Community Infrastructure Levy Neighbourhood Fund - FAQ

Under the 2008 Planning Act and the Community Infrastructure Levy Regulations 2010 (as amended), a local authority may adopt a Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) setting out how it will require contributions from development towards the cost of providing new infrastructure. CIL regulations require that 15% of CIL receipts be reserved for neighbourhood funding. Where a neighbourhood plan or neighbourhood development order has been made 25% of CIL receipts from development in the plan area is reserved for the delivery of neighbourhood priorities as identified in the neighbourhood plan. 

Unfortunately, we are unable to accept applications from individuals. Individuals who wish to apply for funding should do so through a City-based constituted organisation or group.

Yes, the Central Grants Unit will provide telephone feedback to unsuccessful applicants. To request feedback please email the Grants Team.

Organisations who have submitted a proposal that was unsuccessful cannot reapply for a CIL Neighbourhood Fund grant for 12 months after the date we received your original complete application. After 12 months, a new proposal is welcomed, however resubmission of a proposal that was turned down will only be considered for funding if there has been significant proposal development and if the comments that were made at the time of declination have been specifically addressed.  

The minimum value for applications to the CIL Neighbourhood Fund is £10,000, with the exception of applications for the funding of access audits for which there is no minimum. Applicants seeking smaller grants should consider applying to the City Corporation’s Stronger Communities Fund. 

The level of grant awarded may be different from that requested. A Funding Manager will usually discuss this with you so it is unlikely to come as a surprise. This can be for a number of reasons: you may have over-budgeted; you make may have asked for more than is reasonable in relation to our usual funding patterns; or we may take the view that you could find some of the costs from another source. 

Match funding is not necessarily a requirement for smaller grants but we do look at which other funders are already involved or have been approached. We do require that applications for funding in excess of £100,000 demonstrate value for money including through the identification of any contributory or match funding. This can include contributions in time or expertise, for example, where a local community delivers infrastructure improvements themselves, but is not necessary for a successful bid. 

Yes. Organisations can apply for continuation funding of a currently CIL Neighbourhood Fund funded project provided that the total value of the grant provided over a 5-year period is not more than £500,000.

No. Applicants can only hold one CIL Neighbourhood Fund grant at any one time. 

Yes, organisations can hold a grant from each of the City of London’s funding programmes, but not more than one grant at any one time from the same funding programme. 

Any organisation seeking to reapply to the CIL Neighbourhood Fund will have to demonstrate a successful track record of delivering positive outcomes for City communities in their previously funded work. The City of London Corporation will need to balance a portfolio of existing organisations and new applicants to the CIL Neighbourhood Fund ensure that the funds available are not concentrated in a small number of returning organisations.

If you have received a CIL Neighbourhood Fund grant and successfully fulfilled the related requirements you can reapply for funding for up to a maximum of 5 years from the date of the initial grant awarded. However, the total value of any grant/s awarded or consecutive grants awarded to the same applicant organisation cannot exceed £500,000 within any 5 year (60 month) period measured from the date of grant awarded of the initial grant to the applicant organisation.

Applicants in receipt of 5 year’s funding will be subject to a fallow period of 12 months before they can reapply for CIL Neighbourhood Fund. The start of funding will be measured from the date of first grant awarded. Continuous funding will be considered as funding in each of the five calendar years from the date of grant awarded irrespective of short gaps between the allocation of continuation grants. The 12 month fallow period will be measured from the date of approval of the applicant’s Year Five Information & Learning End of Project report.

Yes. An organisation can withdraw its application at any point during the assessment process by submitting a request in writing to their allocated Funding Manager. Applicants who withdraw their application are eligible to reapply to CIL Neighbourhood Fund. 

Yes. We can fund projects that are solely digital or work which has both digital and non-digital elements, meeting our priorities. The work must be a discreet project for the benefit of residents and workers within the City of London, although we understand that for some online work a percentage of non-City of London communities may access the online resource. Examples of digital projects/​digital elements we can fund include: creating resources for a community; hosting a community space online; providing services online or in a hybrid format; redesigning content so it works for the web. 

Applications for the realisation of infrastructure projects of £100,000 or more should usually evidence that an access audit has been undertaken in relation to the proposed project and that its recommendations have informed the submitted proposal.  We can make grants towards the costs of an Independent Access Audit where an organisation could not be expected to fund these costs itself. The City Bridge Foundation also provides funding for independent Access Audits. More information on how to apply can be found on the City Bridge Foundation’s  Access Audits page.

We expect all organisations applying to the CIL Neighbourhood Fund to have considered their safeguarding responsibilities and to have suitable policies, procedures, reporting mechanisms and training in place to protect from harm all those who come into contact with the organisation including beneficiaries, staff and volunteers. Organisations seeking funding for activities with or for young people and vulnerable adults must have a robust safeguarding policy in place which outlines procedures, training, incident reporting and safeguarding risks. Such applicants should:

• Follow relevant safeguarding legislation and guidance.
• Establish good safeguarding policies and procedures that all trustees, staff and volunteers follow, which fit with the policies and procedures of their local authority safeguarding partner or safeguarding children or adults board.
• Make sure all staff and volunteers receive regular training on child protection or working with adults at risk.
• Appoint a safeguarding lead to work with their local authority safeguarding boards and/or create a plan for responding to concerns.
• Manage concerns, complaints, whistleblowing and allegations relating to child protection or adults at risk effectively.
• Have clear policies that identify when DBS checks are required, how the organisation assesses the level of DBS check needed and how the organisation handles the information.
• Review their policy and procedures at least every two years.

A ​‘Bencom’ or ​‘Community Benefit Society’ is a form of Co-operative that may be established by a geographical community or people with common interests. Charitable Community Benefit Societies operate for public benefit and do not operate for profit. They are classed as exempt charities and not required to register with the Charity Commission. They are regulated by the  Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and applicants should provide proof that they have been registered as a Charitable Community Benefit Society with the FCA (please see the FCA guidance) and with the HMRC as an exempt charity for tax purposes. Not all Community Benefit Societies are necessarily eligible for City of London Corporation funding, and our assessment of eligibility will depend on the applicant organisation’s objects and the extent to which it operates for the public benefit. 

As part of the application you must specify the activities (outputs) you aim to deliver through your CIL Neighbourhood Fund funded project and the differences (outcomes) you aim to achieve. We need a monitoring framework, in a format of your choice, setting out how you will track your progress against these intended outputs and outcomes for each year of the grant. The NCVO provides useful advice.

It is important that you submit all the required supporting documents as we cannot assess your application until we have received all of them. You can submit supporting documents easily using your online application’s upload function:

1. Select the type of document from the ‘title’ drop-down list. 
2. Click on the 'browse' button to locate the file on your system.
3. Click the 'upload' button.

Attachments should either be Word Documents (.doc or .docx), Excel Spreadsheets (.xls or .xlsx) or in Portable Document Format (.pdf). We may not be able to open documents that are in other formats. The attachments cannot be more than 10MB in total. If you are unable to attach your documents please email the Grants Team for advice.

Both the ‘Funding required’ and ‘Financial forecast’ spreadsheets are excel documents. To use the template you will need to first download and save it to your own computer/server before filling it in. The completed spreadsheet/s can then be uploaded as an attachment to your application form.

When assessing value for money the City Corporation will consider environmental value, social value as well as financial value. Applications for infrastructure projects in excess of £100,000 should seek three quotes for all elements of intended work/materials over the value of £10,000. Submission of original quotes may be requested during the assessment process. Applicants should indicate which quote they consider represents best value for money.  

All applicants are advised in writing of the decision on their application within a few working days of the Panel/Resource Allocation Sub-Committee Meeting. If the application is successful, the letter will be accompanied by a copy of the City of London Corporation’s Standard Terms and Conditions which must be signed by your organisation’s Chair or Treasurer and returned promptly.

Successful organisations will be assigned a Funding Manager who will be your main point of contact throughout the duration of your grant. Your Funding Manager will contact you to agree a suitable grant payment schedule to support the delivery of your project.

Your Chair or Treasurer should sign and return your grant offer to the Grants Team. You will also have to complete a Grant Payment Details form on the online portal. After completing this and if you are a new grantee (or if you have received a grant from us in the past but your bank details have changed), our data team will contact you via phone to confirm your bank details and set your organisation up as a supplier on our system. Supplier creation can take up to a week, so please bear that in mind when requesting your initial instalment. Payments are made by bank transfer.

Your Funding Manager is there to support you during the delivery of your grant funded project and you should contact them to discuss any changes to the project timetable, content and delivery or to discuss any challenges that the project or your organisation is facing. We aim to keep grant monitoring to a minimum. We will ask you to complete an Information & Learning End of Project Report within one month of the end of your grant period and for multi-year grant awards an Interim Information & Learning report within one month of each end of grant year.

Where a grant has been awarded for revenue expenditure, applicants have up to one year from the date of the grant letter in which to begin to draw down funds. Where a grant has been awarded for capital expenditure, applicants have up to two years from the date of the grant offer letter in which to draw down funds. We aim to be as flexible as possible and understand that sometimes plans change, however the grant offer may be revoked if the grant is not drawn down as outlined above unless an alternative timescale has been agreed in writing with your Funding Manager. 

We understand that projects, especially those delivered over multi-years, can be delayed or change due to external issues. If your organisation or project faces any challenges please get in contact with your Funding Manager immediately to discuss possible solutions. 

We are sorry that you are not happy with the service that you have received. Any applicant wishing to complain or express dissatisfaction about the conduct, standard of service, actions or lack of action by the Central Grants Unit during the assessment of their application should follow the City of London’s simple three-stage procedure outlined on the Corporation website's Feedback page. At Stage 1 complainants should contact the Grants Team upon which their complaint review will be undertaken by the Head of Central Grants Unit. A full response should be provided within ten working days. At Stage 2 a complaint review will be undertaken by the Chief Officer of the Department or a nominated Senior Officer (Chair of CIL Neighbourhood Fund Officer Panel). A full response should be provided within ten working days or the complainant will be advised of any delay At Stage 3 complainants should contact the complaints inbox upon which a complaint review will be undertaken by the Town Clerk & Chief Executive or a Senior Officer acting on his/her behalf. A full response should be provided within ten working days or the complainant will be advised of any delay.