Asylum Seeker Mental Health and Wellbeing, UK-wide Therapeutic Support
Funding opportunity. Notice of grant funding opportunity for Asylum Seeker Therapeutic Support. The Home Office, acting through the Asylum Mental Health and Wellbeing Team, is seeking to award grant funding to a single organisation to provide trauma-informed UK-wide (England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland) stabilisation and therapeutic services for vulnerable asylum seeking adults including singles and parents. The successful organisation will receive a maximum of £1,600,000 for the duration of the funding period (05/06/25 – 31/03/26).
- Opening date:
- Closing date: (Midday)
Contents
Summary
Funding opportunity
The Home Office, acting through the Asylum Mental Health and Wellbeing Team, is seeking to award grant funding to a single organisation to provide trauma-informed UK-wide (England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland) stabilisation and therapeutic services for vulnerable asylum seeking adults including singles and parents. The successful organisation will receive a maximum of £1,600,000 for the duration of the funding period (05/06/25 – 31/03/26).
People seeking asylum can experience significant mental health challenges as a result of past experiences which aren’t effectively catered for by mainstream services because of complexity or availability.
This grant will therefore provide funding for an organisation to deliver UK wide direct stabilisation and therapeutic services for vulnerable asylum-seeking adults, including singles and parents, experiencing distress. The Bidder’s services should:
a. be trauma-informed – underpinned by the principles of safety, trust, choice, collaboration, empowerment and cultural consideration;
b. be culturally responsive;
c. recognise the need for support with basic amenities, social connection and access to wider services alongside direct therapeutic provision;
d. provide psychoeducation in advance of 1-1 therapy;
e. be flexible in relation to the number of therapeutic sessions and types of therapy provided to beneficiaries;
f. take measures to reach geographically isolated and hard to reach individuals;
g. complement mainstream mental health services;
h. foster an environment of multi-agency working; and
i. intervene in a way that is responsive, triaging and then tailoring provision to individual needs, including those with protected characteristics, relating to language (experience of working with interpreters would be valued), culture, gender, and service delivery format (in-person and/or virtual, 1-1 and/or group work)
Research is clear that asylum seekers suffer higher rates of depression (14 times higher than the general population), PTSD (15 times higher than the general population) and psychosis and that suicide rates are higher for asylum seekers. This creates a risk within the system for the individuals but also other service users, staff and the wider community.
For the majority of vulnerable asylum-seeking adults, including singles and parents, the Home Office does not hold statutory responsibility for identifying and providing access to mental health services. The Home Office’s focus is on identifying vulnerable Customers and escalating issues of concern to relevant statutory authorities, including social services and medical practitioners. We support and encourage registration with a GP which will ensure the Customer is on the pathway towards formal medical support for their needs. Registration with a GP is voluntary however and as such some Customers may not start their health journey whilst awaiting a decision on their asylum claim.
The Home Office is committed to supporting and stabilising the mental health and wellbeing of vulnerable asylum seeking adults, including singles and parents, in a trauma-informed way to reduce the likelihood of harm to the individual or wider society. Most recently (2022-25) this commitment has been reflected by the provision of the Asylum Seeker Therapeutic Support funding. The Home Office is now seeking to build on the grant’s findings alongside wider workstreams led by the Asylum Mental Health and Wellbeing Team as found on GOV.UK. This has resulted in the provision of fresh funding to expand direct stabilisation and therapeutic services for vulnerable asylum-seeking adults, including singles and parents.
Eligibility
The Home Office is seeking proposals from organisations that can deliver the key outcomes across the whole of the UK (England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland). The Home Office would welcome bids from a broad range of Civil Society Groups to apply for funding through this grant scheme, which may include but not be limited to the following types of organisations:
· Charities
· Non-Governmental Aid Organisations
· Non-Profit Organisations
· Private Voluntary Organisations
· Civic Groups
· Community Foundations
· Community Organisations
· Religious Organisations
· Social Enterprises
· Support Groups
· Community Interest Companies
Funding will be awarded to a single organisation, following the competition process.
Local Authorities are not eligible to bid for this grant funding
The Bidder shall demonstrate that members of staff responsible for the design and delivery of services hold relevant psychological training and qualifications, for example, those recognised by the British Psychological Society, at an appropriate level. Such training should increase skills and their preparedness to reduce barriers, to provide trauma-informed care, and support staff resilience and wellbeing.
The Bidder is to note that any joint bid with multiple organisations must also be non-statutory sector organisations and be run on a not-for-profit basis.
Bids for funding are welcomed from single organisations or multi-organisation consortiums and partnerships. In the case of a consortium or partnership bid, one organisation shall be nominated as the lead and shall have agreement from all partner organisations before bidding (this agreement should be demonstrated in the form of a letter signed by all partner organisations). The Home Office funding will be awarded to the lead organisation and the Home Office will enter into a Grant Agreement (or MOU) with the lead organisation.
All bids must be for the full funding period. The Bidder must be able to demonstrate that they can spend their entire potential award by the funding end date. The Bidder shall be expected to provide an operational service within one month of the funding start date.
Objectives
KEY OUTCOMES
The aim of the grant is to protect vulnerable asylum-seeking people and communities, including facilitating access to services which understand their specific needs and are best placed to support them. This aligns with the Home Office ‘face behind the case’ and wider safeguarding commitments.
The Home Office recognises that civil society organisations continue to play a key role in providing services that benefit vulnerable asylum-seeking adults, including singles and parents. These include providing third party financial, legal, casework, therapeutic and/or emotional support.
Through the delivery of this project, the Bidder shall support the Home Office’s fundamental aims to achieve:
Improved asylum seeker mental health and wellbeing;
Improved social inclusion;
Improved intergration into communities;
Greater access to and usage of mainstream mental health provision;
Improved access to information and services, enabling a greater understanding of how/when to access support;
Improved feeling of safety, enabling recovery from trauma, with increased resilience, emotional wellbeing and reduction in the impact of trauma; and
Reduction in loneliness.
Dates
Grant competition 12th March 2025
Deadline for bids 8th April 2025
Funding start date 5th June 2025
Funding end date 31st March 2026
*The dates listed may be subject to change.
How to apply
DO NOT click the ‘Start New Application’ button on the main page, this will not give you access. Please follow the steps outlined below.
To bid for funding, bidders are to review if they are eligible via the criteria listed on this advert. If eligible, bidders will then need to register on the Home Office Jaggaer portal via the following link:
https://homeoffice.app.jaggaer.com/web/login.html
After clicking on the eSourcing portal link, it should take you to the home page. On the left-hand side of this page, just below the login boxes, there is an option to register.
To register as a supplier, you will need to provide information which will include:
the full legal name of your organisation
your DUNS number – a unique nine-digit number provided to organisations free of charge by Dun & Bradstreet
profile information describing your organisation and the size of your business.
Bidders should be approved for usage within 24 hours of registering on the system. You must be registered to be given access.
In order to request access to the associated documents for the Home Office Asylum Seeker Therapuetic Support Grant, please provide the following information:
Email subject line "Asylum Seeker Therapeutic Support - Portal Access"
Organisation Name (as registered on Jaggaer)
Organisation Type
Contact Name (as registered on Jaggaer)
Email address
Companies House Number (if applicable)
Charity Commision Number (if applicable)
These requests should be emailed to: tip@homeoffice.gov.uk
If you have any difficulties registering on the Jaggaer system, then you should contact the Supplier eSourcing Helpdesk:
The HO Jaggaer eSourcing portal is independent of other eSourcing portals. Therefore, if you have registered on the Crown Commercial Service Jaggaer eSourcing portal, you will also need to register on the HO Jaggaer eSourcing portal.