Ministry Of Defence
Details
Please note: the launch of the Armed Forces Families Fund AF3 is imminent. The ESF in its current form will cease and be absorbed by the new scheme. Further details will be added here in due course.
In January 2022, the MOD published its 10-year strategy for improving support to armed forces families. As part of the MODs efforts to support the implementation of this strategy, existing grant funding schemes designed to support service children are being reviewed.
Please be aware that the ESF is currently under review and that your application may have to be submitted again through a new scheme.
The ESF in its current form will be open for applications between 9 May and 30 September 2022.
Background
The MOD Education Support Fund (ESF), launched in 2011 and subsequently extended by the Secretary of State for Defence (2018-2020), provided funding to assist publicly funded schools, Academies and Free Schools throughout the UK to mitigate the effects of exceptional mobility and/or deployment of their Service communities; Regular Armed Forces, including Reserves on Full Time commitment (FTRS FC).
In light of ongoing rebasing activity, with further unit and personnel moves and associated disruption expected, Armed Forces Families & Safeguarding (AFFS) has secured 3-million per annum from the Head Office Top Level Budget to fund an extension of the ESF. Min DPV clearance and support of the extension was received on 31 March 2020.
Schools are a critical part of supporting our service families. Children may have to change school when a service parent is posted, or school may support a pupil when a parent is absent for long periods of time. This fund is available to support schools in embedding practices that can benefit the service children and their school.
The ESF in its current form is different from the Armed Forces Community Covenant Grant Scheme, which is open to a wider variety of organisations and seeks to forge closer ties between military and local communities.
It is also different to the Service Pupil Premium, which is provided to schools in England by the Department for Education in respect of children of serving members of the armed forces.
Read the instructions and guidance for more details of eligibility and criteria.
Successful application samples
If you are new to writing bids, please take a look at these sample applications: