this advert will be updated throughout the competition to include any responses to questions asked by applicants.
Further information from clarification questions:
No further information.
To be eligible for funding under this grant applicants must achieve the minimum threshold score of 3 averaged across all technical questions otherwise they will be removed from the competition process. The scoring criteria is outlined below:
Score Interpretation
5 Exceeds the requirement. Exceptional demonstration shown for the proposal, how the project will be delivered, and extensive past experience detailed.
4 Satisfies the requirements and has minor additional benefits. Above average demonstration across all questions.
3 Satisfies the requirements. Demonstrates understanding and ability to a satisfactory standard.
2 Satisfies most of the requirements with some minor reservations relating to the experience, understanding and/or ability. Whilst mostly the question has been answered in a satisfactory way, one element has been omitted/offers insufficient evidence.
1 Major reservations about the experience, understanding or ability demonstrated, with little to no evidence to support the questions. More than one element has been omitted.
0 Does not meet the requirement. Does not comply or offer sufficient information to demonstrated experience, ability of understanding. Significant elements of the question has been omitted or not addressed to a satisfactory standard.
The Authority reserves the right to ask clarification questions about any elements of an application. These questions will not give applicants the opportunity to expand on the response and may only be used where applications contain minor errors or to clarify where the information presented is unclear.
The grant, if awarded, shall be awarded to the Applicant(s) who:
has submitted an application in compliance with these instructions
meets the eligibility criteria
meets the minimum quality threshold of 3 questions
achieves the highest technical score
Due diligence checks will be carried out before the award can be made. These checks may include, but are not exclusive to, financial, brand, assurance, and charitable status
Supporting information
Conflicts of Interest
The Authority is required to prevent conflicts of interest occurring in this competition and may disqualify applicants if an actual or potential conflict of interest occurs in connection with the competition which cannot be satisfactorily avoided or mitigated. The Authority may disqualify any applicant which attempts (or whose advisers attempt) to influence the competition in any way.
MoJ Disclaimer
The Authority shall not be committed to any course of action as a result of:
• issuing the competition documents
• communicating with an applicant or an applicant’s representatives or agents in respect of this competition exercise; or
• any other communication between the Authority (whether directly or by its agents or representatives) and any other party.
All applicants accept and acknowledge that by issuing the competition documents the Authority is not bound to accept any bid and reserves the right not to award or conclude a grant for all or any of the costs for which bids are invited.
The Authority reserves the right to apply its discretion on the amount of funding that is to be awarded to the successful applicant(s). If only part of the application is acceptable, in terms of the stated deliverables, then the Authority may only award funding on that basis.
The Authority reserves the right to amend, suspend or terminate all or any part of the competition or its documentation at any time during the ITT.
The instructions in this advert, together with any other tender documentation are designed to ensure that all applicants are given equal and fair consideration. Applicants should read the instructions carefully to ensure they understand them and the conditions of participation before submitting their applications.
Failure to comply with these instructions regarding submission of the application response may result in its rejection. The Authority may reject Tenders which are substantially and materially incomplete, non-compliant, inconsistent, or vague.
Applicants should answer all questions as accurately and concisely as possible. Applicants are solely responsible for ensuring that their applications are free from error and accept that these cannot be modified after the submission deadline.
Costs incurred in submitting applications will be borne by applicants and will be defined as ineligible expenditure under the terms of the grant.
All information supplied by the Authority to applicants must be treated in confidence (unless already in the public domain) and must not be disclosed to third parties other than as is necessary for the purposes of preparing a Tender.