Annual council grant

The Grant application process for the financial year 2025-26 has now closed.  The 2026-27 round will be open in the Autumn of 2025.

Overview of the Spelthorne Borough Council Grants Process

Our commitment to our community

Spelthorne Borough Council is committed to assisting local organisations that are charitable or not for profit.  We will consider grant applications from local voluntary groups/clubs/organisations.

Criteria for applicants

We accept applications from voluntary, charitable and not for profit organisations. We do not accept applications from individuals.  You will need to demonstrate how you meet each of our application criteria.  Meeting these criteria does not guarantee success as the demand is high, but it means that your application will be considered.

The criteria that you MUST meet are:

• you are applying on behalf of a voluntary or charitable organisation.  We also consider applications from not-for-profit organisations
• the organisation is located in Spelthorne and/or you provide services for people in Spelthorne
• your organisation supports Spelthorne Borough Council's priorities and values and contributes to at least one of the priorities. Corporate Plan 2024 - 2028
• you are not applying for salary costs for your Chief Executive
• you are not applying on behalf of a school or Parent Teacher Association
• your organisation is financially stable but is also not carrying large reserves
• you must not be applying for multiple financial support for the same objective.  (Unless you are specifically requesting grant match funding)
• you have clear outcomes for the funding applied for
• you need to be able to monitor your performance towards your goals and demonstrate how you have successfully achieved them
• that you have been able to flex and adapt your service provision, or would be able to, as a response to emerging need

Our values and priorities

Applicants will be asked how they support Spelthorne's priorities and values.  These are set out in our Corporate Plan 2024-2028. The plan includes the short, medium and long-term actions up until 2028 and demonstrates how we will use our resources and maximise working with partners to deliver our aims and aspirations.

The five priorities are:

• Community: placing the needs of the Borough at the heart of everything we do and supporting residents to live healthy and fulfilling lives
• Addressing housing need: supporting the delivery of high-quality housing and solutions to allow all residents to live independently
• Resilience: ensure prudent management of our resources and create a climate in which businesses and individuals can thrive
• Environment: work with our residents, suppliers and partners to minimise our impact on the environment
• Services: deliver a wide range of high-quality community focused and accessible services and be a responsible employer.

The priorities are underpinned by seven 'values' which collectively add up to making a more sustainable Borough: environmentally, socially, and economically.

• Pride in our Council, communities and Borough
• Responsible and respectful
• Open and accountable
• Value for money
• Integrity
• Dependable
• Empowering and inclusive

The process

Once applications have been received, they will be reviewed to ensure that they meet the criteria.  Where applicants do not meet the criteria, they will be told that their application cannot be taken further and signposted to other potential financial support available to assist delivery of your objectives.

If it is obvious that an error has been made and crucial information has mistakenly been omitted, and where we are able, we will endeavour to contact you to give you the opportunity to provide the missing information.

Meeting the criteria does not guarantee that you will receive a grant.  Spelthorne Borough Council receive numerous applications from worthy organisations and with regret we cannot offer grants to all. 

We may ask you for further information or clarification prior to or during the panel's consideration of your application.  The panel makes recommendations to be considered for approval by Committee.  We are required to follow this process as we are using public money and need to follow due process.  This is why we open the grants applications many months before the financial year starts.

For information on other grants that might be available, or for assistance with applications please contact Voluntary Support North Surrey Voluntary Support North Surrey

The final decision and payment

As mentioned above, some applications may be unsuccessful, or only receive part of what they have requested.

The Grants panel may decide to recommend to Committee:

• that your organisation gets awarded the full amount applied for
• that your organisation receives a partial and lower award than applied for
• that your organisation has been unsuccessful for the current year

Where we are unable to provide you with any grant funding, or in some cases a smaller amount than you applied for, we will endeavour to signpost you to potential other funding sources to help you achieve your outcomes.  In the cases of a partial award, we will help review what is achievable with the smaller amount of funding awarded.

We will write to you with the decision in March 2025 following the council budget setting meeting.  It is anticipated that the funding will be paid into the relevant account at the start of the financial year in April 2025.

Monitoring of performance

As mentioned above the grant funding is public money and it is therefore subject to audit.  We will ask you to provide evidence of how the money we have awarded to you in the form of a grant has been spent.  Our monitoring requirements will be proportionate to the amount we have funded with the larger grants requiring more evidence and monitoring.

Most organisations successfully awarded grant money will be required to provide information about how the grant has assisted them by providing case studies, or photographs showing what has been bought, or achieved and sometimes data showing how many people have been helped. This is not meant to be onerous and is proportionate to the level of funding.  For organisations receiving larger grants we require more performance information and for those receiving over £15,000 we require a Service Level Agreement and regular monitoring of delivery of the agreed objectives. 

The requirements will be fully explained to you when we consider your application.

Further information

The grants awarded by Spelthorne Borough Council are discretionary.  There is no right of appeal, so please ensure that your application is the best that it can be.  Please be aware that being successful in a year does not mean that you will automatically be successful the next and vice versa.