If you have a question about our Agency Collaboration Fund – Another chance round, please email us on place-basedfunds@youthendowmentfund.org.uk.

Your questions and our responses will be published on this page at the end of each week.

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Is it permissible to include two areas within the same project, for example two towns or two local authorities? For example, Town A + Town B with similar problems but no known link between the groups involved?

Your proposal should identify a crime problem with a group dynamic which you want to address through a focused deterrence approach. The geographical area where your crime problem is taking place is flexible. For example, it may be across a single local authority area; within part of a local authority area; or across two or more local authority areas. The crime problem and those associated with it, must be linked. Towns with similar problems, but with no known link between the groups involved would be out of scope for this project. However, Town B could be a suitable control group for Town A for evaluation purposes.

Are you able to advise who is on the Expert Advisory Group?

We established an Expert Advisory Group during our preparation for this round. Members included delivery, academic, policy and evaluation experts. We will be reviewing membership of the group once we have selected our preferred delivery and evaluation partners to ensure that there is no conflict of interest. Membership of the group will be made available to delivery and evaluation partners.

Could you provide a simple example of what QED looks like in a YEF funded project?

For this round, it might look like at the before and after data (e.g., administrative data) on violence from the group of young people that receive focused deterrence – matched (e.g. by age) to a group of young people in an area that has similar demographics and a group violence problem who don’t receive it. The main difference to an RCT approach being that QEDs do not rely on random assignment of young people to groups.

Will you be focusing on areas of the country in most need/highest youth crime rates?

No. Applicants are required to describe a local crime problem with a group dynamic and how a focused deterrence approach would benefit this issue and its participants. We are not weighting scores in favour of particular locations or groups of beneficiaries.

How can we identify lead community partners? For a grant of this value we would have to put the funding out to tender which takes 4 – 6 months. hard to talk with certainty about a specific organisation without cutting across commissioning rules.

We are aware that applicants will have their own procurement policy to adhere to. At this stage we do not expect applicants to name all their non-statutory partners. However, in some instances you may already have commissioned a non-statutory partner/s for a longer-term relationship who you may want to name in your application. You may also wish to run an Expression of Interest process which you can refer to in your application and/or add a note describing your plans for partner recruitment.

I notice you only mention Probation as a partner.  Whilst this is important, Youth Offending Teams are a key partner for work with young people.

Local authorities are identified as a key partner required for applications, and youth offending teams are hosted by local authorities. We consider youth offending teams to be an important local partner. Applicants may include them under the local authority umbrella of services who may be involved in the delivery of your project.

Is this funding targeted at areas with significant BAME populations?

No. Applicants are required to describe a local crime problem with a group dynamic and how a focused deterrence approach would benefit this issue and its participants. We are not weighting scores in favour of particular locations or groups of beneficiaries.

We already have a YEF funded intervention that supports children and young people in custody. The group/s we are looking to focus on for this bid are urban street gangs.  It is difficult to predict whether there may be overlap in beneficiaries between the two projects.  Does this have implications for our bid?

We anticipate that people already known to services and/or who are currently in the criminal justice system will be receiving other types of intervention locally and this does not in itself exclude people from project scope. It is important that project participants are not involved in an existing focused deterrence (or very similar) project as this would compromise our ability to effectively evaluate this programme.

Will existing pilot projects that are working well be able to bid for these funds?

This would depend on the scope and nature of the pilot project, and how closely it aligns with the focused deterrence approach we want to test. It is important that project participants are not involved in an existing focused deterrence (or very similar) project as this would compromise our ability to effectively evaluate this programme. However, there may be opportunity to take the learning from a pilot project to support your application for delivery in a different location and/or to address a different crime problem with group dynamic.

Is the £200K minimum in-kind contribution from bidders per year, or for the lifetime of the project?

Applicants are required to contribute a minimum of £200k in-kind contribution to the project in total.

Are call-ins essential to the approach. In our locality such call ins would not support community cohesion.

Your project must include direct and frequent communication with target groups. However, the method you use to do this is flexible.

Can existing partnerships be involved in this project, or do new partnerships need to be created?

Existing partnerships can be involved in this project. Existing partnerships can also be built upon and /or new partnerships can be created for this project if required.

We have two groups in two different localities in our area. They are distinct groups, but there is also rivalry between them. Would this be considered a group dynamic?

Your project must address serious youth violence where there is a group dynamic. Group dynamics include both the way group members interact with each other, and/or the way they interact with other people.

Can the approach be used to support existing offers of support, intervention that an organisation has?

Yes. Your support offer may include a menu of support options which include both existing intervention offers and/or new intervention offers. It is essential that the support offer has fast response times.

We work with a majority of black and ethnic minorities. How does the evaluation make-up factor in any cultural factors that may need to be considered when evaluating such groups?

We will be asking evaluators to develop as part of their methodology, an understanding of how interventions and implementation may differ, what the differences may be and why. This will be built into change implementation to ensure equality of access and outcomes across the target groups.

If your project has a call-in, does this need to happen before the bid is submitted.

No – we don’t expect you to have done this before submitting your bid as it would take place after the Preparation Phase of your project.

Can a whole county make a submission or can several areas within that county make an application? (Would the latter be frowned upon?)

There are no restrictions on how many bids a local authority area or county can submit. However, it is unlikely that we would fund more than one bid from one area.

As part of one bid can we look at two locations within the same police force and local authority. There is rivalry between the two groups.

Yes – your project must address serious youth violence where there is a group dynamic. Group dynamics include both the way group members interact with each other, and/or the way they interact with other people.

Is sexual violence with a group dynamic in scope for this fund?

Your project must address serious youth violence where there is a group dynamic. The crime problem itself is flexible. Violent sexual offences with a group dynamic is therefore in scope. Applicants should ensure that their crime problem with a group dynamic meets all essential criteria, including minimum participant numbers.

Do you have an idea of how many children / adults you would like your agency collaboration another chance fund to work with?  

With Agency Collaboration Fund funding, the YEF wants to work with organisations that can reach hundreds of children and young people over this three-year funding period. Exact participant numbers will depend on local context. 

Will there be less chance of success if a Violence Reduction Unit/Violence Prevention Unit or Police & Crime Commissioner is already receiving YEF funding? 

No. We are not weighting scores in favour of particular locations or groups of beneficiaries, and we are not considering previous YEF funding as part of the assessment criteria.

Is one voluntary and community sector partner acceptable if this meets the needs of the local problem and design? 

Yes, this is acceptable. 

We would like to do one letter of support which meets all the requirements but is signed by all of the ‘senior contacts’ as well as the project sponsor. Is this acceptable if we also include their e-signature, logos, and contact details?  

Yes, this is acceptable.

Does the lead applicant need to be a VRU or OPCC or could the lead applicant be another partner e.g. the local authority with endorsement from the VRU/OPCC?

Applications should be submitted by the VRU or OPPC in areas not covered by a VRU. This does not necessarily mean that the VRU/OPPC must lead on securing the partnership and/or writing the bid. These tasks can be delegated to others in the partnership. For London, the London VRU is not applying directly. Borough Community Safety Partnerships may make an application, keeping London VRU informed.

Can any of the funding be used to fund additional policing (e.g. hotspot policing) bearing in mind the emphasis on the ‘focussed deterrence’ model or indeed any policing that would not be deemed business as usual?

The funding may be used to fund any aspect of your project which addresses either essential criteria or flexible criteria as outlined in the Guidance table. Projects are also required to contribute a minimum of £200,000 cash or in-kind to total costs.

The lead organisation of your application is either a Violence Reduction Unit or an Office of Police & Crime Commissioner in an area not covered by a VRU. As there is an established Violence Reduction Partnership in our region does this mean that the VRP will need to lead on the application or can the OPCC still lead on the application despite there being a VRP, while ensuring that the VRP are sighted on applications and updates?

Yes – the OPCC can lead on the application whilst ensuring that the VRP are sighted on applications and updates.

We are looking at a programme that will engage around 200 young people over the life of the finding (based on current analysis and profiling). Can you tell me if this would be sufficient to support a bid – the application suggests that you are seeking projects that will support “hundreds” of young people.

At this stage we cannot be as prescriptive to specific numbers in the hundreds as often it depends on the context but reaching 200 hundred young people who are associated with groups or gangs in the area, without seeing the full application. We do ask that in your application that you clearly outline what analysis has been done to arrive at a particular number of young people being engaged. Also clearly defining whether the initial numbers stated are young people who you will have capacity to reach (i.e., are there more young people associated with groups that you won’t be able to support?), or whether these are your calculations of young people who are associated with groups in your area.

We recognise that the development and evaluation period is vital and this can be 6 months, however the area we are applying for despite existing work by agencies has an immediate need . Can we apply funding in the development /evaluation phase?’

All sites will be required to take part in both the Preparation and Implementation phases of the programmes, although the length of time needed for the Preparation phase will vary between sites depending on local need. This is to ensure sufficient preparation for successful delivery, and effective evaluation.

Is there any opportunity for an extension on submitting an application?

Unfortunately, we cannot provide extensions to make the process fair for all and to keep to our grant timelines.