Aims/priorities: Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council has been allocated funding from Central Government to support the Wellbeing of the local population. Two funding streams the Better Care Fund and the Crisis and Resilience Fund will support the Community Winter Support Grant Scheme this year.
Better Care Fund Applications are open to those involved in providing activities which help people in Tameside who need support to eat well, stay warm and healthy and avoid admission to hospital and other crises. Projects should be designed to deliver local resilience to the risk of crisis this can include providing food related support and help people to keep warm. Groups of people we are looking to help are people who need support, such as older people, people living in poverty, people who are homeless, Carers, people with disabilities and anybody who would otherwise be at risk of significant difficulty with daily living or isolation during the winter months.
Who Can apply: Applicants can include voluntary organisations, community groups, community interest companies, social enterprises, development trusts and charities.
Crisis and Resilience Fund Projects must support one of the following themes:
· Programmes and activities that improve financial resilience for individuals and local communities, to help residents to better manage financial shocks in the future and mitigate the occurrence, recurrence and escalation of crises.
· The development or expansion of sustainable food support through community groceries, food pantries and food clubs. Projects must be able to demonstrate achievable outcomes within one or more of the below categories.
· Reduced experiences of material deprivation
· Reduced need for emergency food parcels
· Increased access to appropriate and quality advice services
· Increased savings
· Reduction in priority debt
· Maximisation of individual’s incomes
· Decreased need for Crisis Payments and Housing Payments Examples of appropriate projects could include. Direct financial resilience services For example:
· money management and budgeting support
· support with benefits.
· credit union partnerships providing affordable credit and savings schemes. Training and capacity building For example:
· training for frontline staff and volunteers to make sure that residents accessing services including crisis services, receive skilled wrap-around support.
· budgeting, financial confidence or benefits training Teaching practical skills For example, teaching residents:
· how to cook on a budget
· digital skills to help with benefits, income maximisation or household budgeting. Community based support For example, funding could be used for:
· helping food banks transition into community grocers or food pantries
· increasing opening hours and accessibility of existing community groceries or pantries
· schemes that help transition people away from repeat food bank use
· peer support or mentoring schemes that strengthen financial wellbeing.
Grant amount: Across the funding streams there are three main grants.
· Small grants of up to £1,500
· Larger grants of up to £5,000
· Financial Resilience grants of up to £10,000
Applicants to all funds.
· Must operate their projects for the benefit of the residents of Tameside
· Must have a bank account in the organisations name
· Will be asked to confirm that they have the appropriate insurances, governance and risk assessments in place.
Application process: Eligibility criteria for each fund can be found in the guidance notes below. If you know which stream you want to apply to, please mark it on your form. Please note that if you wish to run more than one project it is usually best to apply for them separately, if you want to check this or have other questions about eligibility please contact communitywintersupport@tameside.gov.uk
Applicants are encouraged to read the guidance notes before applying:
Application guidance Community Winter Support Grants 2026 27 FINAL.docx (110.97 KB)How to apply:
You are encouraged to apply online via Community Winter Support Grants 2026/2027 Application Form Survey
Or by completing the application form below and returning it to communitywintersupport@tameside.gov.uk
Application form Community Winter Support Grant Scheme 2026 27 Final.docx (96.82 KB)
Deadline: The Community Winter Support Grants will be open to applications from 23rd October 2026 until funds are spent.
Contact information: communitywintersupport@tameside.gov.uk