GrantRadar

Armed Forces Covenant Fund Trust

Family Focus programme

Grants of £100,000 to £200,000 for two-to-three-year projects that help armed forces families with care needs access support, improve wellbeing and resilience, and prepare for the future, through either an in-service pathway or a moving-on-from-service pathway. Open to UK charities and CICs registered at least three years, local authorities and NHS bodies; charities without armed forces experience must deliver with a partner that has it. The deadline is midday on 4 November 2026, with decisions by the end of February 2027.

Apply on the funder’s site
You could get
£100,000 – £200,000
Closes in
17 days left
4 November
Effort
Heavy
budgets, references, often several stages

Who can apply

  • UK-based registered charities registered for at least three years, Community Interest Companies incorporated for at least three years, local authorities and NHS bodies
  • Charities and CICs without substantial recent experience of supporting armed forces communities can apply but must deliver the project with one or more organisations that have it, agreed in principle before applying; local authorities and NHS bodies must work in partnership and show the work is additional to statutory duties
  • Previous Family Focus grantees can apply for a continuation, adaptation or expansion, or a new project
  • Organisations may apply once per pathway
  • People with lived experience must have helped shape the project
  • Full eligibility details for each organisation type are in the Trust's applicant hub
  • Past reporting performance is taken into account

What it funds

Time-limited, person-centred projects on one of two pathways. In-service support: serving personnel and family members where care needs significantly affect family life and who want to keep serving (for example a serving person caring for a partner or child with a health condition, disability or neurodiverse condition, or a family member caring for a serving person). Moving on from service life: families transitioning out or within two years of leaving, including medical discharge, leaving to provide care, and veteran families affected by service-related conditions such as PTSD emerging later. Projects must meet at least one outcome:

  • Better knowledge of and confidence in accessing information, advice and services
  • Reduced loneliness and isolation, better emotional wellbeing and resilience
  • Carers gaining skills and confidence for volunteering, training or employment

New pilots, refinements of recent pilots, or expansion of services tested in the last five years (not core work) are eligible; hidden and young carers are of interest.

Projects can be national, regional or local (local only with a significant target population).

Costs: staff, volunteers, travel, consumables, venue hire, IT and small equipment, accessibility, overheads, partner costs and evaluation.

Separate applications are needed for each pathway.

What it will not fund

  • Projects focused mainly on the needs of the cared-for person rather than the carers
  • Ongoing or open-ended support
  • General family support where there are no care needs
  • Social activities such as trips or retreats, unless an essential part of a defined programme of interventions
  • Projects wholly focused on bereavement support
  • Veteran families whose care needs are not service-related, including conditions of natural ageing
  • Projects focused on one-to-one therapy sessions
  • Duplication of MOD provision, including during transition
  • Duplication of the Naval Service Recovery Centre, Personnel Recovery Units or Personnel Recovery Centres
  • Statutory body work that is not additional to existing duties, including the Armed Forces Covenant Duty
  • Budgets made up of big capital costs such as vehicle purchase
  • Political campaigning or lobbying
  • Projects duplicating the same support to the same cohort at the same time

How to apply

  1. Read the programme guidance, FAQs and applicant hub resources on the Trust's website
  2. Review the application questions (Word document, for reference only)
  3. Prepare your project plan, budget and confirmed partner details
  4. Create an account on the Trust's online grants portal and complete the application; do not apply by email or post
  5. Submit by 12 noon on Wednesday 4 November 2026 and check for a confirmation email from noreply@yourcause.com
  6. The Trust checks and assesses the application and may ask for more information, which must be sent within five working days
  7. The Board of Trustees or Grants Committee decides by the end of February 2027
  8. If funded, send a detailed budget and milestones (and a signed partnership agreement for any delivery partners) before the first payment, and start delivery within about six months

Late applications are not accepted; the Trust gives only technical advice, not views on project ideas.

A separate application is needed for each pathway.

Have ready

Note: No attachments are listed for this programme; after an award you must provide a full detailed budget, project milestones and a signed delivery partnership agreement for any delivery partners.

More like this

Other grants open to organisations like yours.