Jack Petchey Places & Spaces Fund FAQs

1. Log into the JPF Community Area.
2. On the right-hand side, click the tile called ‘Expression of Interest application’.
3. Complete all required areas and ensure you submit the form when it’s complete.
4. You can save and return to your application at any time. 

Yes, if you ran one of our two grant periods in 2025, you are welcome to submit your Expression of Interest Application Form. 

No, unfortunately, as you have only run the Achievement Award Scheme for one period, you are not eligible to apply for the Places & Spaces Fund this year.

However, if you remain successfully on the scheme during 2026 and apply for a Leader Award Grant, you will be able to apply in year two in 2027. 

No, unfortunately, as you only ran one Achievement Award Scheme in 2025, you are not eligible for a second Expression of Interest Form this year.

However, as long as both schemes operate successfully during 2026 and you have applied for a Leader Award Grant for both, you will be able to submit two Expression of Interest Forms in year two of the fund in 2027. 

If you ran the Achievement Award Scheme last year (2025) and are currently running it, you will be able to submit one Expression of Interest Application form for your organisation. 

For this year, your organisation will be given one Expression of Interest form for every scheme that you run which operated in 2025 and 2026. For example, if you run several schemes across a few Guides or Scouts Units, you will get one Expression of Interest per scheme. 

To ensure we have a fair distribution of grant awards across London and Essex and across our uniformed groups and youth organisations, is unlikely that all Expression of Interest applications will be invited to Stage Two for the same organisation. You may be able to apply again in 2027.

Yes, we will be asking how your young people, aged 11-25 years, were involved in developing the idea for the project. If you are invited to Stage Two: Full Application, we will ask you to involve them in making a short video about the need for the project. 

If you are thinking of submitting an Expression of Interest Application Form, please start conversations with your young people nice and early, to ensure you know that your project is needed and they will benefit from it. 

We understand that for some organisations who work to support young people with complex needs or SEND, it may be difficult to directly involve your young people in developing ideas or making suggestions for your project. 

However, we know you will have lots of ideas for a project that would be of most benefit to them. Please involve them as much as you can and ensure that your Expression of Interest and/or Full Application clearly demonstrates how the project will benefit them. Please make it clear in your application/s if you have been unable to consult them fully on the project and why. 

Involving young people in decision-making and consulting them widely are key principles we deliver at the Jack Petchey Foundation. As we have developed our Places & Spaces Fund, we have been seeking advice and support from our Youth Consultation Panel. We are also inviting young people to be members of all three decision-making panels as part of the Expression of Interest and Full Application Stages. We are keen to hear what they think of the projects! 

We have identified 7 categories of projects we would like to fund through the Places & Spaces Fund. These are listed below with some examples to inspire you 

1. Indoor room improvements – Chill-out zones/regulation spaces, workshop room upgrades, new library, sensory rooms.
2. Indoor new fixed equipment – Installation of recording studio, gym, training kitchen for young people.
3. Outdoor space improvement – Garden, playing courts (football, basketball, cricket, tennis, 1Wall).
4. Outdoor new fixed equipment – Playground, benches/tables, sun sails, outdoor gym, bike parking, skateboard ramps.
5. Maintenance and accessibility upgrades – Shower, bathroom, fixing leaking roofs to bring a room back into use, disabled/gender neutral toilets, improved access, chairlift.
6. Storage building efficiency upgrade – Shed, portacabin, storage container OR solar panels, boilers, heating, air con, soundproofing where these upgrades account for most of the budget.
7. Other.

1. Projects where you do not own your building or do not hold a lease 
2. General sports equipment 
3. Renewal of existing equipment including white goods unless they are required as part of a wider refurbishment project 
4. Staff and/or volunteer costs  
5. Project management costs 
6. Minibuses/vehicles (including ones used for storage)  
7. Office-only refurbishments 
8. Retrospective projects i.e. refurbishment already in progress or completed  
9. General premises running costs e.g. utility bills, rent, insurance 

For the first year of the fund, we will prioritise organisations who either own or lease their buildings/premises/land on which they run services for young people. If you are not in the situation but wish to apply for the Fund, please complete our Expression of Interest Form.

As this is a new fund, we may well find there are some exceptions to our criteria, so it is worth putting your case forward for our consideration. 

No, unfortunately you will not be eligible for the first year of the Fund. If this changes for year two, we will let all groups know. For the first year of the fund, we will prioritise organisations who either own or lease their buildings/premises/land on which they run services for young people. 

We do want the funding from the Places & Spaces Fund to benefit as many young people as possible.

However, it is always worth submitting your Expression of Interest for your project for our consideration. If you have a wonderful project that could benefit young people for many years, we may be able to fund it.

We are seeking applications for projects that will have a start date in 2027; therefore, we would advise you not to apply in 2026 for a project starting in 2028. Instead, we advise you to apply in 2027.

However, if there is a compelling reason/s for the extended timeframe on your projects, please contact your Grants Officer to discuss it and to seek their advice well-ahead ahead of the Expression of Interest deadline.

We would request all successful applicants to start delivering their projects during 2027 and to aim to complete them within 12-months of the start date.

However, depending on the project and the potential disruption it may have on your service and your young people, we understand that some projects may need to be delivered out of your peak season. Please just explain the reasons behind the proposed start date clearly if you are invited to a Stage Two: Full Application. 

We will start processing Expression of Interest applications from late May until the closing date (6 July 2026). We may need to contact you with some questions while we are assessing your application. You will hear the outcome of your application by 1st August 2026. 

We will open Stage Two: Full Applications in early August and these will remain live until 16 September. We will not be able to accept late applications. We will carry out our assessments of the Full Applications throughout the summer until late September. We will hold our decision-making panels in October and decisions will be made by December 2026. 

Please note, if we have queries on your full application, we may reach out to you throughout the summer and autumn. 

Unfortunately, you won’t be able to apply for year one the fund if you weren’t successful at Stage One: Expression or Interest or Stage Two: Full Application.

However, don’t be deterred! You may be eligible to apply in 2027 for projects being delivered in 2028 and we will write to let you know next year. 

We anticipate we will prioritise applications from organisations who were not successful or not eligible to apply in 2026, but this decision will be dependent on demand for the fund.

We therefore advise you to put your strongest project forward in the first year of the fund, just in case you are unable to apply in year two. 

We currently estimate that we will issue grant awards of £1 million in 2026 for projects being delivered in 2027.

However, this is our current estimate, and the value may reduce or exceed this figure, dependent on the quality of the applications and projects we receive.

However, we have some brilliant new organisations who have joined the Achievement Award Scheme in 2026, and we will ensure that we retain a good proportion of the Fund to enable us to run a second year of the fund in 2027. 

We expect there will be two funding rounds for the Places & Spaces Fund. Year one is for applications in 2026 aimed at projects starting in 2027. Year two will be for applications in 2027 aimed at projects starting in 2028. 

We cannot guarantee the value of the funding pot for Year two but anticipate we will be able to invite a good level of applications for the second year of the fund.