Aims/priorities: Better Youth Spaces is a capital grant programme funded by the UK Government and administered by Social Investment Business. This funding round can be used for capital equipment (including the purchase of vehicles), to help youth organisations to better support the young people they work with. The project must meet at least one of the fund objectives:
- Improving the reach of activities provided.
- Improving the safety of existing youth facilities.
- Improve the youth sector’s capacity and quality to deliver a range of enrichment activities.
- Improving the financial sustainability of youth facilities.
Who can apply? Youth organisations in 42 priority areas of England that are not-for-profit, with at least 50% of their provision for children/ young people aged up to 18, and a significant proportion of that provision must be open access youth provision for children and young people aged 11 to 18 years (or up to 25 years if they have special educational needs or disabilities, are leaving care, or considered ‘at risk’ or vulnerable).
The 42 priority areas have been selected by the government based on the Income Deprivation Affecting Children Index (IDACI) at upper tier local authority level. You can read the full DCMS methodology here. A list of these areas is available in the FAQs, but the easiest and most reliable way to check and ensure eligibility is to use our eligible postcode checker
Grant amount: Grant sizes:
- Minimum of £5,000 and a maximum of £100,000 per site (not per organisation).
- Can include both equipment and the purchase of vehicles.
- Individual items of equipment must be £2,000 or greater in value. Multiples of identical (i.e. the exact same) items with a cumulative value of £2,000 or greater purchased in a single transaction are also eligible.
- Different items can be grouped together to meet the £2,000 threshold if they are interdependent (needed together for a single purpose/function please see application guidance for more information) The £2,000 value can include delivery, installation, and related professional fees.
Application process: Please ensure you read the BYS Application Form Guidance here and detailed list of BYS Eligible and Ineligible Expenditure here before applying to the fund as any applications for ineligible expenditure (or the component of the application that is ineligible) or without the right supporting documents will be rejected.
Deadline: Thursday 6th November 2025, (12 noon).
Contact information: Email: bys@sibgroup.org.uk