Surrey Young People’s Fund
The Surrey Young People’s Fund was established in October 2014 to support disadvantaged young people in Surrey to gain access to training and employment.
Grants are awarded by a panel of experienced volunteers who have a passion for assisting young people in Surrey to improve their employment prospects.
The Surrey Young People’s Fund provides funding for individuals (aged 16-25 inclusive) who are resident in Surrey. The purpose of the funding is to assist young people to move towards an identified goal in education, training, apprenticeship, or employment.
The Fund is a funder of last resort and applicants will be expected to have been unable to obtain funding from other sources. Our funds are limited and so we may not be able to award a grant for all the funding requested. We are unable to Fund retrospectively – please make sure you wait for the outcome of your application before you start an activity or book a course that incurs costs, or spend any money.
Grants will typically be between £50 – £350 (and could consider up to £750 in exceptional circumstances) and will fund items that will directly enhance the young person’s employability skills, such as;
- assisting them to obtain qualifications, certificates or licenses
- developing vocational or technical skills
- providing self-development opportunities that improve social skills, motivation and confidence
Successful applicants will be financially disadvantaged and typically fall into one of the following categories:
- Young people having achieved or likely to achieve less than 5 GCSEs at grades 4-9
- Young people not in full-time employment
- Young people with disabilities or restricted by health conditions
- Young people with mental health conditions
- Young people in or leaving care
- Carers (including Surrey Young Carers)
- Young people who are at risk of, or have been in trouble with the law
- Young people who are or were eligible for free school meals
- Young people who are in receipt of college bursaries
- Young people who occupy low-paid roles
- Refugees
Examples of what grants may be used for or towards include:
- Course fees and examination costs
- Travel costs for education, training or employment
- Childcare for short-term education or training
- Equipment, materials or tools
- Work- or training-related clothing
- Volunteering/work placement costs
- Online learning
In situations where applicants have disabilities or mental ill-health we often work in partnership with Surrey Supported Employment Fund. Click here to see more details – Surrey Supported Employment Fund.
If you are unsure whether you are eligible to apply for a grant, please contact our Grants Fund Manager, Nicola Bartlett at nicola@cfsurrey.org.uk.
Our Panel Members
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- Nick Brooks: Chair
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- Andrew Whitby-Collins: Vice-Chair
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- Anna Briggs
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- Clive Strong
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- Lesley Machin
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- Nishi Singh
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- Rebecca Smith
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- Sally Knight
Volunteering opportunity!
We are currently seeking a new Panel Member to join the Surrey Young People’s Fund. Find out more about the role here.
Update – Grants for laptops
COVID-19 disrupted education since the beginning of lockdown in March 2020, and continues to represent challenges to students and teachers. At the outset we were keen to fill the gap that existed as online learning became the main way of continuing studies during the first half of the summer term (though clearly a number of institutions remained open for teaching vulnerable and disadvantaged young people as well as the offspring of vital workers).
In parallel, the Government announced a scheme to provide laptops to many young people who otherwise couldn’t undertake online learning, and many colleges have risen to the challenge of online access by lending laptops to students who otherwise would have to rely on phone access to these materials.
SYPF is unable to provide laptops in situations where there is a statutory obligation for a Government body to provide one. We are unable to consider the provision of grants which are solely relating to laptops for college-based courses unless there are exceptional circumstances.
In the event of any questions about this, please contact Nicola Bartlett at nicola@cfsurrey.org.uk.
You can also download a Surrey Young People’s Fund flyer to help us spread the word about this Fund.
Follow the Surrey Young People’s Fund on Twitter using @SYPFund to stay up to date!
