Thank you for taking an interest in the Digital Inclusion Fund for the London Borough of Lambeth. We appreciate that you have taken the opportunity to engage and work with us to improve opportunities for members of the local community experiencing digital hardship. This form serves to provide guidance on completing your application form. The quality of your application will determine the outcome, and we would like to give your project the best possible chance of succeeding. A helpful way of evaluating if you have included all the necessary detail is to think of Who, What, Where and When for the delivery method, and Why and How for the impact section.
Delivery Method
- What – What is your project? What do you specifically want to achieve? Does it connect with an existing service? What area does the project cover; devices, assistive technology, connectivity, or other? Is it Covid-19 sensitive?
- Who – Who will deliver this project? Do you need additional staff and if so how will you recruit them? Who is the project aimed at and how will you engage with them? Who or what will influence the progress?
- Where – Where will the activity take place? Do you already have premises?
- When – When will the activity take place? Is the activity seasonal? Is it a one-off activity or ongoing? What will you do if participants or practitioners drop out?
Digital Inclusion Benefit
- Why – Why is this project required? What is the specific issue you seek to address? Do you expect instant results or will it have gradual impact? Will there be wider community benefit than just the recipients or participants? Has something similar been attempted before and was it successful? If not, why will your project succeed where others have failed? If this project does not go ahead, what are the implications? Do you have a personal connection to this issue?
- How – How will this project improve the issue? What obstacles might you face and how do you plan to overcome these? How will you measure success? Are there any risks involved in this project and how will you mitigate them?
Financial Projections
Most projects will have unexpected costs, so it is important to try to identify as many as possible before submitting your application, always considering that this is capital funding so may not qualify and therefore you would need to cover these costs.
Some unexpected costs may be obvious like the cost of equipment, staff wages and rent, but there are other expenses that you should consider. Some of these might be partial costs e.g. you already pay an electricity bill for existing activities but with additional hours and usage of a premises, this would increase the cost of normal rates. You will want to consider running costs, deposits for premises, insurance, National Insurance and pension costs on top of staff wages, VAT, professional costs like lawyers or accountants, maintenance and repairs, transport, and stationery.
Statutory compliance
We know that you want to get on with your exciting project and help the community but it is also important that you have all of the necessary regulations and paperwork in place. If your application is successful, before you start you may need to complete some of the following forms:
- Grant Award Agreement
- Insurance (you should budget for this in your proposal)
- Risk Assessment
- Data protection
- Complaints procedure
- Safeguarding (and completed DBS checks for staff working with children or vulnerable adults)
- Health and Safety
Should you have any further questions, please email digitalinclusion@lambeth.gov.uk. Once your application is submitted, no amendments can be made nor advice given, so it is important to raise any queries prior to submission.