Most frequently questions and answers
AAA Grants are small grants of between £5,000 and £20,000 but can be more or less depending on the service required. Grants are available to Third Sector or private organisations to enable them to support people living with or caring for those who are diagnosed with or who self-identify as autistic.
Grants are available for support of unpaid carers but are not available for support of paid carers. The Grants are funded by the NHSEI and managed via the Birmingham and Solihull ICB and Landau Limited.
Third sector or private organisations that are supporting or looking to develop services for people of any age diagnosed with autism, who self-identify as autistic or their parents/families/unpaid carers living in Birmingham or Solihull. The project wishes to encourage innovation and expand the market place to new providers.
Grants will be considered favourable where strong co-production is evident.
- Applicants can apply for grants of between £5,000 and £20,000. Although, grants outside of those brackets will also be considered if need can be demonstrated.
Yes – we cannot make a payment without this as we need to demonstrate accountability for the use of public funds. However, setting up a second signatory is straightforward and we encourage small organisations with only one signatory to explore this.
Where an organisation with only one signatory applies for a grant, a grant may be awarded on the condition that a second signatory is put in place prior to any funds being drawn upon.
- Reasonable staff costs including employer’s National Insurance, pension contributions and any taxable incentives linked to pay
- Reasonable overheads – you must tell us how you have worked these out
- Staff expenses, such as travel or allowances
- Volunteer costs, such as travel and subsistence
- Consumables, such as stationery or essential software
- Venue hire
- Publicity and marketing
- Stakeholder engagement
- Small items of equipment costing up to £1,000
- VAT on the above that cannot be reclaimed from HMRC
- Activities that will not contribute to the delivery of the targets not identified on the project outline
- Activities or staff costs that do not represent good value for money
- Funding a statutory obligation or will replace statutory funding
- Anything you have started delivering or spent money on before we confirm our funding
- Equipment costing more than £1,000 per item
- Furniture, refurbishment or landscaping work
- Fundraising appeals, endowments and registration fees
- In-kind contributions of unpaid voluntary work
- Loans, fines, bank charges and interest payments
- Projects that generate income or revenue
- Purchase of land or buildings
- Redundancy costs
- Any sub-contracting of the grant to a third-party provider
- Finance leases (for example, where the equipment becomes the property of the lease at the end of the agreement)
- Second-hand equipment
- VAT you can recover
- Vehicles
Activities can include, but aren’t limited to:
- Engagement activities – for example visits to schools, colleges etc. to raise awareness and increase support for young people and families living with autism.
- Activities to improve confidence, motivation and social integration -for example sports gardening or general social activities
- Development of local groups, networks to support autistic people/person and people who self-identify as autistic, parent/families and unpaid carers
- Self-management services – for example anger management or assertiveness
- Technological self-support – for examples apps.
- Innovative approaches to attract underrepresented groups living with autism to seek support
- Support with gaining employment or further education
- General support concerning living an independent life – for example housing
- Core costs of running your organisation other than those directly associated with delivery of the project
- Activities promoting religious beliefs or political activities
- Activities that the state has a legal obligation to provide
- Fundraising activities for your organisation or any other group or activity
People with a diagnosis of autism, people awaiting a diagnosis of autism and people who self-identify as being autistic. Funding can also support people who have a diagnosis or who self-identify as autistic but who also have additional needs.
We particularly want to provide grants that will include support for eligible people who are autistic and communities experiencing racial inequality.
All the people your organisation works with must be eligible to receive AAA funding. The people your organisation supports must be a permanent resident in Birmingham or Solihull.
There is no upper or lower age limit, this funding is aimed at organisations who support autistic people/person who are of any age.
If your organisation only works with a specific age group, you can still apply for a grant.
Landau Limited are required to undertake a due diligence check on all applicant organisations to ensure they have adequate systems and structures in place to be able to receive and spend the grant appropriately. Due diligence checks are also used to evidence how the grant has been spent.
All grants are funded by NHSEI and are deployed as public money. Grants must be used appropriately and be fully accounted for to ensure that autistic people, their families and unpaid carers are able to thrive.
The time you have to spend the grant will be agreed in your contract. However, currently you will have no later than Jan 2024 to spend your grant.
If you require longer than stipulated in your contract, you can speak to one of our team once the grant has been awarded to request an extension, but this cannot be guaranteed.
Yes, organisations can receive more than one grant from the fund. Where a second application is received from the same organisation, it should be noted that priority will be given to organisations making a first-time application.
Yes. The only restriction is that this grant must be for a specific autism related project, not used as match funding or to top up funding on another project you are delivering.
If you require support during the application process, please let us know and we can see if this is something we can help you with. For any queries, please email aaa@landau.co.uk. There is also a document which provides a comprehensive guide about applying for a grant, which can be found here.