Trust Capacity Fund


The DfE has now opened a new round of Trust Capacity Funding, with five application windows running between April 2023 and October 2024.

The Trust Capacity Fund is a competitive grant that is available for academy trusts with eligible growth projects and maintained schools forming academy trusts.

Applicants can be awarded up to £750,000 in funding, depending on their circumstances, to develop their capacity for growth. In previous rounds, PAG has helped clients secure over £3,500,000 worth of funding to develop their trusts, and can do the same for you and your school or trust going forward.

    What is the Trust Capacity Fund?


    This new round of TCaF is split into 5 windows and 4 strands:



    • Window 1: April 1st 2023 - June 1st 2023.
    • Window 2: July 1st 2023 - October 2nd 2023.
    • Window 3: November 1st 2023 - February 1st 2024.
    • Window 4: March 1st 2024 - June 25th 2024.




          • A1 (Up to £750,000): For projects in which your trust will take on or form from at least 5 schools, one of which must be an inadequate or requires improvement school in an EIA.

          • A2 (Up to £500,000): For projects in which your trust will take on at least one inadequate or requires improvement school in an EIA

          • B (Up to £250,000): For projects in which a trust takes on either at least one inadequate or requires improvement school outside an EIA or any school within an EIA.

          • C (Up to £100,000): For projects taking on good or outstanding schools outside of an EIA.

            How will I know if I'm eligible for TCaF?


              In order to be eligible for the current round of TCaF, you need to have a growth project approved at the advisory board. For trusts, this needs to include taking at least one school into your trust, through sponsorship or academy conversion. If the school in question is rated either Inadequate or Requires Improvement, or if the school is located in an Education Investment Area (EIA) or Priority Education Investment Area (PEIA), then you will be eligible for a higher strand of funding.

              Maintained schools can also apply for Trust Capacity Funding, but in this case the school will need to convert to academy status and take on at least two new schools as approved by the relevant application deadline.

            How do I apply for TCaF?


                • The application form for the current round of the Trust Capacity Fund can be found here.

                    • Your application will need to include details of your organisation, an outline of the growth project approved at advisory board, as well as how the project will be sustainable and offer value for money. PAG has developed and written Trust Capacity Funding applications for many schools and trusts and to date has been able to secure over £3 million for clients all over England. Our clients were successful in securing funding in a number of areas, including ICT development, salary costs for new staff, CPD, legal costs and leadership capacity.
                      • If you would like to find out more about how PAG can support you with your Trust Capacity Funding bid, please get in touch here.

              Express your interest in less than 30 seconds here

              Our Experience


              PAG HAS HELPED CLIENTS SECURE OVER

              £0

              OF TCAF FUNDING


                PAG has supported a large number of clients with applications for funding, growth plans, capacity mapping, and more, and has to date secured more than £5,000,000 for clients all over England.

                We can provide high-quality bid-writing, expert review services, research, and more to support you in every stage of your application.

                Our experienced consultants have already helped our clients submit strong TCaF applications in previous rounds and are poised to help you to submit a high-quality TCaF application and secure your funding.
              TCaF4

              'PAG supported us to review and resubmit a TCaF application after being unsuccessful in TCaF2. Thanks to their support we were able to secure £97,999 to build central capacity within The Charter Schools Educational Trust. This was used to hire additional admin and HR support, hire an estates manager, and develop an ICT Strategy fit for purpose for future growth. PAG were professional, astute, and flexible throughout the process and we look forward to continuing our work with them on future projects'.

              Glyn Griffith
              CFO, The Charter Schools Educational Trust

              'We are absolutely thrilled with the excellent service provided by PAG throughout our journey in scoping out and crafting a successful TCaF bid. Their expertise and support were invaluable, enabling us to secure a substantial grant to establish our new trust. The team's knowledge, helpfulness, and ability to meet tight deadlines were outstanding. We are grateful for their partnership in making our vision a reality.'

              Ross Newman
              CEO, The Leaf Trust

              TCaF4 Education Investment Areas


              Below is a map that includes the 55 Education Areas, the 24 priority areas, as well as other places of higher need.

              To apply for strand A1 or A2 of TCaF4, your proposal must involve you taking on an underperforming school from one of these areas. If you are applying for strand B, your project does not have to include a school from one of these areas but may be considered higher priority if it does. Strand C does not require attention paid to EIAs.


              Please see below for a full list of the 55 EIAs, the 24 priority areas (bold), and other areas of need.

              • Adur
              • Amber Valley
              • Arun
              • Ashfield
              • Babergh
              • Barnsley
              • Basseltaw
              • Bedford
              • Bexley
              • Birmingham
              • Blaby
              • Blackpool
              • Bolsover
              • Bolton
              • Boston
              • Bradford
              • Breckland
              • Bristol, City of
              • Broadland
              • Broxbourne
              • Broxtowe
              • Burnley
              • Bury
              • Cambridge
              • Cannock Chase
              • Castle Point
              • Central Bedfordshire
              • Chesterfield
              • Corby
              • Cornwall
              • County Durham
              • Coventry
              • Craven
              • Darlington
              • Derby
              • Derbysire Dales
              • Doncaster
              • Dorset
              • Dover
              • Dudley
              • East Cambridgeshire
              • East Devon
              • East Lindsey
              • Easty Northamptonshire
              • East Suffolk
              • Eastbourne
              • Eden
              • Erewash
              • Exeter
              • Fenland
              • Forest of Dean
              • Gateshead
              • Gedling
              • Gloucester
              • Gosport/li>
              • Great Yarmouth
              • Halton
              • Hambleton
              • Harrogate
              • Hartlepool
              • Hastings
              • Hertsmere
              • High Peak
              • Huntingdonshire
              • Hyndburn
              • Ipswich
              • Isle of Wight
              • Kettering
              • King's Lynn & West Norfolk
              • Kingston upon Hull, City of
              • Kirklees
              • Knowsley
              • Leeds
              • Leicester
              • Lewes
              • Lincoln
              • Liverpool
              • Luton
              • Manchester
              • Mansfield
              • Mendip
              • Mid Suffolk
              • Middlesbrough
              • Newark & Sherwood
              • Newcastle upon Tyne
              • North Devon
              • North East Derbysire
              • North Kesteven
              • North Norfolk
              • North Northamptonshire
              • North Somerset
              • North Tyneside
              • North Yorkshire Coast
              • Northampton
              • Northumberland
              • Norwich
              • Nottingham
              • Nuneaton & Bedworth
              • Oadby & Wigston
              • Oldham
              • Oxford
              • Peterborough
              • Plymouth
              • Portsmouth
              • Redcar & Cleveland
              • Richmondshire
              • Rochdale
              • Salford
              • Sandwell
              • South Norfolk
              • South Northamptonshire
              • South Somerset
              • South Staffordshire
              • South Tyneside
              • Southampton
              • St. Helens
              • Stevenage
              • Stockport
              • Stockton-on-Tees
              • Stoke-on-Trent
              • Sunderland
              • Swindon
              • Tameside
              • Tamworth
              • Teignbridge
              • Telford & Wrekin
              • Tendring
              • Thurrock
              • Torridge
              • Uttlesford
              • Wakefield
              • Walsall
              • Wealden
              • Wellingborough
              • Welwyn Hatfield
              • West Lancashire
              • West Lindsey
              • West Somerset
              • West Suffolk
              • Wirral
              • Wyre
              • Wyre Forest

              Get in touch