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Managing your Million Hours Fund phase 3 funding

Congratulations on getting funding from the Million Hours Fund.

Here’s what happens next:

When we’ll pay for your upcoming work

You should get your first payment within 2 weeks of our email confirming the funding.

This is the email we sent to confirm we got your signed offer letter and terms and conditions and any other documents we asked for. You can also find your payment schedule in the email. We’ve used the most recent budget table you sent us to schedule your payments.

When the funding arrives in your account, you can start spending it on the activities you told us about in your application.

You can only use this funding for costs incurred to 31 March 2027. And because of the way this funding is divided, most of the funding needs to be spent by 31 March 2026.

If you have any questions, or you do not want the funding any more, email us at millionhoursfund@tnlcommunityfund.org.uk.

Celebrate getting funding with your community

Let people know about your funding and the amazing work you’re doing in your community thanks to this funding.

Spread the word through social media

Tag us on social media using:

Tag the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) on social media using:

When talking about and writing posts about your project, you should thank the government and use our full name too.

For example, you might post something like:

‘Funding from the Million Hours Fund has helped us to (write about what it’s helped you to do here). Thanks to the government and The National Lottery Community Fund for making this possible.’

Sharing news about your project with your community can be a great way to keep them involved and engaged.

You could issue a press release to local media

If you write a press release, you should include this text to describe your funding:

‘The Million Hours Fund is a £19 million joint investment between The National Lottery Community Fund and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport to deliver over a million additional hours of youth work in areas with high rates of anti-social behaviour. It gives young people more places to go and positive things to do.’

Use the Million Hours Fund logo to help you promote your project and tell people about your funding

Find out how to download and use the Million Hours Fund logo when promoting your project.

You should use this logo on anything you promote around the funding awarded to you.

You should keep telling everyone about the difference your project is making throughout the life of your funding.

The information you need to collect and keep

As part of your application you told us the difference you wanted to make with this funding. We expect you to monitor and record your progress towards meeting your aims so you can tell us about it.

Record the number of people involved in your project and how your project is progressing

We’ll ask you to tell us:

  • the number of hours of youth work delivered with this funding
  • the number of young people who attended the youth work delivered with this funding (including how many are new to your service, and how and where any new attendees heard about it.)
  • the amount of time staff and volunteers spent delivering the additional hours of youth work
  • whether you have recruited any new staff or volunteers to deliver this work
  • what you’ve done in the reporting period
  • what you’ll do in the next reporting period
  • what money you’ve spent

So make sure you keep records, as we may ask to see them.

Keep accurate and full records of the things you spend your funding on

And track how these match with the costs you asked for in your application. This will help you manage your budget effectively. We will ask you to report on how you spent your grant and if you have any grant unspent.

We may ask you specifically for information about how much you spent and the additional hours you have delivered by 31 March 2026. This is because most of our funding needs to be spent by then.

If you need to make changes to the budget you sent us, you should get in touch with us first.

We may ask to see evidence of how you’ve spent the funding

This could include:

  • bank statements
  • original paper or electronic receipts
  • invoices
  • payroll documents

You only need to send us this evidence if we ask for it

We could ask to see it at any time during the project, or for up to seven years after it has finished. You should make sure that you keep your records and evidence safely for this time.

DCMS may also carry out assurance checks to make sure that you’ve spent your funding in accordance with our grant agreement with you. The supplier that DCMS choose to do assurance checks may contact you about this after your grant has been made or spent. We may give the supplier your contact details for this purpose.

Reports we’ll ask you to send us during your project

You’ll find your reporting schedule in the email we sent you confirming your funding. Your funding officer will email you to let you know when a report is due, and they will send you a progress report for you to complete. You can see an example of what we'll ask in a progress report.

What to do if you want to make changes

We do not expect things to always go exactly to plan, and changes can be a positive thing for your project. You might learn new things that mean you have to change the way you work.

Changes that we need to know about before you make them

You should tell us in advance if you:

  • do anything that goes against your terms and conditions (for example, your organisation merges with another organisation)
  • want to change your senior or main contact
  • want to change your bank account
  • want to change your budget
  • want to change your project delivery (including how, when or what it delivers)

You should also tell us if you want to change your organisation, for example:

  • you want to change your organisation type (maybe you’re a company limited by guarantee and you’re planning on becoming a charitable incorporated organisation)
  • you want to change your governing document
  • you want to change your organisation’s name

If you find out about any of these changes you must email us at millionhoursfund@tnlcommunityfund.org.uk.

The terms and conditions of your funding give more information on what you must do if you want to make changes.

What to do at the end of your funding

You must spend the majority of your funding by 31 March 2026, and all of your funding by 31 March 2027.

You should spend your funding as you told us you would in the budget you sent us.

Contact us as soon as possible if you think you may need to change anything in your budget.

Complete your end of grant report and final spend table

When your project ends, we’ll get in touch and ask you to complete an end of grant report. This includes your final spend table.

We’ll ask for:

  • the number of hours of youth work delivered with this funding
  • the number of young people who attended the youth work (including how many were new to your service, and how and where any new attendees heard about it.)
  • the amount of time staff and volunteers spent delivering this project (including any new staff or volunteers)
  • what you’ve done over the life of the project
  • how you spent the funding and if you have any funding left

So make sure you keep records, as we may ask to see them.

You must send us your end of grant report within 4 weeks of your project ending and no later than 28 April 2027.

You should send your completed end of grant report with your final grant spend figures by email to millionhoursfund@tnlcommunityfund.org.uk.

We will ask you to return any of the funding you have not spent

We’ll contact you to let you know how to do this.

Help us understand the impact of the funding

Evaluation of your work

DCMS and The National Lottery Community Fund (the Fund) have appointed RSM UK Consulting LLP (RSM) to evaluate the outcomes and impacts of this funding. We would like you to engage positively with them. You may receive emails from:

We expect your organisation to take part in the evaluation if you are contacted. This could include involvement in things such as:

  • surveys
  • interviews
  • focus groups

These may be with staff and volunteers (if applicable) from your organisation, and young people if they are willing to take part. In these surveys, interviews and focus groups, the evaluator will collect information about the outcomes that young people and others have experienced.

The evaluator may require your support to gain consent from parents of young people under the age of 16 to:

  • take part in the evaluation
  • share contact information with the evaluator

The evaluation may also involve the collection of monitoring data. We will share the details of the evaluation requirements as soon as we can. This could include the type of activities delivered and how many hours of each.

Rules that apply to your funding

You must adhere to the terms and conditions of your grant

You can read the terms and conditions. We might have also included some additional terms and conditions for your project. If we did, they will be in your grant offer letter.

Our funding to you must comply with Subsidy Control rules

As a public body, we need to make sure that our funding to you complies with Subsidy Control rules. As long as you tell us in advance about any changes you want to make, there’s nothing you need to do. We’ll only contact you if we need more information.

Working with adults at risk, children or young people

You must comply with our safeguarding expectations. You need to have a safeguarding policy in place that explains how they'll be safe and we will ask to see this policy. You must comply at all times with your safeguarding policy and procedures.

How we use your information

We do checks on the information you give us

As an organisation that gives out public funds, we carry out some checks on the information you give to us. Learn more about our checks.

What happens to your data

Our privacy notice explains what personal data we will collect when you apply to the Million Hours Fund, and how and why we’ll use it.

Reduce your impact on the environment

The National Lottery Community Fund cares about our environment and we are always striving to manage our environmental impact. We encourage and support projects and communities to do the same.

Learn more about how you can make your project or event more environmentally sustainable and perhaps save money at the same time in our guidance on how to reduce your impact on the environment.

If you’re not sure about anything, or have questions

You can contact us.