Trust Capacity Fund
The Trust Capacity Fund (TCaF4) was a competitive DfE grant made available for academy trusts with eligible growth projects and maintained schools forming academy trusts.
Applicants bid for up to £750,000 in funding, depending on their circumstances, to develop their capacity for growth. Ovef its life, PAG helped clients secure over £5,000,000 worth of funding to develop their trusts.
What is the Trust Capacity Fund?
The most recent round of TCaF4 was 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.
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- 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.
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- 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
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- 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.
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- C (Up to £100,000): For projects taking on good or outstanding schools outside of an EIA.
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How will I know if I'm eligible for TCaF?
- In order to be eligible for TCaF, you needed to have had a growth project approved at the advisory board. For trusts, this needed to include taking at least one school into your trust, through sponsorship or academy conversion. If the school in question was 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.
How do I apply for TCaF?
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- The latest bidding round of the Trust Capacity Fund has now closed.
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- While TCaF4 has now closed for the foreseeable future, PAG's highly experienced, expert team is still available to support your growth projects. Whether it's through using our extensive bid writing knowledge to secure you alternative funding, or our collective education sector and project management knowledge to help you grow via other means, we'd be delighted to discuss how we could help.
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- If you would like to find out more about how PAG can support you with your growth, please get in touch below.
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Express your interest in less than 30 seconds here
Our Experience
PAG HAS HELPED CLIENTS SECURE OVER
£
0OF TCAF FUNDING
'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
Book an appointment
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+44 (0) 1926 956379
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