Community Transport (CT) operators play a vital role in ensuring the accessibility, well-being, and inclusivity of your communities through the transport and wider support you provide.
In today’s challenging financial climate, it can be increasingly difficult to manage your income streams and ensure your services are sustainable, so we’ve highlighted here some sources of additional funding and support that we think are worth exploring.
Our team are always happy to help with this essential work – don’t hesitate to get in touch on [email protected] or with a specific member of the team here.
The National Lottery
The National Lottery has a range of funding schemes that CT operators may be able to apply for, with new funds regularly becoming available. You can see what’s available now here. Funding programmes specifically targeting growing community support in Wales can be found here.
A great fund that everyone should consider applying for is the Awards for All programme. It is very easy to apply for and has minimum eligibility requirements. As of 15th November 2023, the fund increased its maximum grant from £10,000 to £20,000. You can find more information here.
Motability
The Motability Community Transport grant was launched in 2022 for operators who provide services that benefit disabled people. Organisations can apply for funds from £50,000 to £4million to improve the impact of Community Transport for disabled people.
The current round of funding ends in March 2025 with final submissions accepted up until 8th October 2024, so if you’re considering submitting an application we urge you to get your application in as soon as possible so the grant panel has time to consider it!
To apply your organisation must have an income of over £250,000. If your organisation’s income is lower than £250,000, you might want to consider a consortium bid with some other organisations in your area. Further information can be found here.
Bus Service Support Grant (BSSG)
The Bus Service Support Grant (BSSG) is a discretionary grant given to eligible transport operators to help them cover some of their fuel costs, and is the only core funding the Welsh Government makes available to Community Transport operators in Wales.
The Welsh Government grant is allocated to local authorities to enable them to subsidise otherwise unprofitable but locally important bus routes. To apply for BSSG, get in touch with your Local Authority transport team – if you need help with this, contact our Development Officers on [email protected] who will be very happy to help.
Steve Morgan Foundation
The Steve Morgan Foundation provides funding, support, expertise and best practice to the charities and organisations they support across north Wales. By harnessing the power of working together, they address a range of areas including poverty, homelessness, health and wellbeing, and education and training, and have a specific grant fund for vehicle purchasing – find out more here.
Funding Wales and WCVA
Funding Wales is the new funding search platform created by Third Sector Support Wales. Find funding for your charity, community group or social enterprise using our free online search engine.
You can search hundreds of grant and loan finance opportunities from local, national and international sources. From small grants to large capital projects Funding Wales can help you find the funding you need here.
WCVA manage a number of different funds to benefit the Welsh voluntary sector. Find out more here.
Section 106 and Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL)
Both the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) and Section 106 create funds as the result of a development taking place.
A Section 106 agreement is a legal agreement between a developer and local planning authority that ensures developers do extra work to mitigate the impact of a development on the local community and infrastructure. CT providers, as a form of transport can be part of this mitigation. When you become aware of a new development in your area, you can contact your council and the developer to see if your organisation could be a beneficiary of the 106 agreements.
The Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) is a tax levied by a Local Authority on qualifying developments. CILs can be used to fund community infrastructure and arising needs from the new development. Not all Local Authorities choose to set a levy, and sometimes CILs can be reserved for other social goods such as affordable housing. You can contact your Local Authority to find out whether your organisation might be able to access CIL funds.
Sponsorships
Sponsorships from local businesses can be a great way of bringing extra income/resources into your organisation. You can display sponsorships by having their logos displayed on your bus or website.
However, if you are using a section 19 permit, you need to be careful to make sure your sponsors aren’t incidentally profiting from your services. For example, if your local supermarket sponsored you to run a service that ferried people from their homes to the supermarket, they would be making profit when people spent money in their store. This arrangement would be in violation of your section 19 permit.
