£500,000 Available for UK Charities Supporting Vulnerable Young People into Further Education
The City & Guilds Foundation Transitions Commission is offering grants in excess of £50,000 to charities, social enterprises and training providers across the UK. The Commission is focused on finding innovative, scalable approaches to help vulnerable young people — particularly those facing multiple barriers — successfully transition into further education.
With nearly one in seven 16–24 year-olds currently not in work, education or training (the highest figure in 11 years), and 90% of colleges reporting rising numbers of students with mental health diagnoses, the Transitions Commission was established to back organisations doing something about it.
About the City & Guilds Foundation Transitions Commission
The Transitions Commission was established by the City & Guilds Foundation — the charitable arm of City & Guilds, the UK’s leading vocational education organisation — to identify and fund innovative programmes that support young people at risk of falling out of education, training or employment.
The Commission is guided by a panel of experienced commissioners, including Laura Jane Rawlings MBE (CEO of Youth Employment UK), Junior Smart OBE (founder of the SOS Gangs Project), and Stephen Greene CBE (founder and CEO of Rockcorps), among others.
How Much Funding Is Available
The Commission has established an initial £500,000 fund and expects to support a handful of impactful projects. Grants are available in excess of £50,000.
What the Commission Is Looking For
The Commission wants to fund projects that:
- Explore innovative ways to support the mental health and wellbeing of young people as they transition into FE
- Support FE settings to pilot new approaches to retaining young people with multiple barriers
- Evidence the impact of successful interventions and generate learnings that can be shared across the sector
All funded projects should be achievable within the proposed timeline, high impact, collaborative (involving schools, FE, charities, employers and/or public sector agencies), scalable, and evidence-based.
Priority Groups
While the Commission does not publish a fixed list of priority groups, it is particularly interested in applications supporting young people who have experienced:
- The care system
- Exclusion from school
- The criminal justice system
- Being displaced or seeking refugee status
- Disability or neurodivergent diagnosis
- Having dependents or caring responsibilities
Geographic Focus
The Commission will prioritise applications from areas with higher levels of deprivation (as measured by the Indices of Multiple Deprivation) and/or high levels of economic inactivity, in line with the Government’s Get Britain Working White Paper.
Who Is Eligible
The Transitions Commission is open to:
- UK-registered charities
- Social enterprises
- Training providers
For-profit companies are not eligible unless applying in partnership with an eligible charity or social enterprise. Organisations outside the UK are not eligible.
How to Apply
The Commission uses a two-stage process:
Stage One: Expression of Interest (EoI)
The EoI is a short online form asking about your organisation, whether it meets the eligibility criteria, a brief project overview, and funding request. It is designed to be straightforward and avoid unnecessary burden at the initial stage.
Stage Two: Full Application
If invited to Stage Two, you will be asked to provide more detail including your organisation’s legal status, a funding request summary, project need, impact table, delivery location, and timeframe.
Applications are submitted through the City & Guilds Foundation online platform.
