Local News Fund

Local News Outlet Funding (LNOF): For the 75% of the Fund reserved for local news outlets, eligible applicants must be based in England or Wales and meet the following criteria:

• Organisations must be providers of high quality local news and information relating to a defined geographical area within England or Wales. Local news and information encompasses:

  • Investigative or campaigning journalism;

  • Reporting on the activities of local public institutions; or

  • Reporting on other matters of unique interest to local communities including events, local businesses and the local economy, or other local and community initiatives

• Organisations must be able to demonstrate a recent and sustained track record in the provision of local news and information, by having published at least one local story each month over the past 12 months.

• Organisations must be able to demonstrate that their content is editorially accountable, meaning that:

  • Broadcast organisations in either TV or radio must be Ofcom-licensed;

  • All other organisations must have a named person responsible for deciding to publish content and for determining how it is presented, as well as a published editorial policy or set of guidelines.

• Organisations must have been been registered, with a published registered office or other business address in England or Wales, and operating in your relevant sector for at least one year at the point of the scheme opening for applications (7th July)

• The maximum award for the Local News Outlet funding stream is £125,000

The Fund is media neutral, meaning that applications will be considered from Ofcom-licensed local TV, commercial radio and community radio stations, which are also able to meet all of the criteria set out above. This excludes regional or local services operated by national broadcasters, including the BBC, ITV and S4C. Our current expectation is that the majority of applications will be from local news outlets which provide news and information principally in print and/or online. Consortia bids will also be considered, whereby local news outlets intend to collaborate on a project for mutual benefit.

Infrastructure Funding (IF): 25% of the Fund is intended for “infrastructure funding”, reserved for third party organisations based anywhere in the UK which are developing tools, services and other initiatives from which the local media industry more widely can benefit, in terms of their financial sustainability and innovation:

• Organisations must be legally incorporated, with a published registered office or other business address in the UK, and have been trading for at least 12 months.

• Organisations or their founders/directors must be able to demonstrate previous experience of delivering a project or developing/providing tools, services or other initiatives in support of the journalism industry, at local or national level, or in another relevant field (e.g. publishing, advertising).

• There are no geographical limitations on how benefits may be realised from infrastructure funding, but organisations must be able to demonstrate in their bids how benefits would be felt at least by local media in England or Wales.

• The maximum award for the Infrastructure funding stream is £275,000

To maximise the impact of the fund, match funding is encouraged where organisations have the financial capacity and are seeking to deliver larger projects - we encourage those organisations not defined as small businesses on the basis of an annual turnover above £15m to consider this as part of any bid. Separately, grants will be awarded as Minimum Financial Assistance, under Section 36 of the Subsidy Control Act 2022, meaning that all grantees must be in receipt of no more than £315,000 of any public funding over the past three years, including funding from this Fund. Further guidance on what this means for grantees is available in the application form and on the Government website. Additionally, while payment in arrears remains the strongly preferred method of payment for all Government grant funding, payment upfront will be available for those bidders who consider that they lack the cash reserves to initiate their projects after any funding is confirmed, and are able to demonstrate that their unrestricted cash reserves are less than 25% of the value of the grant they are bidding for, via signed confirmation from an independent chartered accountant. 

The following are examples of eligible and ineligible expenditure. These lists are not intended to be exhaustive, but should help give an indication of where to focus bids. Please view the supporting documents attached for further information about eligible expenditure :

Examples of eligible expenditure - what you can apply for:

• Acquisition costs

• Salaries of staff involved in funded projects (not content production, and not business as usual but demonstrates a business impact related to financial sustainability ) (only evidenced via PAYE/HMRC or invoiced freelancer costs)

• Overheads (where justified and reasonable)

• Travel & subsistence costs for staff related to the funded project/s i.e., petrol, food or accommodation where wholly, exclusively, and necessarily reasonable and specifically related to the project). These should be in line with Civil Service Advisory benchmark rates e.g. this one from MMO / HMRC approved mileage allowance payments, and focus on ensuring value for money throughout

• Preparation, design and development of project delivery

• Research and development (if applicable)

• Associated office/administration costs

• Training costs for staff, volunteers, beneficiaries or service users

Examples of ineligible expenditure - what you cannot apply for:

• Core organisational running costs not directly related to project delivery

• Tax liabilities

• Costs incurred before the start of award of funding

• Contribution to reserves

• Property or property maintenance

• Repayment of loans

• Staff redundancy or redeployment costs

• Gifts

• Statutory fines, criminal fines or penalties, civil penalties, damage or associated legal costs

• Payments for works or activities which the grant recipient, or any member of their partnership, has a statutory duty to undertake, or that are fully funded by other sources

• Payments for unfair dismissal or other compensation

• Depreciation, amortisation or impairment of assets owned by the grant recipient 

Organisations can submit only one bid to either part of the fund (though an eligible organisation can submit one bid for each part of the fund). Local news organisations can submit a single bid with multiple parts, proposing different projects for different local news outlets under its ownership, up to the £125,000 threshold.

Successful awardees must be able to fully mobilise the service within October 2026 and deliver all outputs with grant funding approved spent by 22nd March 2027.

The overall objective of the Fund is to help ensure the long-term provision of high quality local news, supporting local media to continue innovating towards a digital and sustainable future and thereby stemming closure of titles and journalist redundancies. It is intended to support local media in investing in innovation and the tools, resources and infrastructure from which the whole industry can benefit in moving towards a financially sustainable future. 

The applicant will be asked to demonstrate how the funding will be used over the course of the project, ensuring value for money.

The effectiveness of the Fund will be judged by how it stimulates growth and financial sustainability in an industry adapting to the rapid decline of print media, technological disruption in the growth of AI-generated news services and diversion of audiences to social media. This includes in how grants are used to transform business models, to have a sustained impact on grantees beyond the lifetime of each grant, and to optimise benefits across the industry by generating insights which other outlets can learn from and/or building infrastructure which has a broad and substantial impact.

The Fund as a whole also seeks to tackle news inequality and diversity, with bidders encouraged to consider how their bids support the needs of diverse and/or underrepresented audiences. In line with the Local Media Action Plan, we also encourage collaboration in the development of shared infrastructure, standards and services in support of local media, which is particularly relevant to the Infrastructure Funding portion of the Fund.

Final decisions on grant awards will take into consideration diversity in award allocation, including geographical distribution and variety in the types of different projects, as well as the extent to which bids seek to complement existing local news provision in their locality.

We are not being prescriptive in setting the parameters of bids, given the different needs, priorities and business models of different local news outlets. The following is therefore intended only as illustrative examples of the type of bids and projects we envisage may be funded under the local news outlet (LNOF) portion of the Fund. Bids which do not fall within these categories will not be disadvantaged if they still meet the overarching objectives of the Fund:

• Commercial innovation focused on revenue sources and business models - for example delivering more efficient monetisation of content through enhanced advertising and/or reader revenue models, or diversifying revenue streams into other areas.

• Technological innovation focused on streamlining newsgathering, non-editorial processes or back office functions - for example through the responsible use of AI or data analytics in and around the newsroom, in ways which supplements rather than replaces the work of journalists (any project involving AI must include clear safeguards where applicable to content creation which ensure accuracy, transparency, accountability, data protection, and the preservation of editorial independence).

• Editorial innovation focused on building and engaging audiences - for example by unlocking new content formats and means of communication and connection with existing and new audiences, exploring options for greater interaction and collaboration with audiences and communities or through sophisticated personalisation of content.

• Upskilling newsrooms to address any skills gaps which would support new and innovative ways of addressing challenges in areas such as business leadership, digital accessibility, audience engagement, AI, data analytics.

• Upgrades to core business and IT infrastructure (in areas such as, but not limited to, CMS, servers, cloud services, apps, website architecture, AI tools).

Similarly, for the infrastructure (IF) portion of the Fund, the following is intended only as an illustrative list of the types of bids and projects we envisage may be funded:

• Development of shared digital and/or services infrastructure which reduces duplication, enhances collective efficiency, incentivises innovation and lowers barriers to entry. This might be for example through:

  • Shared advertising exchanges to better leverage the collective reach of local media;

  • Content sharing platforms to enable local publishers to open up new revenue streams and drive traffic to their websites;

  • Media literacy initiatives which promote the value of local journalism to audiences;

  • Tools and platforms which simplify and centralise journalists’ access to public records; or

  • Pooling and sharing of legal support, HR or other services.

• Consultancy and learning network programmes which support local news outlets in developing their business and editorial strategies and help identify and introduce best practice training, technologies and solutions in support of financial sustainability across the sector. Such programmes might also supplement and guide grantees’ use of funding under the local news outlets portion of the Fund.

• Local News Fund launch - 07 July 2026

• Local News Fund deadline for bids - 07 August 2026 (For infrastructure (IF) funding) 12noon

• Local News Fund deadline for bids - 07 August 2026 (For local news outlet (LNOF) funding) 12noon

• Grant award letters distributed - late September 2026

• Grant spending window - upon signature of Grant Funding Agreement until 22 March 2027

• We aim to inform all bidders by the end of September as to the outcome of their bids

Claims cycles

Claim 1 for the period October 2026 -December 2026: due 11th January 2027

Claim 2 for the period Jan 2027- mid March 2027: due 22nd March 2027

Further information on claims will be provided to successful awardees

Eligible applicants are invited to submit an application by selecting the relevant application form in the 'How to apply' tab" and "You can begin your application and return to it at a later time through your 'Find and Apply for a Grant' account" and "You can begin your application and return to it at a later time through your 'Find and Apply for a Grant' account Please note that only one application per organisation will be accepted per funding stream, if more than one application per organisation has been submitted for the same funding stream, only the first submitted application will be scored. If you are eligible, you may apply for both LNOF and IF funding streams under separate applications, one per funding stream. You can begin your application and return to it at a later time through your 'Find and Apply for a Grant' account. Please ensure you leave enough time to complete your application for the 12noon deadline including submission of the supporting documents below.

Applicants may only submit one bid as the lead organisation per funding stream via the online portal. However, applicants may participate in other bids as delivery partners.

Consortium applications must:

• Have a Lead Organisation to serve as the main contact point through which the grant can be awarded and managed.  

• All participating organisations must be identified. This may include local stakeholders such as companies, voluntary and community groups, and social enterprises.

• The Lead Organisation will be responsible for conducting relevant due diligence checks, ensuring that any partners who receive funding only use it to support implementation of the funded project and ensuring that the bid does not duplicate the proposed activities of another bid (for example where a partner submits a separate bid as Lead Organisation which proposes the same project).  

Applicants working with subcontractors are responsible for ensuring that these partners can meet their obligations and must carry out appropriate due diligence checks.

Local News Outlet Funding (LNOF) Application

Infrastructure Funding (IF) Application

For queries please contact dcmslocalnewsfund@cabinetoffice.gov.uk

• Local Media Action Plan - Background to the Local News Fund

• Steering Board page - Further detail on the Fund and decision making process

• Budget Management Tool Template - To be completed and attached to each application

• Delivery Plan Template - To be completed and attached to each application

• Scoring Framework

• MFA Template - this may be requested following successful application - further guidance can be found here

• Model Grant Funding Agreement - Applicants are asked to familiarise themselves with the general terms and conditions of the agreement. To note that the final GFA for successful applicants will accommodate the specific Local News Fund grant terms and conditions.

Responses must use only the templates provided below in their application response. Use of alternate templates will mean the application is deemed ineligible.