The Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), through its Chief Executive Ros Kerslake OBE, has informed key stakeholders such as the IHBC and its members, about its plans to ‘optimise how [the HLF will] use a lower, but still substantial, budget of some £190m next year – set in light of reduced National Lottery income and the need to align our grant commitments with reserves’.
Ros Kerslake writes:
I wanted to contact you personally to update you on our planning as we move towards a new Strategic Funding Framework in early 2019, and some changes we will be making. Earlier this week, DCMS’s Tailored Review of HLF was published. I’m delighted to say that it strongly endorsed HLF and the transformative work we have enabled with partners like you. This, along with other developments and a continued reduction in National Lottery funding, provides the context for our planning moving forward.
In January 2018 we will begin a consultation to inform our approach and priorities from 2019, and I hope that all our many partners across the UK will respond. During this planning phase, our Board has agreed that the next financial year 2018/19 should be a transitional year, with a focus on our consultation, trialling some new ways of working and types of funding, while giving applicants and HLF time to plan for the new Framework. We will progress plans to simplify and streamline our grant offer, operating ever more efficiently and flexibly to ensure that we make the most of National Lottery funding for heritage.
You will be aware that National Lottery income has been under pressure in recent years, so we are also taking the opportunity to rebase ourselves, making sure income, commitments and reserves are aligned.
As a result we have agreed some immediate changes to our grant making which I wanted to share with you as soon as possible:
2018 Changes
With immediate effect, we will be inviting those seeking grants for Parks, Townscapes and Landscape Partnerships to apply under our Open Programmes – eg Heritage Grants – with no further rounds through targeted programmes (Parks for People; Townscape Heritage and Landscape Partnerships) for in 2018. Townscape schemes applying for the 8/12/17 deadline will be assessed in the normal way with award decisions in May 2018.
We will not fund ‘major grants’ (Heritage Grants over £5m) in 2019, so there will be no application deadline in 2018. Applications which have already been submitted for major grants will be considered in April 2018 as usual.
We are planning new strategic funding to support innovation and new ways of working. We expect these initiatives to include a strong focus on urban parks and landscapes, with further details to follow in the Spring. This reflects our strong commitment to continuing to support resilience, innovation and natural heritage.
Lastly, we will not make any new awards of grants of over £100k from January to March 2019, so for larger grants, earlier deadlines will apply. Round two applications will be accepted as normal.
Other funding streams – such as Young Roots and First World War:Then and Now – continue, but some will draw to a close as we approach 2019…
These changes will help us optimise how we use a lower, but still substantial, budget of some £190m next year – set in light of reduced National Lottery income and the need to align our grant commitments with reserves. Further details will be published in our Business Plan next year. With strong demand for our funding, we will continue to seek outstanding quality in projects, and applicants should expect competition for grants at every stage of the grant application process. We are committed to continuing to fund a broad range of heritage, and HLF Trustees have indicated that the budgets for smaller grants, which are decided locally, should be protected as far as possible.
It continues to be a great privilege to distribute National Lottery funds. Camelot has recently published plans to revitalise National Lottery games and we are working with them – and our grant recipients and partners – to make sure the public better understands the importance of a vibrant National Lottery for good causes around the UK. We remain committed to supporting this work and continuing as an active advocate for the value of heritage of every kind, across the UK, in the coming years.
I look forward to continuing to work with you in 2018 on our future plans. Do please contact your local HLF team if you have any immediate queries or concerns.
To help plan for these changes, fuller information, including detailed deadlines and Q&A is available.
