Apply for BFI National Lottery Places Fund: Skills and Training

In this guide:

Overview
Delivering against our National Lottery Strategy
Check if you’re eligible
What you can use the funding for
How to apply
What happens after you apply
Getting a decision
Conditions of funding

1. Overview

These guidelines are for organisations that want to apply for funding through the BFI Places Fund to pilot skills and training activity and develop strategic plans for their local area.

In line with BFI’s National Lottery Strategy and the Funding Plan 2023-2026, the BFI currently funds Skills Clusters in seven production hubs across the UK. These partnerships, between industry, education and training providers, and other skills organisations, develop clearer pathways to employment for screen production in their area. The BFI recognises that there are growing screen production industries outside of these seven regions. This Fund will invest in areas of the UK that do not already have a BFI funded Skills Cluster, where there is evidence of a growing screen production industry and skills gaps and/or shortages in the local workforce.

Successful applicants could be a screen agency, skills agency with expertise in screen, a local authority (such as a local authority film office or other relevant department), specialist training provider, skills or screen charity. They will partner with industry and education stakeholders to map skills gaps and shortages in their area and pilot skills provision that seeks to address these. Each awardee will develop long term, strategic recommendations for building an appropriately skilled and representative workforce in their area. This will support more partnerships to be formed at a local level, aiding early co-development and delivery of pilot training interventions, with a view to potentially informing longer-term, larger-scale interventions later down the line, and growing our Skills Cluster portfolio.

An award of funding from the Places Fund does not guarantee that you would be successful in any subsequent application to the Skills Cluster Fund or any similar future BFI fund and as such, you should focus on how the Places Fund could grow and enhance the sector in your locality and increase your potential to access other sources of funding.

The Places Fund will support skills and workforce development activity primarily for film and will also consider activity for scripted productions, animation, games and other forms of immersive storytelling where there is evidence of a local need. Examples of activities include but are not limited to: crew mapping; training and paid work placements; FE or HE curriculum development, to aid industry relevance and responsiveness; networking; and mentoring. Activity will primarily focus on attracting new entrants to screen production. You can make the case for activity that ‘steps up’ the local workforce, if it is rooted in supporting the development of those that are currently underrepresented in the workforce.

This fund cannot be used for skills activity related to ‘above-the-line’ roles. ‘Above-the-line’ roles refers to those who support the creative idea or direction of a production, such as a writer, director, producer, or actor.

We welcome applications from organisations that may be in the early stages of skills activity or partnerships and those who want to test out new approaches to building a representative and appropriately skilled workforce in their area.

2. Delivering against our National Lottery Strategy

All activity funded through BFI National Lottery Places Fund: Skills and Training should deliver against the following outcomes of the BFI’s National Lottery strategy:

Primary outcomes

Equitable and more visible routes into the sector for people of all ages (3.1)
People from under-represented groups across the UK can access the support they need to develop their careers and skills (3.2)
Vital skills for the sector that cannot be delivered by the commercial market are developed (3.4)

Secondary outcomes

Evidence-based insight and analysis of the screen sector is readily available to all, supporting organisations and driving policymaking (4.3)
Screen organisations have significantly reduced their carbon footprint (4.4)

Key Performance Indicators

You should propose your own Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) based on the type of activity you are proposing to deliver. These will be agreed with successful applicants prior to contracting. The BFI will measure the success of the Fund against these KPIs which, at a minimum, should include:

number of beneficiaries
diversity of beneficiaries
number of partnerships with local HE/FE and education sector
number of partnerships with local/national industry
number of new training interventions, events or opportunities created that address evidenced skills gaps and shortages in your area

The Places Fund: Skills and Training could inform future funding programmes including the potential expansion of the BFI National Lottery Skills Cluster Fund in future funding periods.

percentage of partnership funding within your BFI Places Fund Skills and Training activity budget
number (and type) of new sources of funding secured for ongoing Skills and Training activity
amount of funding secured for ongoing Skills and Training activity

You could also consider the percentage of beneficiaries who report that:

they are satisfied with the activity
the activity has increased their confidence to access job opportunities in screen production
they have been equipped with the skills to do their job well
they know how to find local job opportunities in screen production
if it is appropriate, given the time scale for funding, the number of new entrant beneficiaries progressing into paid work or further training on the back of Places Fund pilot training interventions

In addition, all National Lottery awards must deliver against our three principles for National Lottery funding:

equity, diversity and inclusion
UK-wide
environmental sustainability

Equity, diversity and inclusion

We champion everyday inclusion at the BFI. A clearly defined and communicated set of Inclusion Targets gives us, our partners and the wider industry ambitious goals for a more diverse screen sector and representative audiences. The activity of this Fund will contribute towards achieving the BFI’s Inclusion Targets, which are:

Disabled (including those with a longstanding physical or mental condition and those identifying as D/deaf or neurodiverse) – 18%
Black and Global Majority (London) – 40%
Black and Global Majority (outside London) – 30%
Those identifying within the gender binary (also monitoring trans and non-binary identities) – 50:50 gender
Sexual identity (those identifying as LGB+) – 10%
Working-class background – 39%

We are committed to working with our National Lottery delegate partners, our co-distributors, award recipients and stakeholders across the UK to deliver ambitious targets. Our programmes and funded activity may include a focus on specific communities and demographics. In recognition of the diversity of different localities, regions and nations we do not expect each partner to contribute in the same way. You will therefore be expected to set your own diversity targets for your area, which should be ambitious and guided by our overall inclusion targets.

You will also need to ensure there is an effective plan for collecting this data.

BFI Diversity Standards

All of the activity supported by our funding is informed by the BFI Diversity Standards. You will need to demonstrate how your proposal meaningfully tackles under-representation in relation to disability, gender, race, age, sexual orientation and socio-economic status, while also considering the interactions of these identities and any other barriers to opportunity.

For applications to this fund, you are expected to summarise how you will meet the intentions of each of the Standards A to E overall. See general guidance for this summary version of the Diversity Standards.

For BFI National Lottery Places Fund: Skills and Training, the areas we expect you to focus on are:

who works for the organisations delivering the activity
early career opportunities, training and career progression
the diversity of beneficiaries and how you will reach them
how you will ensure equal access to your training and skills activities
the content of any training materials, including the representation within any screen content or other materials used in your proposed activity

If successful and following the conclusion of your activity, you will need to report on how you have delivered against the aims of the Diversity Standards in practice.

UK-wide

The BFI funds activity throughout the UK. This includes national, regional, and local provision to ensure that communities throughout the UK feel the benefit of the screen industries and culture. You’ll need to tell us where your proposed activity will be delivered and how this will support the BFI’s UK-wide principle.

Environmental sustainability

You’ll need to tell us how you will embed the principle of environmental sustainability throughout your funded activity. This includes describing what you’re doing to reduce your negative impact, as well as what you’re doing to increase your positive impact. If you are offered an award, the BFI will provide dedicated expertise to support you in addressing this principle.

3. Check if you’re eligible

Your organisation must be based and seek to deliver activity within one of the following areas of the UK:

East of England
South West
East Midlands
South East (excluding Hertfordshire, Surrey, Buckinghamshire and Berkshire).

You must be:

able to demonstrate active production activity and screen-sector employment opportunities in your specified area
able to demonstrate a robust knowledge of growth potential for production and its workforce in your specified area
able to demonstrate local connections with active production bases, i.e. employers, including broadcasters, studio facilities or other production companies.
able to demonstrate local connections with at least one training stakeholder. This could be a Higher Education Institution, Further Education College, skills agency or organisation, private and/or specialist training provider, and/or a mentoring company
proposing to expand current, or test new, skills and training activity in film, and/or (if relevant to your local evidenced need) other scripted productions, animation, games and other forms of immersive technology (excluding above-the-line roles).
delivering your activity on a not-for-profit basis

Your organisation must be a legally constituted organisation centrally managed in the UK. This includes:

limited liability company or partnership registered at Companies House
community interest company registered at Companies House
combined or local authority or statutory body
charity or trust registered with the Charity Commission

While higher education and further education institutions can – and are encouraged to be — named partners in applications, they cannot be the lead applicant.

Individuals cannot apply.

Partnership funding

Although we do not set a minimum requirement, there is an expectation for there to be partnership funding to support the total cost of the activity. This can include cash or in-kind contributions. Partnership contributions are an important demonstration that there is genuine support for your proposal from your community, stakeholders and other partners. This increases the impact of delivery and demonstrates industry buy in for the activity, indicating that there will be other sources of funding for the activity once the National Lottery Funding concludes.

As a guide, we might expect to see partnership funding at a minimum of 20% of the total activity budget. Partnership funding does not have to be in-hand at the point of application, but in advance of any award from BFI and before the proposed activity start date. Other BFI funds cannot be used as partnership funding and UK National Lottery Funding from another distributor should not be the only form of partnership support.

Get in touch with the team if you’re unsure that you are eligible for this Fund: skills.coordinator@bfi.org.uk

4. What you can use the funding for

You can apply for an award between £100,000 and £250,000 for up to 18 months of skills and training activity, commencing from January 2025, within the eligible areas.

All activity funded through the Places Fund: Skills and Training should deliver against the selected outcomes of the National Lottery Strategy. Funding is for developing strategic plans, and piloting projects and partnerships that address your local skills gaps and shortages in screen production. Activity should focus on film, but consideration will also be given to skills development in scripted productions, games and other forms of immersive storytelling if there is a clear and evidenced local need. Activity will primarily focus on attracting new entrants to screen production. You can make the case for activity that ‘steps up’ the local workforce, if it is rooted in supporting the development of those that are underrepresented in the workforce.

We intend to use findings from the Places Fund to inform programmes in future funding periods, including the potential expansion of the BFI National Lottery Skills Cluster Fund. We would like to learn what does and does not work in your area. Therefore, we would like you to use the funding to better understand your local skills gaps and shortages, and to pilot projects and partnerships that address these. You’re also welcome to apply to expand current skills activity, if you can show that it meets a local need.

In your application you will need to identify your ‘deliverables’. This is the specific activity you will deliver using the funding, which will enable you to meet your KPIs.

At a minimum, your deliverables should include:

a crew mapping exercise that identifies skills gaps and shortages in your area
training programmes and/or work placements for new entrants
targeted activity and training to support people from underrepresented backgrounds
an end of programme report with strategic recommendations for building an appropriately skilled and representative workforce in your area.

You should also consider:

supporting Higher and Further Education curriculum development
crew networking and support services
mentoring

You can use this funding for costs such as:

staff involved in delivering activity, including partnership development and management
costs associated with crew mapping and research into understanding your local skills shortages
specialist consultancy fees (e.g. training advisors)
mentorships
marketing and promotion of funded activity
costs associated with skills and training activity, including events
contribution to overheads relating to the activity (at a reasonable level)
activity administration
costs associated with writing your end of programme report including strategic recommendations
any other relevant activity that supports the growth of the sector within the respective region or area

All costs should be at a level to maximise the public benefit and value for money of the fund.

What you cannot use the fund for

Funds are not intended to substitute or replace existing funding or income that would otherwise be available, or to fund activity at the same scale that can go ahead without an award. National Lottery funds can only be awarded to applicants that demonstrate need and a clear public benefit from the activity being funded. BFI National Lottery Funding is project-based, time-limited funding, and as such, there should be no expectations of ongoing support beyond the term of any awards made.

Examples of common ineligible costs are:

core costs for day to day running of your organisation not associated with the activity
costs relating to an extension of ongoing work
capital expenditure
filmmaking projects and/or workshops or other ‘above the line’ training or project development
activity that is already specifically supported by another external source of funding
proposals that focus on other art-forms such as literature, dance on film, theatre, poetry film, opera or artists’ moving image
cost incurred prior to an offer of funding from BFI
promotional or other activity (information stands, printed brochures) which does not support environmental sustainability

This list is not exhaustive and we may inform you that other types of activity within your application cannot be supported by a BFI award, or request that you amend specific activities and associated budget allocations.

If you are registered for VAT, your figures should not include VAT that you can claim back. If you are not registered for VAT, or you are registered for VAT but cannot fully recover the VAT you incur on costs, your figures should include irrecoverable VAT. Grants we make are ‘outside the scope’ of VAT and should be listed in your accounts as a grant and not, for example, as a fee for any services supplied to the BFI. You should get financial advice from your own accountant or the relevant tax office.

Cashflow

If you’re successful, funding will be cashflowed in-line with spend over your proposed project delivery timeline subject to:

satisfactory performance — you being able to continue to deliver your activity in accordance with the contractual terms of the offer of funding and the parameters of these guidelines and if you can satisfactorily demonstrate (through submission of routine reporting) that you are able to remain financially viable through to the end of the term
receipt and approval by BFI of routine reporting including progress against KPIs and costs to date and which can include proposed modifications to the balance of the budget and activity plans to adapt to learnings and changing circumstances and details of planned activity as those plans solidify.

5. How to apply

The application must be submitted by a single lead organisation on behalf of a defined region or area.

When you can apply

Applications are now closed.

Information you need to provide

The application form will ask you for some basic information including:

an eligibility questionnaire
details of the lead contact and lead organisation
any industry or education stakeholders that have confirmed their participation
a summary of the specific needs of your area in relation to skills provision (max 300 words)
a summary of your proposal (max 300 words)
the activity start and end date
the geographical area that your application represents (this must be the East of England, the South East, the East Midlands or the South West)
how your proposal meets the stated primary and secondary Fund outcomes (max 500 words)
the total activity budget and amount requested from BFI
how your proposal responds to the BFI’s Diversity Standards
your approach to environmental sustainability and net zero within the design of your activity

You will also need to attach a detailed proposal for creating and delivering your programme of activity, responding to the stated National Lottery Strategy outcomes and principles.

What you need in your proposal

Your proposal should include:

an organogram for the lead organisation
a summary of the lead and partner organisations, including their track record in screen production and skills activity, and their role in delivering the proposed activity (3 sides of A4 max)
the proposed governance structure including brief biographies of any core staff in the lead and partner organisations who will be relevant to delivery (2 sides of A4 max)
detail on the local screen production activity and infrastructure in your chosen region, including your current understanding of local skills gaps and shortages, and forecast opportunities for growth (3 sides of A4 max)
your vision for what you want to achieve over the funding period and how this will help build a representative and appropriately skilled workforce in your area (2 sides max)
an activity plan, including intended beneficiaries, and any accessibility considerations proposed deliverables (i.e. a quantifiable list of what you will deliver that will enable you to achieve your KPIs)
proposed KPIs
a monitoring and evaluation plan that sets out how you will collect and collate the data required for reporting to BFI against your KPIs, including your proposed inclusion targets (max 2 sides A4)
the timeline for delivery including key milestones — you should clearly identify the time period for the funding, which should be within 18 months from 1 January 2025

Documents you’ll need to provide

For your application, the lead applicant will need to include:

an activity risk register
your organisational risk register
a detailed budget and indicative cashflow, clearly setting out proposed use of BFI funds and the status of all partnership funding
your last set of independently certified / audited accounts. If more than 12 months has passed since the year-end covered in your certified accounts, please additionally provide draft accounts for the intervening auditable period as approved by your board (including both income and expenditure reporting and a balance sheet)
your most recent budget and management accounts for the current financial year as approved by your Board (including both income and expenditure reporting and a balance sheet), as well as any subsequent budget reforecast since board approval was provided
an environmental strategy, which could be an environmental impact assessment or an existing environmental policy relevant to the proposed activity

Equality monitoring

You’ll be asked to complete an equality monitoring form when you submit your application. The form asks for demographic information on the staff working on your project or in your organisation. The data that you submit on this form will be confidential and anonymous and not seen by the staff assessing your application. We will not be able to put forward your application for assessment until you have completed the equality monitoring form.

Apply

You need to create an account to apply online. You can save your application and return to it later.

Make sure you complete all the sections as incomplete forms will be automatically ineligible.

You can view a PDF preview of the application form below.

BFI National Lottery Places Fund application previewPDF248 KB

6. What happens after you apply

Fund closes	Friday 11 October
Interview invitations sent	Week commencing Monday 4 November
Interviews held	Week commencing Monday 18 November

You’ll receive confirmation that we have received your application within 1-2 working days.

Once submitted, we will review your application and if necessary, may write to you or request to meet with you to obtain more information about your application. If we need additional information from you, it may take us longer to reach a decision on your application. If your application is ineligible, we will email to tell you we will not be able to consider it. We may allow you to fix a mistake if this is the only reason the application is ineligible.

We expect to confirm decisions and issue offers in December 2024 and for activity to commence by the end of January 2025.

How your application is assessed

When assessing your application, we consider the public benefit presented by your proposed activity and need for National Lottery funding along with the following:

relevance: how your proposed activity meets the primary and secondary outcomes of this Fund.
understanding: your knowledge of industry trends, the growth potential of your local screen production industry and your local skills gaps and shortages.
viability of activity: the quality and feasibility of the proposed deliverables and how this seeks to address skills gaps and shortages in your area.
engagement: your ability to promote opportunities to a relevant audience and connect to relevant sector stakeholders. Taking into consideration that you will be expected to reach underrepresented groups, you will also be assessed on how you plan to reach, engage, and deliver to your target beneficiaries.
capability: the leadership potential of the lead organisation as well as the expertise, knowledge and strength of partnerships in your proposal, and whether you have a strong track record of delivering quality training. We will assess whether you can successfully manage stakeholder partnerships and/or relationships, any partnership funding you have secured and how this will support your aims.
value for money: an assessment of quality and cost.
risk: the financial viability of your organisation, your approach to analysing and mitigating risks across the organisation and proposed activity, and if applicable, how you have managed any previous BFI awards.
commitment to the National Lottery Funding Principles: ‘UK-wide’, ‘Equity, Diversity and Inclusion’ and ‘Environmental Sustainability’

We may share parts of your application with other BFI teams or external consultants to help us assess it.

Lottery Finance Committee Consideration

Following assessment of each application, funding recommendations will be made to the BFI Lottery Finance Committee. This is the final stage of the funding decision process. We undertake due diligence assessments of the applications we are recommending to our decision-making committee for funding. As part of this, before submitting an application to the committee, we will request the bank details of the lead applicant.

We will also request the personal address and date of birth of the CEO or Managing Director of the organisation applying. Please note that our request for this information is not an indication or confirmation of funding and you will be informed separately of the funding decision on your application. We will use this data to run an identity check. Please note that this is not a credit check and will not affect the ability of the CEO or Managing Director to receive credit from other organisations. We will be unable to submit your application to our decision-making committee until we have received your completed form.

All applicants will be informed in writing of the decision on their application. If your application is declined, all supporting materials will be deleted from your submission in line with our record retention policy.

How we prioritise submissions

We get a lot of applications and cannot support them all. We prioritise proposals that:

are closest to the Fund objective and outcomes
we think will have the biggest impact on developing the local screen production workforce
offer value for money
take risks and try new approaches

We’ll also consider where your project is based as we aim to make awards across the UK.

7. Getting a decision

If you’re successful

You will receive a written offer of funding.

You will need to sign the offer of funding and return it to the BFI within 21 days.

Your offer of funding will set out details of how you’ll receive the funding, how to use it and how we expect you to report to us.

Read the conditions of funding and general conditions of National Lottery funding to find out what you will have to do if you are offered an award.

If you’re unsuccessful

We may have turned down your application because we determined that the proposal:

did not fit our funding objectives and outcomes
did not demonstrate a strong enough commitment to one or all of the following principles: equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI); environmental sustainability; UK-wide
was too ambitious for the budget
did not demonstrate enough relevant experience
was not yet developed enough
did not demonstrate sufficient need for National Lottery support and should be financed by other means
did not meet with the BFI Diversity Standards.

You will not be able to resubmit your proposal to this round of funding. To submit an application to any future rounds of the Places Fund, you will need to be able to demonstrate significant changes to your original proposal.

Feedback on an unsuccessful application

If we had a meeting with you to discuss your application, you can ask for feedback on your application. We’re a small team and unfortunately that means we’re unable to give feedback to other applicants.

We will keep the data and supporting materials you sent to us in line with our records retention policy.

We welcome your feedback on the application process and how we might improve it.

8. Conditions of funding

If you are offered an award from us in addition to the General Conditions of National Lottery Funding you will be required to deliver the funded activity in accordance with the requirements set out in these guidelines and with the contents of your application (in its final form as approved by BFI) including as follows:

The duration or term of each funding agreement will be based on the requirements of your application but will be no more than 18 months from 1 January 2025. Progress will be measured by performance reports, submitted by you on a six-monthly basis. Dates for the receipt of which will be matched to cashflow of instalments of the award. Each report will need to include a narrative update, details of beneficiaries and attendance, request to make any changes to plans in comparison to those outlined in the approved application; update on achieving KPIs; and cost reporting against budget.
You may be asked to attend routine or specific meetings with BFI colleagues to discuss progress and will be required to take part in evaluation of the Fund by the BFI (or its contracted party). This is likely to take place between 2024-26 and may be revisited during later years so you should ensure you retain all data relating to your activity, its participants and its impact until the end of the BFI Screen Culture Strategy in March 2033.
You’ll be required to work collaboratively with relevant BFI departments and partners, including BFI Skills Clusters, ScreenSkills and national screen agencies, when marketing the opportunities available through the activity.
You’ll be required to share resources, data insights, data reports and learning between partners across the Places Fund and with Skills Clusters, as facilitated by BFI.
You’ll be required to provide a copy of any resources that are developed under the funded activity to the BFI and ensure any resources developed using National Lottery funding are made publicly available – for example, any research or data collection in relation to skills gaps, shortages, or crew mapping – both during and for a period of at least [12 months] after the term of the funding agreement.
Where you have included unsecured partnership funding within your budget, you will need to provide updates on securing this finance to the BFI (normally as part of your performance reporting but, where such partnership funding is intrinsic to delivery of the activity, as a pre-condition to the funding agreement). The BFI may elect to withhold or withdraw your award if you are unable to secure the level of partnership funding required to deliver the activity as planned, or require that you submit revised plans and budget showing how the activity could be delivered without the planned partnership funding.
You’ll be required to gain BFI approval for any marketing or related materials for your funded activity, in line with branding guidelines that the BFI will provide to you.
You’ll need to adopt safeguarding provisions for protecting children and vulnerable adults and ensure that data on all participants in and beneficiaries to Places Fund can be shared with BFI in compliance with data protection legislation.
You’ll be asked to consider what it means to apply the principle of environmental sustainability to the funded activity, or your activity more generally could be good environmental for the activity (for example, around travel and events), as an organisation more broadly, and/or exploring environmental themes as part of your work. You will be able to access resources and support provided by our partner, Julie’s Bicycle, notably through the Sustainable Screen Resource Hub, as well as an initial consultation on applying this principle. We may also connect organisations whose activity relate to production activity with BAFTA albert. You will be sent further information if your application is successful.