The CIF fund is hugely oversubscribed each year and unfortunately, not all bids can be approved.
If your school was one that missed out in this year’s funding round, there are steps that can be taken to improve your chances for the 2022/23 round. Lea Hough are able to review previous unsuccessful CIF bids and provide advice on what to do next. The options are:
- Re-apply in the next CIF funding round
Due to the small number of bids that are successful at the appeal stage, many schools take the decision that it would be best to revise their bid and submit it in the next round of applications. The next time schools will be able to apply for CIF funding will be during next year’s round (exact dates are still to be announced for this year, but usually open in the autumn).
All CIF bids receive feedback via the bid portal, so this is the first place to start. The threshold score for having a bid approved is high and the most significant percentage of the score available is for the ‘justification for project need’. We have worked with a number of academy schools and sixth form colleges who have been unsuccessful in previous rounds, but that we have been able to re-apply and achieve a successful outcome. Our specialist team have several years of experience in this area and know the best way in which to present projects in the application process, including providing detailed specialist reports and a sufficient level of evidence.
- Consider other funding
Depending on the nature of the project, there may be other funding pots that can be applied for. The criteria for each type of funding tends to be narrow but our team have experience in advising and preparing applications on behalf of schools across a variety of funding sources, so can help schools identify projects that may be suitable.
- Appealing a CIF bid decision
Academy schools and sixth form colleges only have a narrow window in which to appeal the decision made by the DfE. However, for information, schools should know for future rounds that in a small number of cases, appealing is possible. It should be noted that the number of projects that win funding through appeal is very low and the DfE will only reverse their decision where applicants can demonstrate that a material error has been made in the assessment of their application.
Lea Hough are able to offer a Free Audit of your bid so that you can apply the insights in future applications.
If you have been unsuccessful with a CIF bid in recent years and would like us to review it free of charge and provide advice on the next steps for applying for 2023/24, please contact us.
