If you are applying in England, Scotland or Wales

You can apply if you are:  

·       An unincorporated charity or community organisation, a community interest company, or a company with a charitable purpose or,  

·       A registered charity or,  

·       A joint venture consortium

·       A successful organisation or member of a consortium who received funding in WCASF Year 1.

·       Grass roots organisation  

AND

·       An organisation with secure systems in place to ensure claimants data is securely stored, saved and destroyed (evidence of successful organisation’s privacy policy will be required) and,  

·       Based in the UK and are already providing a Windrush Compensation advocacy service within your community. You must demonstrate that you are a trusted member of your community. 

If you are applying in Northern Ireland

You can apply if you are:  

• An unincorporated charity or community organisation, a community interest company, or a company with a charitable purpose or, 

• A Joint Venture Consortium

• A registered charity or,

• A successful organisation or an organisation who was a member of a consortium who received funding in WCASF Year 1.

• Grassroots organisation  

AND

·       An organisation with secure systems in place to ensure claimants data is securely stored, saved and destroyed (evidence of successful organisation’s privacy policy will be required) and,  

·       Based in the UK and are already providing an advocacy service within your community. You must demonstrate that you are a trusted member of your community. 

Notes:  

1.    Training will not be provided (although existing training materials will be shared) Advocates will be expected to have a solid understanding of Windrush Compensation Scheme rules, guidance and process.  

2.    This competition relates to funding for Financial Year 2026/2027 (Year 2) only. Further information on the competition for funding relating to Financial Year 27/28 (Year 3) of this grant will be communicated in advance of that funding year.

Unincorporated charities, community organisations, community interest companies and companies with a charitable purpose

You can apply if you:

·       Were established for charitable and public benefit purposes.

·       Have a governing body with at least 3 members.

·       Can provide a valid governing document for your organisation with a set of rules on how your organisation is structured and its purpose.

·       Can provide audited accounts for the most recent financial year, or, where audited accounts are not available, an income and expenditure statement for the most recent financial year, together with evidence that this has been approved by your governing body.

Registered charities 

You can apply if:

·       You can provide a valid registration number issued by the Charity Commission.

·       Have a governing body with at least 3 members.

·       Can provide a valid governing document for your organisation with a set of rules on how your organisation is structured and its purpose.

·       Can provide audited accounts for the most recent financial year, or an income and expenditure statement where audited accounts have not yet been submitted, together with evidence that this has been approved by your governing body.

Your details on the Charity Commission website will be checked as part of the assessment process.

Joint venture consortium

You can work with other organisations as a joint venture consortium which means that all organisations sign the Grant Agreement and share joint responsibility for delivering the project. While one organisation will be the named organisation to represent the consortium, due diligence checks will be completed on all named organisations.

 You can apply if:

·       All organisations meet one of the above eligibility criteria

·       A consortium agreement that outlines roles, responsibilities, resource sharing and governance arrangements which provides clarity and a framework for effective collaboration and dispute prevention.

Organisations looking to apply as a joint venture consortium, may find the following guide helpful:

Working in a Consortium

A successful organisation or an organisation who was a member of a consortium who received funding in WCASF Year 1

You can apply if:

·       You can provide the required documents corresponding to your organisation type.

Grassroots organisations

You can apply if you can support your application with:

·       A governing document for your organisation with a set of rules on how your organisation is structured and its purpose.

·       A copy of your most recent accounts and current bank statement (dated within the last two months) and projected cashflow statement for your next financial year, together with evidence that this has been approved by your governing body. Where accounts are not available, an income and expenditure statement for the most recent financial year together with current bank statement (dated within the last two months) and projected cashflow statement for your next financial year, together with evidence that this has been approved by your governing body.

The Authority reserves the right to award to an organisation that does not fully meet all of the criteria listed in order to ensure full coverage of the grant’s purpose on a regional basis.

The Authority reserves the right to exclude any Applicant that does not provide all supporting documentation at the point of Application submission. This includes consortium agreements who must provide a signed and dated agreement

The Authority reserves the right to extend the awards made for funding in Year 2 for a further 12 months to cover the period 1/4/27 to 31/3/28 without further competition. Where any grant agreement is extended for a further 12-month period and the total funding pot available for Year 3, exceeds the funding allocated for Year 2, the Authority may increase the funding awarded to any organisation so that the full funding pot is allocated.

Prior to the Authority enacting its right to extend any grant agreement, a grant recipient will be required to submit an acceptable funding model to cover the period 1/4/27 to 31/3/2028.

Regional Split of the UK

The UK has been divided into ten regions for this competition. Applicants must submit bids for the region(s) where they intend to deliver advocacy services. Northern Ireland has been further divided into six sub-regions. Successful Applicants will be responsible for providing Advocacy Support across the entire region or sub-region awarded to them and must deliver a minimum of five pop-up hubs within that region or sub-region. These pop-up hubs must be delivered outside of your immediate locality, as the purpose of them is to support as many people as possible within your region or sub-region.

Applicants may submit bids for multiple regions, as there is no restriction on the number of regions an Applicant can apply for. Award caps apply per bid, not per region. This means an organisation that bids for more than one region may receive (if successful) more than the maximum amount stated, if you combined the awards based on the bid and being successful for more than one region. Organisations may receive funding for multiple regions, if successful. For each region, the highest-ranked, successful application for that region will be awarded funding, and this process will continue until all regions have been allocated. If a region receives no Applications or the Application(s) received, scores less than 60 for any scored question, (which will result in the application being unsuccessful) then an additional award will be made to the highest ranked organisation that has not yet been awarded funding, based on ranking against the scoring criteria (see Section 11). This process will continue until the total funding amount is distributed, with a maximum of two organisations funded per region. This means there may be regions where no organisations are awarded funding.

This regional structure applies only to this competition and has been organised by the WCASF Project Team, using ceremonial counties as a guide. Please see Annex A.

England, Scotland and Wales

England, Scotland and Wales have been divided into the following regions

1. Northern Ireland

2. Scotland

3. Wales

4.  Northwest, England, including Isle of Man

5.  Northeast, England

6. Yorkshire & Humber, England

7. East Midlands, England

8. West Midlands, England

9. Outer London and Southwest, England

10. Inner London and Southeast, England

Northern Ireland Region

Norther Ireland region has been divided into the following sub-regions:

1a. Antrim

1b. Armagh

1c. Down

1d. Fermanagh

1e. Londonderry

1f. Tyrone

Overseas Support

Potential claimants based overseas may receive Advocacy support by a successful organisation only if this has been authorised in advance by the Authority.

The Windrush Compensation Advocacy Support Fund (WCASF), as announced in the Home Secretary’s Written Ministerial Statement (WMS), will provide funding to organisations to offer advocacy and support with the WCS application process. 

Advocates must have an understanding of the claimants’ culture and background and will support them to articulate their story, with the aim of submitting a viable and eligible application. The support will include practical help with information and evidence gathering.

Advocates must establish a trusting and positive relationship, ensuring claimants feel safe, supported, and able to provide their account in an environment where they are comfortable and at ease. 

Where appropriate, advocates will signpost claimants to external organisations for additional assistance, for example where health or wellbeing is a concern.

The WCASF looks to provide additional support to WCS claimants, keeping them at the heart of what we do. The grant funding aims to build trust in the Home Office, ensure WCS claimants feel supported through the application process, providing their account to impartial members of the community. Our focus is enabling support that goes further than assistance already available, adding value for individuals using advocates that claimants recognise from within local communities.

This aims to ensure claimants feel more comfortable, empowering them to share their trauma and tell their story, ultimately providing the WCS with a comprehensive account of their lived experiences, in a comprehensive application.

By delivering meaningful and focussed support in a more accessible way we will build greater public trust in the Scheme and the work of the Home Office.

Please note the below is an indicative activity and timeline that is subject to change. This table provides key milestones and activity dates and windows.

Publish Find A Grant Notice

12/01/2026

Open Clarification Process

12/01/2026

Begin Competition Period

12/01/2026

GHU Information sessions

15/01/2026

23/01/2026

Close of Clarification Process

23/01/2026

Close of Competition

06/02/2026

Shortlist of applicants

15/03/2026

Notification of Award Letters (Successful / Unsuccessful)

26/03/2026

Issue Grant Agreements

26/03/2026

Grant Agreement Signature 

From 27/03/2026

To 14/04/2026

Grant Start Date

20/04/2026

Please find the following links / documents which should be downloaded to assist with the application process. 

1. Guidance for Applicants

2.  Yr2 WCASF FAQs

3. Draft Grant Agreement

4. WCASF Application Proposal Response

5. WCASF Funding Toolkit Template

6. Applicant Clarification Question Submission Template

7. Find a Grant – Guide for Applicants

8. WCASF Y2 Information sessions January 2026

9. Find A Grant Walkthrough- Introducing Find a Grant for grant applicants

10. Code of Conduct for Grant Recipients

Please ensure you have watched the short video and have read all the documents before completing the Application Form.

Please ensure you have signed up to receive notifications for updates during the application window, as shown in the Find a Grant Walkthrough video.

Please ensure you have pressed the submit button at the end of your application and check you have recieved a submission confirmation email.

The deadline for applications is 5pm on 6th February 2026.

Information sessions will be held for organisations who are interested to learn more about the Fund and how to submit an application. These virtual sessions will be held on Thursday 15 January 2026 at 10:00am and Friday 23 January 2026 at 13.00pm**.** The presentation will be available to all applicants after the final session.

Please find the following links / documents which should be downloaded to assist with the application process. 

1. Guidance for Applicants

2.  WCASF FAQs

3. Draft Grant Agreement

4. WCASF Application From

5. WCASF Funding Toolkit Template

6. Applicant Clarification Question Submission Template

7. Find a Grant – Guide for Applicants

8. WCASF Y2 Information sessions January 2026

9. Find A Grant Walkthrough- Introducing Find a Grant for grant applicants

10. Code of Conduct for Grant Recipients

It is important that Applicants read all of the documents before completing their application, and fully understand what is required as part of the application process.

The Authority expects grant activities to commence in April 2026 once the Grant Agreement has been signed.