Page updated: 30 May 2023. See all updates.

Use this page to see what we will ask you before you begin your application.

It also includes help notes to help you answer the questions.

You might find it helpful to refer to our application guidance when answering the questions.

Please note that you need to submit and pass an Expression of Interest before you can go on to a full application at this range.

Please use clear, simple language when completing your application. Make sure you include any facts or figures that will help us understand what you want to do and why you want to do it. 

About the project

Name of your organisation

[This cannot be adjusted]

Project reference number

[This cannot be adjusted]

Project title

[Text field – 255 characters]

Please note your title will be published on our website and seen by our decision takers. We recommend keeping it simple and to the point.

Is this your organisation's first application to the Heritage Fund?

[Select yes or no]

Tell us the reference number of your most recent application.

[Text field – 255 characters]

Tell us the project title of your most recent application.

[Text field – 255 characters]

Tell us your idea

[Text field – 5,000 characters]

In no more than 5,000 characters, please provide a summary of your project. If necessary use bullet points.

Please note that the summary you provide is the only part of your application form seen by decision takers. This is presented alongside our assessment of your application.

Where will your project take place?

• Project street [Text field – 255 characters]
• Project city [Text field – 255 characters]
• Project county [Text field – 255 characters]
• Project post code [Text field – 100 characters]

If your project will take place across different locations, please use the postcode where most of the project will take place.

For landscape projects, please provide an Ordnance Survey grid reference for your landscape.

[Enter reference]

Explain what need and opportunity your project will address.

[Text field – 5,000 characters]

• Tell us about any problems and opportunities there are relating to how:
  • your heritage is managed now and its condition
  • people engage with the heritage now
• Tell us how your project will address the above two problems and opportunities.
• Tell us how your project fits with any local strategies or wider initiatives.
• Tell us about any feasibility and options appraisals that have been carried out and why your project is the best and most viable way forward.
• If your project will improve an area of landscape or townscape, tell us about the current condition of the area.

Why does your project need to happen now?

[Text field – 5,000 characters]

• Tell us if the risk to your heritage is critical.
• Tell us about any partnership funding that is available to you now that won’t be in the future.
• Tell us what will happen if you do not get a grant from us.

Tell us what advice you have received in planning your project and from whom.

[Text field – 5,000 characters]

• Tell us if you have received any specialist advice.
• Tell us about any consultation you have done with your local community and those who will be involved in your project.
• Tell us if this has shaped your project proposals.
• Tell us if you have received any pre-application advice on planning and/or listed building consent matters.

Tell us about the people who will benefit from your project.

[Text field – 5,000 characters]

We would like to know more about the range of people that will be involved with and/or benefit from your project. Tell us about any action you will take to overcome barriers to involving people with heritage.

Give us an indication of the main groups of people that will benefit from your project. Tell us how your project has been designed to support an increase in engaging these groups with heritage.

Provide an estimate of the number of participants that will be involved in your project. By participants we mean the people who are taking part in your project rather than the people who are contributing their time to help deliver your project.

Does your project involve heritage that attracts visitors?

[Select yes or no]

How many visitors did you receive in the last financial year?

[Number field]

How many visitors a year do you expect on completion of your project?

[Number field]

Will your project be delivered by a partnership? Tick if yes.

[Tick box]

Who are your partners? Please provide a named contact from each organisation.

[Text field – 5,000 characters]

If you are planning on working with another organisation to carry out your project, we would like to see your partnership agreement. This document should outline both partners’ roles and responsibilities and should be signed by all parties.

If your partner owns the heritage you are working on, we will usually ask them to sign up to the terms of the grant too.

You need to provide a partnership agreement if you are working with another organisation who is delivering a significant part of your project.

What measures will you take to increase positive environmental impacts and reduce negative environmental impacts?

[Text field – 5,000 characters]

We expect the highest standards of environmental sustainability to be delivered by all the projects we fund. We want all our projects to do their very best to help mitigate against and adapt to the effects of our changing climate and to help nature recover. 

See our Environmental sustainability requirement and Environmental sustainability guidance for more information.

How do you plan to acknowledge your grant?

[Text field – 5,000 characters]

Promoting and acknowledging The National Lottery is a condition of our grants. Read the guidance on our website for the minimum requirements for doing this. We expect you to develop innovative and creative offers or promotions designed to thank National Lottery players for their support and to raise awareness of your funding.

If your grant is for more than £1m towards a new exhibition space, visitor centre, community garden or other public facility, we would also like to discuss how The National Lottery might best be incorporated into the name of the space or site.

About the heritage

Tell us about the heritage in your project and why it is important to your organisation and community.

[Text field – 5,000 characters]

Provide a description of the heritage as it is today. If different types of heritage are involved, describe each of these.

Provide an explanation of what is important about the heritage. Tell us whether it is:

• a source of evidence of knowledge
• of aesthetic, artistic, architectural, historic, natural or scientific interest
• of social or community value

Tell us who the heritage is important to. This could include experts and/or the local community.

Select the type of heritage that best describes your project.

• collections
• community heritage
• landscapes and nature
• historic buildings and monuments
• industrial, maritime and transport
• cultures and memories
• other

Please note you can only select one option.

Select the sub-type of heritage that best describes your project.

For 'collections': 

• museums
• libraries 
• archives

For ‘historic buildings and monuments’:

• historic buildings
• places of worship
• archaeology
• monuments/memorials

See our website for more information about each heritage type.

Is the heritage considered to be at risk? Tick if yes.

[Tick box]

Explain why and how you consider the heritage to be at risk.

[Text field – 5,000 characters]

Briefly explain why the heritage is under threat, and what actions have been taken (if any) to minimise the risk. It could be at risk of loss through physical damage or neglect, financial shortfalls or people passing on in the case of oral and community histories.

If your project involves a building or a monument, tell us if it is on the buildings or monuments at risk register.

If your project involves several buildings in a conservation area, tell us if the conservation area is on the at risk register.

If your project involves natural heritage, tell us if the landscape, geology, habitat or species is at risk and in what way (for example, identified in a Biodiversity Action Plan as a priority).

Has a condition survey been undertaken for the heritage asset in the last five years? Tick if yes.

[Tick box]

Does the heritage have any formal designations?

Select all that apply:

• DCMS funded Museum, Library, Gallery or Archive
• World Heritage Site
• Grade I or Grade A Listed Building
  • How many Grade I or Grade A listed buildings are included in your project? [Number field]
• Grade II* or Grade B listed building
  • How many Grade II* or Grade B listed buildings are included in your project? [Number field]
• Grade II, Grade C or Grade C(S) Listed Building
  • How many Grade II, Grade C or Grade C(S) listed buildings are included in your project? [Number field]
• Local List
  • How many local list buildings are included in your project? [Number field]
• Scheduled Ancient Monument
  • How many scheduled ancient monuments of this type are included in your project? [Number field]
• Registered Historic Ship
  • What is the certificate number of the registered historic ship? [Text field – 255 characters]
• Registered Battlefield
• National Park
• Ramsar Site
• Registered Park or Garden
• Grade I listed Park or Garden
  • What is the registration or inventory number/s of the Grade I listed Park or Garden? [Text field – 255 characters]
• Grade II* listed Park or Garden
  • What is the registration or inventory number/s of the Grade II* listed Park or Garden? [Text field – 255 characters]
• Grade II listed Park or Garden
  • What is the registration or inventory number/s of the Grade II listed Park or Garden? [Text field – 255 characters]
• Protected Wreck Site
• National Historic Organ Register
• Site of Special Scientific Interest
• Other (please specify) [Text field – 255 characters]

Will you be undertaking any capital work as part of your project? Tick if yes.

[Tick if yes]

Please provide details.

[Text field – 5,000 characters]

Tell us:

• the name of the building(s), collections, landscapes or habitat
• if any Statutory Permissions or Licenses are required to carry out the project, and if these are in place

Capital works are defined as works that create or improve an asset. By capital work we mean digitisation of collections, a conservation programme for objects and collections, repair and conservation works or new build, refurbishment and redisplay of galleries and/or buildings.

For example, conservation of a heathland, repairs to a war memorial and digitisation of a photographic archive would all be considered as capital works.

Reusing and adapting built heritage has an important role to play in reducing carbon emissions and tackling climate change. Whilst new build might be necessary and appropriate, in some cases we will prioritise re-use and sensitive adaptation of existing buildings.

For landscape and nature capital projects we will prioritise those that focus on one or all of the following themes:

• supporting nature’s recovery
• delivering nature-based solutions to climate change
• helping people reconnect with nature

For projects involving physical works, for example conservation to a historic building or new building work, please read the ownership requirements section of the programme guidance and refer to the receiving a grant guidance.

Statutory Permissions or Licences

For example, Listed Building Consent, Planning Permission, Scheduled Monument Consent, Faculty, Bat Licence, Tree Felling Licence etc.

You do not need to have secured Statutory Permissions and/or Licences before applying to us at development phase.

All Statutory Permission and / or Licences must be in place before your project can begin.

If you are undertaking any capital work (including repair, refurbishment etc) to land, buildings or heritage items, tell us who owns it.

• your organisation
• project partner
• neither
• N/A

Please provide details about your capital works owner. 

[Text field – 5,000 characters]

Please read the ownership requirements section of the programme guidance and refer to the receiving a grant guidance.

Tell us:

• If your organisation or your project partner has the freehold of the building or land, or owns outright the heritage items.
• If your organisation or your project partner has the lease of the building or land and how many years are left to run on the lease.
• If your organisation or project partner has, or is planning to take out, a mortgage or other loans secured on the building, land or heritage item.
  • If so, give us details of the lender and the amount of the mortgage or loan.

If ‘neither’ is selected

If you do not currently meet our ownership requirements, tell us the date when you expect to do so.

Are there are legal conditions, restrictions or covenants associated with the heritage asset which may affect your project? 

[Tick box]

Please provide details. 

[Text field – 5,000 characters]

Does your project involve the acquisition of a building, land or heritage items?

Select one of:

• yes
• no
• N/A

Please read the buying land and buildings section and the buying heritage items and collections section of the programme guidance and refer to the receiving a grant guidance.

Managing your project

Has your organisation taken on a project of this scale in the last five years? Tick if yes.

[Tick if yes]

Please provide details.

[Text field – 5,000 characters]

Tell us why this is the most appropriate project for your organisation to take on at this time.

[Text field – 5,000 characters]

What other strategies have been considered? What will you do if the project does not go ahead?

Does your organisation need to undertake any capacity building activity to better deliver your project?

[Text field – 5,000 characters]

For example, do you need to review your financial or HR system, develop your business plan or build fundraising capacity? Do you need to bring in any extra skills or expertise?

Tell us whether you will be making changes to the governance of your organisation to enable you to deliver your project more effectively. You can include the costs of professional support for a governance review.

Tell us about any jobs or apprenticeships that you will create to deliver your project.

[Text field – 5,000 characters]

Provide an estimate of any jobs and/or apprenticeships that will be created and will be directly involved in delivering your project. Tell us what their main roles will be and whether they are full-time or part-time positions.

If you are moving an existing member of staff into a post created by this project, or extending the hours of an existing member of staff, tell us how they are qualified for the role created by the project.

Describe how you will choose the staff.

You will need to provide a job description for each role created for the development phase of your project as a supporting document to your application.

What work will you do during the development phase of your project?

[Text field – 5,000 characters]

Read about the key tasks you need to complete during your development phase in the programme guidance.

Tell us how you will produce all of the supporting documents required with your delivery phase application.

Welsh language

If your project is to take place in Wales, you must consider the Welsh language in all aspects of your work. You should tell us how you will promote and support the Welsh language and reflect the bilingual nature of Wales.

You will need to demonstrate how you will offer bilingual provision in your project's budget and plan. Please include budget for translation under the ‘Other’ costs category within the application form project costs section.  

See our Welsh language guidance for more information.

Who are the main people responsible for the work during the development phase of your project?

[Text field – 5,000 characters]

Provide detailed information about the team that will work on your development phase, including the person who will take overall responsibility.

Explain who is responsible for making decisions and approving changes to your project. Describe the reporting structure and how often meetings will take place.

Describe how you will choose the services and goods needed during your development phase.

You will also need to send us briefs for any consultants for your development phase.

Who are the main people responsible for the work during the delivery phase of your project?

[Text field – 5,000 characters]

Provide outline information about the team that will work on your delivery phase, including the person who will take overall responsibility.

Tell us if you will need extra support from consultants or new staff.

Explain who is responsible for making decisions and approving changes to your project. Describe the reporting structure and how often meetings will take place.

What work will you do during the delivery phase of your project?

[Text field – 5,000 characters]

Provide outline information about what your project will do during your delivery phase.

Welsh language

If you are delivering your project in Wales, you will need to tell us how you will promote and support the Welsh language and reflect the bilingual nature of Wales.

How do you plan to cash flow the delivery phase of your project?

[Text field – 5,000 characters]

Grant payments are made in arrears. You therefore need to ensure you are able to successfully cash flow the expenditure of your project in order to avoid experiencing financial difficulties.

The exception to this is a development grant of less than £100k – please refer to the receiving a grant guidance for more information.

You will need to provide a cash flow with your delivery phase application.

Tell us about any financial reserves, income from your organisation or other sources of funding you will access to cash flow the delivery phase of your project.

Delivery start date

[Select date]

Delivery end date

[Select date]

Are there any fixed deadlines or key milestones that will restrict your project's timetable?

[Text field – 5,000 characters]

Please tell us about any immovable dates that will affect your project and are beyond your control.

For example:

• Dates when partnership funding offers expire or secured funds must be spent by.
• Anniversaries that your project is designed to celebrate.
• External events that are key to your project’s success.

Project outcomes

See our website’s outcome pages for help with completing this section.

How will your project involve a wider range of people?

[This is a mandatory outcome]

[Text field – 5,000 characters]

Heritage will be in a better condition.

[Tick box]

Please provide details. 

[Text field – 5,000 characters]

Heritage will be identified and better explained.

[Tick box]

Please provide details. 

[Text field – 5,000 characters]

People will have developed skills.

[Tick box]

Please provide details. 

[Text field – 5,000 characters]

People will have learned about heritage, leading to change in ideas and actions.

[Tick box]

Please provide details. 

[Text field – 5,000 characters]

People will have greater wellbeing.

[Tick box]

Please provide details. 

[Text field – 5,000 characters]

The funded organisation will be more resilient.

[Tick box]

Please provide details. 

[Text field – 5,000 characters]

The local area will be a better place to live, work or visit.

[Tick box]

Please provide details. 

[Text field – 5,000 characters]

The local economy will be boosted.

[Tick box]

Please provide details. 

[Text field – 5,000 characters]

After the project ends

How will you maintain the outcomes of your project after the grant ends and meet any additional running costs?

[Text field – 5,000 characters]

• Provide outline information about how you will maintain the outcomes of your project, which you identified in your project outcomes.
• Tell us how you will manage and maintain any work you have done.
• Tell us how your project will be financially sustainable.
• Tell us how you plan to continue to engage a wider range of people after the project ends.

Capital works to public parks, cemeteries and public gardens

To ensure that quality and standards of management and maintenance are maintained following our investment, you must achieve a Green Flag Award in the first year after completion of your capital works. You must retain this award every year for a minimum of seven years.

Find more information about the Green Flag Awards.

You may include the cost of future Green Flag Award applications in your costs under ‘other costs’.

How will you ensure that the skills and knowledge developed whilst delivering your project are embedded within your organisation once it has ended?

[Text field – 5,000 characters]

For example, if the project will be overseen by a new project manager post funded by the grant, tell us how you will ensure the knowledge and skills developed by that person, along with the lessons learnt from the project, will benefit the organisation beyond the grant.

You could consider holding staff briefings, other knowledge sharing meetings or training. This could also form part of your evaluation planning.

How will you evaluate the success of your project and share the learning?

[Text field – 5,000 characters]

We expect all applicants to evaluate their project. You will need to create an evaluation plan at the start of your project. This will be an outline of how you are going to collect data to measure, analyse and understand what you are doing and ultimately to provide evidence about the outcomes your project has achieved.

At the end of your project you will be required to write an evaluation of your project and submit it with your final completion report.

Project costs and income

In this section of the form you will use a series of tables to show us:

• how much it will cost to deliver your project
• what income you will receive

Please add general descriptions of your costs and income here. A more detailed explanation and breakdown should be provided as part of your supporting documentation. If your costs are based on calculations, for example staff costs, please provide this information.

Your total project costs must match your project income. All grant requests are automatically rounded down to the nearest £100. Please keep this in mind when you match the total of your income with the total of your costs, otherwise the system will not let you proceed.

We expect your development-phase costs to be detailed. Your delivery-phase costs should be based on your best estimate.

Note on VAT (Value Added Tax)

Make sure that you only include non-recoverable VAT.

You may not pay VAT on certain types of work or may only pay it at a lower rate. You should approach HM Revenue & Customs to check how much VAT you will need to pay.

If your VAT status changes so you can reclaim more than you expected, you will need to return this to us.

We will consider authorising the use of contingency if you underestimate VAT, but we cannot guarantee that this will be approved. It is therefore important to include the correct amount of VAT when applying to us.

You should make sure that all quotes you get clearly show whether VAT is included or not.

Development phase costs

Please choose the appropriate cost heading from the table in the application form. These are included below with help notes.

We will ask you to report expenditure against these headings throughout your project.

Use the ‘Other’ heading for any costs that are not covered by the cost headings listed.

For each cost heading, please provide:

• a description [Text field – 5,000 characters]
• cost amount
• VAT amount

Choose from the following headings

• new staff
• professional fees
• opening-up works/surveys
• capacity building activity
• recruitment
• other costs (development phase)
• Full Cost Recovery
• contingency
• non-cash contributions
• volunteer time

New staff costs

Include costs of new fixed-term contracts, secondments (people who are temporarily transferred to your organisation) and the costs of freelance staff to help develop your project. Do not include the costs of paying trainees here.

In your separate spreadsheet, you must use a separate line for each new member of staff. 

You must also openly advertise any new staff posts proposed within your application, with the following exceptions:

• You have a suitably qualified member of staff on your payroll that you are moving into a project post. You still need to provide a job description for this post.
• You are extending the hours of a suitably qualified member of staff on your payroll so that they can work on the project. In this case we will fund the cost of the additional hours spent on the project and you will need to tell us about their role.
• If you are a voluntary organisation and are including a proportion of a staff time in your Full Cost Recovery calculation.

If you are moving an existing member of staff into a post created by the project, then we can either pay for the cost of this member of staff, or for the cost of back filling their position.

All salaries should be based on sector guidelines or similar posts elsewhere.

Professional fees

Fees should be in line with professional guidelines, for example those of RIBA, and should be based on a clear written specification.

In your separate spreadsheet, you must use a separate line for each consultant.

Recruitment

This can include advertising and travel expenses. We expect your organisation to keep to good human resource practice and follow all relevant laws.

Other

Include all other costs your know about at this stage.

Full cost recovery

Find more information about Full Cost Recovery.

Contingency

This cost heading is mandatory.

A contingency is only used to pay for unexpected costs required to deliver your project. You should carefully consider contingency costs within your application. These should be proportionate to the level of risk.

A higher level of contingency may be required if you have identified high level risks associated with project delivery or you have a particularly complex project. This could include costs associated with adapting the delivery of your project (for example, from in person to virtual).

Make sure that you include your required contingency here and not distributed across the other cost headings in the application.

The calculation of your required contingency should reflect:

• the degree of certainty with which you have arrived at your project’s cost estimates
• the stage of design or development work completed
• the project timetable and any restrictions such as immovable deadlines associated with it
• the risks in relation to the type of project you are carrying out

We normally expect a larger contingency at the development phase than at the delivery phase because the project risks should reduce as you develop your project.

The level of appropriate contingency to include can be calculated either as:

• an overall percentage of your estimated project cost and benchmarked against recently completed projects of a similar type to ensure it is appropriate
• different contingency percentages applied to each major cost element of your project (for example, design development, planning and approvals, construction if relevant) reflecting the differing risks and progress made against these aspects of your project

We will only agree to you using the contingency if either:

• you can demonstrate that it is a planned mitigation measure against an identified risk or issue for the project
• it is required to address an unexpected need within your project that if left unaddressed will affect the scope, purpose or timescales to deliver your project

Non-cash contribution

This is anything you need for your project that you do not have to pay for (for example, room hire or equipment). We can only accept non-cash contributions if they are direct project costs that could have been part of your project budget.

Non-cash contributions must be included in both the cost and income section of your application form. This is because we recognise the value of these costs and your contribution.

Volunteer time

This is the time that volunteers give to support the delivery of your project. This could include administrative work, clearing a site or working as a steward at an event.

You should not include costs for the time of people who will take part in your activities (for example, people who attend a workshop or go on a guided tour). 

We use a standard rate of £20 per hour to calculate the value of your volunteer contributions. 

Volunteer time must be included in both the cost and income section of your application form. This is because we recognise the value of this time and your contribution.

Delivery phase costs

Please choose the appropriate cost heading from the table in the application form. These are included below with help notes.

Use the ‘Other’ heading for any costs that are not covered by the cost headings listed.

We expect your development-phase costs to be detailed. Your delivery-phase costs should be based on your best estimate.

For each cost, please provide:

• a description [Text field – 5,000 characters]
• cost amount
• VAT amount

Delivery stage costs are split into three sections:

• capital costs
• activity costs
• other costs

Capital costs

This includes any capital work to heritage assets, as well as interpretation and producing digital outputs.

The following headings are available:

• purchase price of heritage items
• preliminary works (for example scaffolding, preliminaries, pre-construction archaeology)
• repair and conservation work
• new building work
• other capital work
• digital outputs
• equipment and materials
• other costs 
• professional fees

Purchase price of heritage items

If your project involves buying a heritage item, you must get an independent valuation to help show that this item can be bought for a realistic price. If you are a private individual or commercial organisation you cannot include costs here.

Repair and conservation work

This includes costs of work to repair, restore or conserve a heritage item, building or site.

New building work

This only related to new building work (for example, an extension to a building or work to install an exhibition). If you are a private individual or commercial organisation you cannot include costs here. 

Digital outputs

Costs to create or maintain ‘digital outputs’ for the required time – the things that you create in a digital format which are designed to give access to heritage and/or to help people engage with and learn about heritage.

For example, a collection of digital images or sound files, an online heritage resource or exhibition or a smartphone app.

Equipment and materials, including learning materials

This might include historic costumes, hard hats to give site access, art materials or leaflets and publications.

Other

Please use ‘other’ for any costs that do not fit within the given cost headings. Give a clear description of these costs.

Professional fees relating to any of the above

This includes any person appointed for a fixed term to help with planning and delivering capital work in your project. This may include a project manager, architects or a quantity surveyor.

Activity costs

This includes everything you plan to do in your project that you have not covered in capital costs.

The following headings are available:

• new staff
• training for staff
• paid training placements
• training for volunteers
• travel and expenses for staff
• travel and expenses for volunteers
• event costs
• equipment and materials
• other costs
• professional fees 

New staff costs

For information on new staff posts, please see New staff costs in the Development phase costs section.  

Training for staff 

This includes the cost of all trainers and resources needed to deliver activities to help staff gain new or increased skills.

Paid training placements

This includes bursaries or payments to trainees, as well as all resources needed to deliver activities to help trainees gain new or increased skills. Examples include accreditation costs, trainers’ fees, equipment and any specialist clothing.

Training for volunteers

This includes the cost of all trainers and resources needed to deliver activities to help volunteers gain new or increased skills.

Travel for staff 

This may include the cost of travelling to a site or venue. Travel costs by car should be based on 45p a mile.

Travel and expenses for volunteers

This may include food, travel and any other expenses to ensure volunteers are not out of pocket. Travel costs by car should be based on 45p a mile.

This also includes the purchase and hire of all vehicles, equipment and materials relating to the activities that your volunteers deliver during your project.

Equipment and materials

Examples may include historic costumes, hard hats to give site access, art materials or leaflets and publications. Do not include materials relating to training or volunteers here.

Other

Include any other costs such as food for events, learning activities or premises hire. Please give a clear description.

Professional fees relating to any of the above

This includes any person appointed for a fixed fee to help with planning and delivering the activities of your project. This may include consultants or artists and storytellers.

Other costs

The following headings are available:

• recruitment
• publicity and promotion
• evaluation
• other
• Full Cost Recovery
• community grants
• contingency
• inflation
• increased management and maintenance costs (maximum five years)
• non-cash contributions
• volunteer time

Recruitment

You must recruit any project manager using a brief and an appropriate selection process.

Publicity and promotion

We can fund promotional materials that relate directly to your project. 

If we give you a grant, you must publicise and acknowledge this so that as many people as possible know about the benefits of National Lottery funding for heritage. 

Find out more about how to acknowledge your grant.

Evaluation

You must evaluate your project. Staff in your organisation can do this or, depending on the scale and how complicated your project is, you may want to employ somebody to help.

We recommend budgeting for evaluation in the following way, as a minimum:

• Projects between £250,000 and £1m should allow a budget of between 2% and 7% of their total projects costs and consider using independent external evaluators.
• Projects over £1m should allow a budget of up to 7% of the total project costs and always consider using independent external evaluators. Evaluation budgets for projects over £1m should not be less than £20,000. If evaluation costs at this level are not appropriate for your project, please explain why in the cost heading description.

Other

Include any other costs. In your separate spreadsheet, please include a clear description.

Full Cost Recovery

Find more information about Full Cost Recovery.

Contingency

Your contingency may reduce when you apply for your delivery phase as risks should reduce as your project develops.

Inflation

Funding applications should include appropriate costs which will adequately cover predicted capital works inflation.  

Inflation for construction projects is likely to remain high for the foreseeable future.  Each project should make appropriate provision for inflation based on the project timescale, plus other factors such materials used, labour demands and location. 

Applicants can access analysis and projections for inflation costs from sources such as bcis.co.uk and consultancies, including Gardiner & Theobold Market Intelligence, Turner & Townsend and Rider Levett Bucknall.  

If in doubt please seek guidance from a Quantity Surveyor.

Increased management and maintenance costs (maximum five years)

In your separate spreadsheet, add separate lines for:

• New staff costs per year (name and cost of each post) x number of years (maximum five).
• Other increased costs per year x number of years (maximum five).

Increased management and maintenance costs begin when the capital works are complete.

Non-cash contributions

This is anything you need for your project that you do not have to pay for (for example, room hire or equipment). We can only accept non-cash contributions if they are direct project costs that could have been part of your project budget.

Non-cash contributions must be included in both the cost and income section of your application form. This is because we recognise the value of these costs and your contribution.

Volunteer time

This is the time that volunteers give to support the delivery of your project. This could include administrative work, clearing a site or working as a steward at an event.

You should not include costs for the time of people who will take part in your activities (for example, people who attend a workshop or go on a guided tour). 

We use a standard rate of £20 per hour to calculate the value of your volunteer contributions.

Volunteer time must be included in both the cost and income section of your application form. This is because we recognise the value of this time and your contribution.

Project income

Use the tables to show us any project income from other sources of funding that you expect to receive to help you carry out the project.

Provide a description [Text field – 5,000 characters] and amount for each income stream.

Also tick the boxes to let us know if you have secured each item, and if you have evidence of this. By secured we mean:

• cash in your bank reserved specifically for this project
• formally offered grant money

You do not have to have all the contributions in place when you apply to us. However, you must have them by the time you are ready to apply for permission to start.

We will assess whether your partnership funding expectations are realistic.

Development phase income

The following headings are available:

• local authority
• other public sector
• central government
• private donation - individual
• private donation - trusts/charities/foundations
• private donations - corporate
• commercial/business
• own reserves
• other fundraising
• loan/finance
• non-cash contributions
• volunteer time

Delivery phase income

The following headings are available:

• local authority
• other public sector
• central government
• private donation – individual
• private donation – trusts/charities/foundations
• private donations – corporate
• commercial/business
• own reserves
• other fundraising
• loan/finance
• increased management and maintenance costs (maximum five years)
• non-cash contributions
• volunteer time

Summary of project costs

These summary figures are automatically generated from the breakdown figures you supply:

• total costs
• total contribution
• grant request
• grant percentage

About your organisation

Tell us about your organisation's main purpose and regular activities.

[Text field – 5,000 characters]

We ask for this information to help us assess whether the project that you want to undertake is a good fit with your organisation’s main purpose and what it aims to achieve.

• Describe the purpose and aims of your organisation.
• Describe your organisation’s regular activities and explain how they are funded.
• Describe the size and staff structure of your organisation, your governing body and your financial situation.
• Tell us how many paid staff and volunteers work for your organisation.

How many people does your organisation employ?

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How many board members or Trustees does your organisation have?

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How much did your organisation spend in the last financial year?

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What level of unrestricted funds is there in your organisation's reserves?

[Number field]

Are you VAT-registered?

Select one of:

• yes
• no
• N/A

Please provide your VAT number.

[Number field]

Do you consider your organisation's mission and objectives to be any of the following?

• black or minority ethnic-led
• disability-led
• LGBT+-led
• female-led
• young people-led
• mainly led by people from Catholic communities
• mainly led by people from Protestant communities

Does your organisation use social media? If so, please provide us with some information (for instance, your organisation's Twitter handle).

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Governance

Tell us how you review the governance and senior management arrangements in place for your heritage.

[Text field – 5,000 characters]

Tell us: 

• When the Trustee and Senior Management skills audit was last undertaken.
• When a Governance review was last undertaken.
• Have all the recommendations from the review been implemented?

Are you planning to undertake a governance review to ensure you have the right expertise to deliver and then sustain your project beyond the period of your grant funding? Tick if yes.

[Tick box]

When do you intend undertaking this review?

[Text field – 5,000 characters]

• How many board members of Trustees does your organisation have?
• How much did your organisation spend in the last financial year?
• What level of unrestricted funds is there in your organisation’s reserves?
• Do you have a financial reserves policy? We may want to see this.

Supporting documents

Before we assess your application, we need to see your supporting documents.

Choose a clear, descriptive file name for each supporting document so we can easily identify each one.

Supported file types: .jpg, .doc, .docx, .pdf, .xls, .xlsx, .ppt, .pptx

[Upload files]

Below is the list of supporting documents that are relevant to this grant programme. Please do not submit any additional documents in addition to those requested.

We must receive all supporting documents, whether they are in digital format or hard copy, by the published application deadline.

We will not begin assessing your application until you submit all of the relevant supporting documents.

List of supporting documents

1. Timetable for the development phase: a detailed timetable for the development phase of your project.
2. Risks for the development phase: a document to tell us the risks to the development phase of your project and how they will be managed.
3. Timetable for delivery phase: a summary timetable for the delivery phase of your project.
4. Risks for the delivery phase: a document to tell us the risks to the delivery phase of your project and how they will be managed.
5. Main risks document for after the project is completed: a document to tell us about the main risks facing the project after it has been completed and how they will be managed.
6. Governing document or constitution: you do not need to upload your governing document if you are a public organisation, for example a local authority, or a commercial organisation.
7. Accounts: Your most recent audited or accountant verified accounts for the last three years. We would also like to see your management accounts for the last three years. If you are a newly formed organisation and do not have a set of audited accounts, you can submit your last three bank statements or a letter from your bank confirming that you have opened an account. You do not need to upload your accounts if you are a public organisation – for example, a local authority.
8. Detailed cost breakdown: spreadsheet detailing the cost breakdown in the Project costs section of the application. This document is mandatory for all applicants.
9. Partnership agreements: if you are planning on working with another organisation to carry out your project, we would like to see your partnership agreement. This document should outline both partner’s roles and responsibilities and should be signed by all parties. This agreement should reflect the needs of your project and you may need to seek independent advice. You do not need to provide a partnership agreement unless another organisation is delivering a significant part of your project.
10. Job descriptions: if you plan to recruit a new member of staff to help deliver your project, including an apprentice, please submit a job description for that post. You also need to provide job descriptions if you have a suitably qualified member of staff that you are moving into a project post.
11. Briefs for internally or externally commissioned work: briefs describe any work you plan to commission during the development phase of your project. If you are commissioning work, for example, from an artist or an architect, then you should upload a brief. The brief should describe the works, how long they will take, and how much they will cost. Template brief for commissioned work. For fees over £10,000 you should get three competitive tenders or quotes. For fees over £50,000 we will expect you to provide proof of the competitive tendering process.
12. Images: if relevant, please provide images that help to show us your project. For example, if your project focus is a local photography archive, upload images of the collection. Or if your project involves a community garden, upload a map. If you want to improve a landscape or conservation area, upload a map of the area that shows the location of all the projects you will deliver.
13. Letters of support: letters of support are a way of showing that you have spoken to other people and that they are interested in and committed to your project. Please upload up to six letters of support from the people involved in your project. For example, if you plan to deliver workshops at local youth clubs then a letter of support will show us that they want to take part. If possible, letters should be on headed paper or signed and dated.
14. Calculations of full cost recovery included in your development-phase costs: If you have included Full Cost Recovery, upload documents to tell us how you have worked out the share that relates to your project.
15. Business plan: if you do not have a business plan, please upload the planning document you work with to manage your heritage. If you are an organisation which manages multiple sites or are, for example, a Local Authority, upload the planning documents most relevant to the heritage.
16. Condition survey: if your project involves the conservation of heritage, you must provide a condition survey or another appropriate document such as a draft or outline conservation plan. This should tell us the current condition of the heritage and the works needed to return the heritage to a good condition. For example, if you plan to conserve a local war memorial, you will need to know the current condition and what repair works are needed. The survey or report should also indicate the relative priority of the suggested works, including what works are most critical and need to be tackled most urgently.
17. Ownership documents: if you are planning any capital works, or intending to purchase land, buildings or collections, please provide copies of any relevant ownership documents. For example, Land Registry ownership documents or a lease or heads of terms.
18. Heritage Enterprise supporting documents: if you are making a Heritage Enterprise application, you could upload:

• A viability appraisal that provides a reasonable indication of the conservation deficit.
• Design specification for any capital works to be undertaken during the development phase.
• Two or three of the most recent and relevant documents that describe the vision and strategy for the area, if applicable. For example, documents from the local development framework, area action plan, master plan, regeneration strategy or tourism strategy.

Declaration

a) Terms of grant

You must read the standard terms of grant for this programme on our website. By completing this Declaration, you are confirming that your organisation accepts these terms. For partnership projects, all partners must confirm that they accept the standard terms of grant by adding a contact at the end of the declaration.

Standard Terms for Development Phase Grants - £250,000 to £10million

b) Freedom of Information and Data Protection

We are committed to being as open as possible. This includes being clear about how we assess and make decisions on our grants and how we will use your application form and other documents you give us. As a public organisation we have to follow all data protection laws and regulations, to include European Parliament directives and regulations that are applicable and in force from time to time (the 'Data Protection legislation'). As defined by the Data Protection legislation the Trustees of the National Heritage Memorial Fund (who administer the National Lottery Heritage Fund) is a data controller.

As part of the application process we will collect your name and position at the organisation you represent. We may share this information with one of the consultants on our Register of Support Services if they are appointed to help support you on your project. We do not transfer your data to any third parties based outside of the EU. Our Privacy Policy contains additional information including contact information for our Data Protection Officer. It can be found on the National Lottery Heritage Fund website.

When you complete the Declaration at the end of the application form, you are confirming that you understand our legal responsibilities under data protection legislation and the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and have no objection to us releasing the About your project and Support for your project sections of the application form to anyone who asks to see them once your application has completed the assessment process. If there is any information in these sections of the form that you don't want made publicly available, please explain your reasons below.

[Text field – 5,000 characters]

We will take these into account when we respond to any request for access to those sections. We may also be asked to release other information that you provide to us. We will respond to these requests after taking account of your rights and expectations under Data Protection legislation. In those cases, we will always consult you first. We will not be responsible for any loss or damage you suffer as a result of our meeting these responsibilities.

• To decide whether to give you a grant.
• To provide copies to other individuals or organisations who are helping us to assess, monitor and evaluate grants.
• To share information with organisations and individuals working with us with a legitimate interest in National Lottery applications and grants or specific funding programmes.
• To hold in a database and use for statistical purposes.
• If we offer you a grant, we will publish information about you relating to the activity we have funded, including the amount of the grant and the activity it was for. This information may appear in our press releases, in our print and online publications, and in the publications or websites of relevant Government departments and any partner organisations who have funded the activity with us.
• If we offer you a grant, you will support our work to demonstrate the value of heritage by contributing (when asked) to publicity activities during the period we provide funding for and participating in activities to share learning, for which we may put other grantees in contact with you.

We may contact you from time to time to keep you informed about the work of the Heritage Fund.

• I confirm that the organisation named on this application has given me the authority to complete this application on its behalf.
• I confirm that the activity in the application falls within the purposes and legal powers of the organisation.
• I confirm that the organisation has the power to accept and pay back the grant.
• I confirm that if the organisation receives a grant, we will keep to the standard terms of grant, and any further terms or conditions as set out in the grant notification letter, or in any contract prepared specifically for the project.
• I confirm that, as far as I know, the information in this application is true and correct.

Tick this box if you agree to the declaration.

[Tick box]

Tick this box if you wish to be involved in research.

[Tick box]

Tick this box if you wish to be kept informed of our work.

[Tick box]

Page updates

We will regularly review this guidance and respond to user feedback. We reserve the right to make changes as required. We will communicate any changes as quickly as possible via this webpage.

• 30 May 2023: the size of grants available to apply for has increased from £5million to £10million. References to the maximum grant amount have been updated throughout this guidance.