HMPPS Small Grants Scheme Positive Parenting for Dads HMP High Down
HMP High Down is a large prison near Sutton, Surrey and home to 1203 Adult Male Convicted Prisoners. We wish an organisation to deliver parenting programmes that will equip fathers with practical parenting tools to help them maintain meaningful relationships with their children whilst in custody, with an emphasise the importance of consistent communication and emotional presence, even from custody. We would like to the courses to mirror community delivery. As highlighted in the Lord Farmer Report, the breakdown of family ties is a key factor contributing to reoffending. Our aim is to break the cycle by helping fathers recognise that despite being in custody, they still have an essential role to play in their children’s lives.
- Opening date: (Midnight)
- Closing date:
Contents
Summary
MoJ and HMPPS recognises that VCSE organisations are a huge contributor to the running of the prison service and working with people in prison. The empowering legislation for this grant is section 6 of the Offender Management Act 2007
We are keen to provide a specific programme for fathers residing in High Down. We have identified a need via our Strategic Needs Analysis to deliver up to date parenting related courses and groups. Over the past few years, we have transitioned to a category C prison from a Cat B local and with a more stable, convicted population. These courses are vital to maintaining family ties and improving family relationships. Evidence proves family support reduces re-offending. We have a population of 1203 male prisoners of all ages and many are parents.
Spaced out over a 12 month period, we would like to run parenting programmes that target prisoners who have children in the following categories but we are open to ideas: Early Years, teenagers, neurodiversity, anger. We expect 12 short sessions facilitating a Fathers Group that can talk about their children & families in a safe space and not on the prison residential units. Theses short sessions could have a topic, and we would like fathers who attend these groups to act as advocates and role models to other in the prison.
The provider will need to be vetted and trained in our security procedures and will carry keys/radio. Please note there will not be a uniformed presence in the room, however the facilities and the participants will be risk assessed, and support will be available within the immediate vicinity.
Benefit for the service users
Strengthening family relationships
Reduce reoffending as those who feel connected with their families are more motivated to stay out of prison
Support the children as the child will benefit from having a more engaged father
Improve mental health and wellbeing as fathers gain confidence in their parenting abilities and have a safe space to talk about personal challenges
Promoting positive role modelling as the groups will encourage dads to reflect on their own upbringing and break cycles of neglect and absence
Building skills and knowledge to meet specific needs
Creating community and peer support as the Father’s group will fosters a sense of belonging and allows prisoners to share their experiences and learn from each other
Enhancing re-integration post release.
Expected Outcomes:
Make a meaningful impact on the lives of individuals seeking positive change.
To maintain family ties and support children of serving prisoners
To teach fathers in custody improve parenting techniques.
To hold Dads voice peer led groups in a safe space away from the residential units
To improve our knowledge about what activities, work to support people and to encourage rehabilitation and desistance.
The grant scheme will run for approximately 12 months from 1st April 2026 to 31st March 2027.
The total available of the grant is £10k
The total grant amount will be paid in advance, provided that the grant recipient has given sufficient assurance that the grant will be used for the stated purpose.
Eligibility
The award is open to VCSE (Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise organisations)
The voluntary sector organisation(s) or consortium receiving the grant from HMPPS, should be a registered charity or social enterprise.
Any organisation applying for funding must demonstrate that it meets the due diligence criteria before any award is made. The funding will only be given to organisations where their annual turnover is at least twice the amount of the funding that they are seeking.
Grant funding cannot be used to deliver core services which HMPPS should be delivering.
Objectives
Make a meaningful impact on the lives of individuals seeking positive change.
To improve people’s experience of prison and probation through the rehabilitation activities.
To support an individual’s rehabilitation and desistance journey; and
To improve our knowledge about what activities, work to support people and to encourage rehabilitation and desistance.
Dates
The grant is open for applications until 20 February 2026 3PM
The grant scheme delivery window is between 1 April 2026 and 31 March 2027
How to apply
In order to submit a compliant application, applicants must complete all questions in the Apply for a Grant application form. Please note and do not exceed the word counts for each answer. Any information that is included once the word count is exceeded will not be evaluated and will not count towards the evaluated score. Responses must not include diagrams, tables, images or similar.
Applicants are permitted to submit clarification questions via email to HMPPSGrants@justice.gov.uk. For transparency, this advert will be updated throughout the competition to include any responses to questions asked by applicants.
Further information from clarification questions:
No further information.
To be eligible for funding under this grant applicants must achieve the minimum threshold score of 3 averaged across all technical questions otherwise they will be removed from the competition process. The scoring criteria is outlined below:
Score Interpretation
5 Exceeds the requirement. Exceptional demonstration shown for the proposal, how the project will be delivered, and extensive past experience detailed.
4 Satisfies the requirements and has minor additional benefits. Above average demonstration across all questions.
3 Satisfies the requirements. Demonstrates understanding and ability to a satisfactory standard.
2 Satisfies most of the requirements with some minor reservations relating to the experience, understanding and/or ability. Whilst mostly the question has been answered in a satisfactory way, one element has been omitted/offers insufficient evidence.
1 Major reservations about the experience, understanding or ability demonstrated, with little to no evidence to support the questions. More than one element has been omitted.
0 Does not meet the requirement. Does not comply or offer sufficient information to demonstrated experience, ability of understanding. Significant elements of the question has been omitted or not addressed to a satisfactory standard.
The Authority reserves the right to ask clarification questions about any elements of an application. These questions will not give applicants the opportunity to expand on the response and may only be used where applications contain minor errors or to clarify where the information presented is unclear.
The grant, if awarded, shall be awarded to the Applicant(s) who:
· has submitted an application in compliance with these instructions
· meets the eligibility criteria
· meets the minimum quality threshold of 3 questions
· achieves the highest technical score
Due diligence checks will be carried out before the award can be made. These checks may include, but are not exclusive to, financial, brand, assurance, and charitable status.
Supporting information
Conflicts of Interest
The Authority is required to prevent conflicts of interest occurring in this competition and may disqualify applicants if an actual or potential conflict of interest occurs in connection with the competition which cannot be satisfactorily avoided or mitigated. The Authority may disqualify any applicant which attempts (or whose advisers attempt) to influence the competition in any way.
MoJ Disclaimer
The Authority shall not be committed to any course of action as a result of:
• issuing the competition documents
• communicating with an applicant or an applicant’s representatives or agents in respect of this competition exercise; or
• any other communication between the Authority (whether directly or by its agents or representatives) and any other party.
All applicants accept and acknowledge that by issuing the competition documents the Authority is not bound to accept any bid and reserves the right not to award or conclude a grant for all or any of the costs for which bids are invited.
The Authority reserves the right to apply its discretion on the amount of funding that is to be awarded to the successful applicant(s). If only part of the application is acceptable, in terms of the stated deliverables, then the Authority may only award funding on that basis.
The Authority reserves the right to amend, suspend or terminate all or any part of the competition or its documentation at any time during the ITT.
The instructions in this advert, together with any other tender documentation are designed to ensure that all applicants are given equal and fair consideration. Applicants should read the instructions carefully to ensure they understand them and the conditions of participation before submitting their applications.
Failure to comply with these instructions regarding submission of the application response may result in its rejection. The Authority may reject Tenders which are substantially and materially incomplete, non-compliant, inconsistent, or vague.
Applicants should answer all questions as accurately and concisely as possible. Applicants are solely responsible for ensuring that their applications are free from error and accept that these cannot be modified after the submission deadline.
Costs incurred in submitting applications will be borne by applicants and will be defined as ineligible expenditure under the terms of the grant.
All information supplied by the Authority to applicants must be treated in confidence (unless already in the public domain) and must not be disclosed to third parties other than as is necessary for the purposes of preparing a Tender.