Community Foundation North East

The Brian Roycroft Fund

Grants of up to £1,000 (most are smaller) for individual care leavers aged 18-25 from or living in Tyne and Wear or Northumberland, to meet exceptional or difficult costs that help them achieve their aspirations: settled accommodation, further or higher education, employment, or good health and wellbeing. A care leaver cannot apply alone: a statutory agency or a voluntary or community organisation must apply on their behalf, and the grant is paid to the young person. The fund is currently oversubscribed, so the Community Foundation asks referrers to contact its fund manager before applying.

Apply on the funder’s site

You could get: Up to £1,000; no fixed round
Deadline: Rolling; apply any time
Effort: Light; short form, little evidence needed

Who can apply

Care leavers aged 18-25 who are from or living in Tyne and Wear (Gateshead, Newcastle, North Tyneside, South Tyneside, Sunderland) or Northumberland
Young people from outside the area who are studying at a further or higher education institution in the region are also eligible
Applications are especially welcomed on behalf of disabled young people, unaccompanied asylum-seeking children and care leavers in the youth justice system
There must be evidence of hardship and no other source of support
The young person cannot apply directly: the application must be made on their behalf by a statutory agency (for example a leaving care team) or a voluntary or community organisation, which registers on the Community Foundation's grantee portal and completes the 'grant for an individual' form
The grant is paid into the care leaver's own bank account

What it funds

Exceptional or difficult costs that help a care leaver aged 18-25 to achieve their aspirations and ambitions:

Costs that help them move into settled, safe accommodation
Costs that help them enter further or higher education
Costs that help them find satisfying employment
Costs that help them achieve good health and a positive sense of wellbeing
Past examples: driving lessons and tests, a forklift driving course, publishing a poetry booklet, martial arts lessons

What it will not fund

Requests where there is no evidence of hardship or where other support is available (grants are made only where there is no other alternative)
Costs that fall within the local authority's own responsibilities to children in or leaving its care

How to apply

Contact Elaine Holdsworth (eh@communityfoundation.org.uk) before applying, as the fund is currently oversubscribed
The referring statutory agency or voluntary/community organisation registers on the Community Foundation grantee portal (https://cftwn.my.site.com); new registrations are checked and approved manually during office hours
Complete the online grant-for-an-individual application on the care leaver's behalf: their details, what the money is for (up to 100 words), the total cost and an itemised request
Give the care leaver's bank account details (grants to people over 18 are paid into their own account)
Upload a supporting statement (no more than two sides of A4) and a bank statement less than 6 months old

Applications can be submitted at any time; the panel meets twice a year, in April and October.

The care leaver cannot apply alone; they need a statutory agency or voluntary/community organisation to apply for them.

Have ready

Supporting statement of no more than two sides of A4 (12-point text) setting out how the application meets the fund criteria
Copy bank statement less than 6 months old

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