Written Statement: Single Advice Fund

In the Written Statement I issued on the 25 July 2024, I announced £36 million in grant funding for the provision of information and advice services delivered through the Single Advice Fund over the next three financial years.

Applications to the Single Advice Fund were managed through an open grant exercise. Bidders had a 12-week period to research and develop their proposals for the delivery of accessible and integrated advice services that reach people from disadvantaged and marginalised communities. Forty-nine applications for funding were received and I thank all the bidders who submitted their proposals. All the applications were appraised against an objective scoring criteria to determine how effectively a proposed service delivery model would meet the key objectives of the Single Advice Fund.

I have awarded grants to deliver the Single Advice Fund regional and national services to the applications that best embraced the Welsh Government’s ambition for collaborative integrated advice service delivery models that reach people in greatest need. I am confident the grant funded services will not only resolve a person’s social welfare problem but also offer them access to support services that will build their capability and confidence and develop their resilience to prevent future social welfare problems. 

In response to the Single Advice Fund regional and national collaborative and integrated delivery models not being appropriate for all providers we introduced a new standalone Single Advice Fund grant. I am pleased that Welsh Government has been able to award funding to a number of organisations that are needed and valued by the population group accessing them in their areas. 

All the grant funded advice services will be fully accessible and delivered through a range of engagement channels, i.e., face-to-face (from locations at the heart of local communities), telephone, and web based. Officials will closely monitor the performance of the grant recipients and ensure they demonstrate the effectiveness of their services by reporting against a comprehensive suite of key performance measures. 

I appreciate that organisations whose bids have been unsuccessful will be extremely disappointed. However, forty-nine bids were received for the thirteen grants that were available and the assessment panel had to make some difficult decisions, and, in an open grant process, the Welsh Government cannot guarantee grant awards to every bid. I thank all the bidders who submitted their proposals and hope the organisations whose proposals were not successful this time will not be deterred from submitting proposals for grant funding in the future.

I am proud of the Welsh Government’s continued commitment to funding advice services.   It is more important than ever that we have an advice sector in Wales where resources are used as effectively as possible, with quality assured providers delivering services targeted at people in our communities who need them most. Together with the work we are leading to maximise household incomes our projects are making a real difference right across Wales.