Digital Inclusion Innovation Fund

Applications can only be submitted by combined authorities, local authorities, charities, and research organisations. Any of these organisations can also submit an application as the Lead Organisation of a consortium.

A local authority refers to those organisations listed in section 23 of the Local Government Act 2003.

A combined authority refers to those established under section 103 of the Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Act 2009.

Applicants must be based in England. This means the applicant must be registered in England and have their head office in England. It also means the proposed project must take place in at least one of the nine regions of England, but it can also span multiple regions of England (North East, North West, Yorkshire and The Humber, East Midlands, West Midlands, East of England, London, South East, and South West).

The total amount available is £7.242mn which is comprised of three types of funding:

• Category 1: £2.594mn to be allocated to support a wide range of projects with a particular emphasis on replicating or scaling examples of best practice in digital inclusion interventions.

• Category 2: £3.380mn to be allocated to support innovative interventions that produce new knowledge and help fill evidence gaps on effective digital inclusion interventions. These projects must meet the R&D criteria in Annex C of the Government’s Consolidated Budget Guidance 2024-25.

• Category 3: £1.267mn to be allocated to physical and intangible assets that can be capitalised. This equipment and inventory to support the delivery of digital inclusion activities may include laptops, devices, and new software.

Applicants will need to specify at least one category of funding they are requesting. They must also specify the amount being requested. Applicants can apply for a mix of funding from categories 1 and 3, or 2 and 3. However, applicants cannot submit an application that requests a mix of funding categories 1 and 2. This is because category 2 funding requests must meet the R&D criteria to produce ‘new knowledge’ while category 1 is focused on replicating and scaling best practice.

All applicants can apply for grants of £25,000 to £500,000 regardless of the organisation, category of funding, or region of England. All applicants should make clear the amount of funding being requested and how it will be spent.

Eligible charities and research organisations must:

• Be registered and operating in England.

• Have been registered for at least 1 year from the date that this Fund went live.

• Commit to ensuring that any funding awarded is used exclusively to implement the proposed project. 

To be eligible for funding as a research organisation, the applicant must be a research organisation eligible for UKRI funding. The complete list of eligible research organisations can be found here.

The following organisations are not eligible to apply for funding as an individual applicant or as a Lead Organisation of a consortium:

• NHS bodies

• Catapult centres

• Companies

Applications from consortiums (groups of stakeholders) are welcome. However:

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

• The Lead Organisation must be a local authority, combined authority, charity or research organisation.

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

• All members of the consortium responsible for delivering the project will be subject to due diligence checks.

• The Lead Organisation will be responsible for conducting relevant due diligence checks (in addition to those conducted by the fund administrator) and ensuring that any partners who receive funding only use it to support implementation of the funded project.

Applicants working with subcontractors are responsible for ensuring that these partners can meet their obligations and must carry out appropriate due diligence checks. All subcontractors must be clearly identified in the application, and DSIT will also conduct its own due diligence on these organisations. Applicants must also provide a detailed breakdown of all associated costs in their application.

Application criteria

All applications must explain how the proposed project would:

• Contribute to either one of the Fund’s primary objectives:

  • To support innovative initiatives to increase digital participation, producing new knowledge on ‘what works’ and building the evidence base on effective digital inclusion interventions;

  • To support best practice with the ambition to scale and replicate successful digital inclusion activities across England.

• Address at least one of the Digital Inclusion Action Plan Focus Areas:

  • Opening up opportunities through skills.

  • Breaking down barriers to digital services.

  • Tackling data and device poverty.

  • Building confidence and supporting local delivery.

• Support at least one of the Action Plan focus demographic groups:

  • Low-income households, specifically grades C2, D and E (1).

  • Older people, specifically aged 60 and over.

  • Disabled people, specifically people with a a physical or mental health condition or illness that has lasted or is expected to last 12 months or more, and the condition and/or illness reduces their ability to carry out day-to-day activities.

  • People experiencing unemployment.

  • Young people (25 and younger), including those not in education, employment or training.

• Address a clear digital inclusion challenge with rationale for intervention and the outcomes expected while ensuring value for money.

• Allow for effective monitoring and evaluation.

• Be delivered and result in long-lasting impacts beyond the funding period.

Applicants are strongly encouraged to submit proposals to support best practice with the ambition to scale and replicate successful activities to increase digital participation across England. Proposals designed to scale or replicate an example of best practice must provide evidence to demonstrate the past success of that example as well as details of how the proposal would build on that success.

Examples of proposals to support best practice in this context include:

• Replicating a project that has previously been completed successfully.

• A project that has been completed successfully in one area but will now be expanded further, for example, by targeting new demographic groups or expanding to a new area.

• A new project that will implement or expand the use of an existing tool or framework.

Alternatively, applicants are also strongly encouraged to submit innovative proposals. To qualify as ‘innovative’, the proposal must meet the five criteria for Research and Development (R&D) set out in Annex C of the Government’s Consolidated Budget Guidance 2024-25.

Examples of innovative proposals in this context include:

• A brand-new idea that has never been tried before.

• A project that has been implemented before but not in the same way i.e. novel and uncertain aspects.

• A project that has been implemented before but to collect new evidence.

• A project to develop a new digital inclusion tool.

• A project to gather new evidence to inform an existing tool or framework.

R&D is described as “creative work undertaken on a systematic basis to increase the stock of knowledge, and use of this stock of knowledge for discovering or developing new products, including improved versions or qualities of existing products, or discovering or developing new or more efficient processes of production”. More information, including the criteria that needs to be met, can be found at Annex C of the Government’s Consolidated Budgeting Guidance.

Long-lasting impacts beyond the funding period refers to how the expected outcomes of the proposal would continue to support digital inclusion in the local community after the fund ends on 31 March 2026.

Applicants must make clear the duration of the proposed project which can run until 31 March 2026, including setting out clear delivery milestones.

Funding cannot be awarded to support the following activities:

• Any project that is ongoing or available to the public on the date that the grant recipient signs the grant funding agreement or MOU.

• To match fund a project which was already receiving government funding, whether in whole or in part.

• Staff costs unless required to deliver the proposed project.

• Installation of physical digital infrastructure projects e.g. broadband infrastructure, telecommunications, data centres. This does not include devices such as laptops and computers.

• Cyber security activities that have received funding under the CyberFirst or Cyber Local programmes in FY 25/26.

The maximum amount of overheads able to be claimed by an applicant is 20% of fixed labour costs.

Ongoing projects are not eligible for funding and a grant recipient cannot allocate funding received through this Fund to support activities that have already received funding, in whole or in part, or are available to the public. Funding also cannot be used to fund a project which was already in receipt of government funding (whether in whole or in part).

A project must be new in that it must be distinct from any existing projects that have already received funding (in whole or in part) or are available to the public. For example, if a project in question is due to conclude, a proposal could request funding to run a new project that would replicate the activity that is coming to an end, provided evidence to demonstrate the past success of that example as well as details of how the proposal would build on that success are adequately explained.

Scope of the Fund

The Government encourages eligible applicants to submit proposals for projects of various sizes. To collect evidence and understand what works best, there is value in running smaller, more narrowly focused projects through to large and far-reaching projects. Applicants are encouraged to apply for any project size but should be pragmatic and realistic about the amount of funding needed to implement the proposal.

Digital technologies can transform modern society, creating equal opportunities for people to access information, create connections, and live healthy and fulfilled lives. However, we know those who cannot use digital technologies are likely to have fewer job opportunities, pay more for certain transactions, have worse health outcomes, and find it more difficult to manage their finances. This Fund is designed to support a broad range of projects, tackling different aspects of digital exclusion. The following is a non-exhaustive list of areas of exploration which projects could address. Applicants are also encouraged to consider other areas related to digital inclusion:

• Community engagement – How can digital inclusion support greater social cohesion and strengthen local communities?

• Financial services – Are there ways to improve access to financial services and economic empowerment through digital inclusion interventions?

• Employment – How can expanding engagement with digital society help people to access and pursue employment opportunities?

• Education and skills – How can increasing digital inclusion support greater access to education and skills including media literacy?

• Safety and security – What interventions can support greater understanding of how to be safe and secure in digital society?

• Health and well-being – What are the opportunities to support greater understanding of and control over personal health and well-being through digital inclusion?

(1) Office for National Statistics, https://www.ons.gov.uk/census/aboutcensus/censusproducts/approximatedsocial gradedata

Please note this is an indicative timetable for the Fund.

12:00 on 13 Aug 2025 - Scheme launches for applicants to submit proposals

15:00 on 10 Sept 2025 - Deadline to submit an application (submissions after 15:00 will not be accepted)

10 Sept 2025 to 19 Oct 2025 - Application assessment (inc. eligibility checks; decision-making and due diligence checks)

20 Oct 2025 - Notification letters sent to inform applicants of results      

22 Oct 2025 (2 working days) - Applicants must respond to letters

23 Oct 2025 - Grant funding agreements and MOUs issued    

29 Oct 2025 (5 working days) - Grant funding agreements and MOUs must be signed

03 Nov 2025 - Projects begin    

16 January 2026 - First installment of invoices to be submitted by this date – they should account for activities that took place up to and including 16 January 2025

31 March 2026 - All funded activities must conclude

30 April 2026 - Final installment of invoices must be submitted by this date – they should account for all remaining unclaimed activity up to and including 31 March 2026

Submitting your application

The online application must be submitted by no later than 15:00 on Wednesday 10 September 2025 and should be submitted online via Find a Grant by selecting the Start New Application button above.

By submitting an application, applicants confirm that they accept the core terms (available in Supporting Documents) and will comply with the Subsidy Control Act 2022 and any relevant regulations, and that any subsidy received will not be used in a manner that contravenes these regulations. Applicants acknowledge their responsibility to ensure compliance and retain necessary records.

Application process

Combined authorities, local authorities, charities, and research organisations may submit applications to the Fund individually or in collaboration with other stakeholders. This must be completed and submitted online via Find a Grant.

Combined authorities and local authorities are encouraged to invite and manage applications within their individual or collective areas, tailoring proposals to local priorities that fit within the overall priorities of the Fund. We expect combined and local authorities to work with local stakeholders to develop, refine, and submit applications.

A single eligible applicant is only able to be the Lead organisation for one consortium application. However, that same applicant can submit an individual application or may contribute to other applications as part of a consortium, so long as they are not the Lead organisation. If an applicant is involved in several successful applications, the applicant will be asked to provide an explanation (with proof) of their ability to manage all necessary responsibilities. This may include demonstrating sufficient resource capabilities and clear governance structures.

When completing the application online: 

• All applicants should complete Sections 1 and 2.

• Applicants requesting funding category 1 must complete questions 1, 3, 4 and 5 of Section 3. Please respond N/A to question 2 in Section 3

• Applicants requesting funding category 2 must complete questions 1, 2, 4, and 5 of Section 3. Please respond N/A to question 3 in Section 3

• All applicants should complete Section 4 if they are involved with more than one application in any way. For further details on funding categories, refer to the eligibility section of this advert.

• All applicants must complete a project cost breakdown form. This is available as a Supporting Document and must be submitted online as part of your Find a Grant application.