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Enrichment Expansion Programme - Delivery Partner

DCMS is providing £16,833,400 of grant funding to a delivery partner/consortium to enhance enrichment provision and support secondary schools to improve their offer.

  • Opening date:
  • Closing date: (Midnight)

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Contents

Summary

As set out in the government’s National Youth Strategy, we want to halve the participation gap in enriching activities between disadvantaged young people and their peers by 2035. We will do this by working across government with trusted sectors to boost young people’s demand for and the supply of high-quality enrichment provision, utilising youth-led interventions to meet the needs of a range of places and young people. 

Later this year, DCMS will be providing grant funding to circa 400 target schools in order to improve their overall enrichment offer.

To support this investment, DCMS intends to provide £16.8m of grant funding (the Enrichment Expansion Programme) to enhance the coordination between the vast, and often fragmented, enrichment offers that are delivered both in and out of school within areas of greatest need. Our aim in funding this provision will be to create support for schools to meet the Enrichment Framework (due to be published this academic year). 

The £16.8m Enrichment Expansion Programme will fund an organisation or consortium to deliver activities that increase the number of young people accessing high-quality and varied enrichment offers, particularly for disadvantaged young people in underserved areas. We are particularly seeking to fund an organisation or consortium that will engender long term change in the school-provider ecosystem, for instance by brokering meaningful partnerships between schools, enrichment providers and other key stakeholders or by improving the coordination of the enrichment offer and so bring more enrichment opportunities.

All applicants should read the detailed Application Guidance carefully before submitting an application.

Eligibility

To be eligible to apply for the role of delivery partner for the EEP, you must:

  • Be a registered company, private company, or Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise (VCSE). DCMS is making this grant award under powers granted to us by s70 of the Charities Act 2006. Therefore, we can only award grants to organisations who are charitable, philanthropic or benevolent in nature. As part of your application to us you should provide evidence that your organisation fulfils this criteria such as memorandum and articles or evidence that you are registered as such an organisation with an appropriate body. If applying as a consortium, the lead organisation must fulfil this criteria; it is not essential that all consortium members do. Organisations must be able to demonstrate that the project is not for profit. 

  • Have sufficient resource, capacity and capability to provide tailored support to all 9 England regions and participating schools/providers. 

  • Have a robust safeguarding policy.

  • Have organisational capability in programme, project or grant management of a similar scale.

  • Have appropriate financial management systems and processes to account for grant expenditure accurately and transparently.

 Further detail on eligibility criteria can be found in the Application Guidance.

Objectives

The objectives of the Enrichment Expansion Programme are to:

  • Increase the number of young people taking up opportunities to access high-quality and varied enrichment offers, particularly for disadvantaged young people in underserved areas. 

  • Increase coordination between schools and enrichment providers, including greater use of partnerships, adoption of best practice, and use of local and regional sources of support.

  • Improve pupil outcomes such as pupils’ wellbeing, school engagement, attainment and behaviour.

  • Support participating schools to meet the benchmarks outlined in the Enrichment Framework (due to be published this academic year).

Please refer to the Application Guidance for further details on the purpose of the grant funding.

Dates

This grant will provide resource funding only to be utilised in Financial Years 2026/27-2028/29.

The below timeline for the application process is indicative and subject to change:

  • Grant opens for Applications: 13 April 2026

  • Clarification Workshop: w/c 20 April

  • Clarification Questions Deadline: 27 April 2026

  • Publication of Clarification Questions: 5 May 2026

  • Deadline for Applications: 25 May 2026

  • Application Assessment: June 2026

  • Notification of Grant Award: July 2026

How to apply

Application documents available via gov.uk include:

  • Enrichment Expansion Programme  - Guidance

  • Enrichment Expansion Programme: Grant Application Form

  • DCMS Standard terms and conditions of Grants

Applications for this grant fund must be submitted by 23:59 on 25 May 2026  to youth-enrichment-team@dcms.gov.uk with the subject line: Grant Application - [Organisation Name] - Delivery Partner - Enrichment Expansion Programme.

Any applications received after the closing date will not be assessed.

You will not be contacted for clarification or further information. It is your responsibility to ensure your application is concise, fully completed and that you supply all necessary supporting documentation.

Supporting information

The Enrichment Expansion Programme Application Guidance and Grant Application Form can be accessed here