The Education Team at Lea Hough has been successful in appealing the decision of the latest CIF round, meaning even more funding for building improvement projects for schools in the North West.
An announcement from the DfE on 28th July 2022 confirmed that a total of 42 appeals for projects were upheld across England. This will provide funding of £18 million for 42 projects at 42 academies, sixth-form colleges. Lea Hough are delighted that our clients are amongst this number – helping to bring more funding to schools in our local area.
There is very little funding allocated for appeals following the initial approval of CIF bids. For an appeal to be successful, the original decision needs to be challenged and it must be demonstrated that there has been a material error in the marking.
Our knowledge of working with the DfE means we know the various factors that comprise a strong bid for CIF funding. When bids are unsuccessful, we are therefore able to identify where appeals may be successful, and we now have a proven track record in achieving success at the appeals stage.
The CIF bidding process is consistently 3-4 times over-subscribed every year, making the process of obtaining funds via the process difficult to obtain; especially for those that lack a significant level of experience. Lea Hough has been working within the area of CIF funding for several years and have a great deal of experience in obtaining funding and working through the appeals process.
The appeals process for the current funding round is now over. However, the CIF funding process will start afresh in the autumn. We therefore invite any schools that have been unsuccessful in the 2022/23 round of funding to get in touch for a free of charge audit.
This process involves a review of previously compiled bids and an assessment of the school, its grounds and requirements. In some cases, we will be able to rework bids within our tried and trusted framework in order to increase the chances of success. In other cases, we may identify that there is another source of funding for which it may be possible to apply.
For more information on our work in the area of funding bids, or to discuss having a CIF bid reviewed by one of our specialist school building consultants, please get in touch. This service is offered free of charge.
