Grant funding programmes: Top tips for public authorities wanting to administer grants efficiently
18th November, 2025
As devolution evolves many more public authorities will assume responsibility for administering grant funding programmes.
In this article, Ward Hadaway‘s Public Funding lead Alexander Rose sets out rules which can be followed by any public sector body to help deliver grant funding programmes on time, to specification and with the minimum of fuss.
In doing so, Alexander draws upon his personal experience having worked as an in-house lawyer within the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government advising upon the delivery of seven national funds, as well as in private practice advising public sector organisations upon the successful delivery of multi-million pound grant funding programmes such as the Brownfield Housing Fund, the Housing Infrastructure Fund and the Levelling Up Fund.
Introduction
When a new public funding stream is announced, there will naturally be an eagerness to want to deliver results as quickly as possible.
Such enthusiasm is positive, but will quickly dissipate if results are not achieved. Therefore our recommendation is to set expectations by clearly stating that priority will be given to preparing properly recognising the cost-savings this approach will deliver in the longer term.
Properly preparing means building up a delivery team that has a detailed picture of how the fund is expected to operate, then using this information to put in place processes that help deliver in line with these expectations.
Each fund will be different, but normally the primary sources of information about the fund will be provided at the time the public authority is made aware of its new responsibilities. These will often be the fund prospectus and the letter sent by Central Government (depending on the fund structure this may be a grant funding agreement).
These sources should be carefully checked to build up a detailed understanding of the types of projects the fund wants to support, the costs which will be eligible for funding and the timescales in which delivery is expected to be achieved (both in terms of committing the funding, but also the timeframe in which recipients of funding are expected to achieve the fund outcomes).
It is also necessary to ‘follow the money’ in order to understand how funding can be drawn down as well as the reporting requirements which come with this.
Best practice is to produce a step by step diagram that sets out the requirements which apply to each of the stages below. This can then be used to design and refine the processes. If there are questions about the expectations around the funding, then public authorities should feel free to ask the Central Government department which has set up the fund to clarify how these ought to be handled.
The five stages to efficient delivery of grant funding programmes
In practice there are usually five stages in the delivery of a grant funding programme.
1) Engagement with potential applicants
Engagement is the initial stage and involves telling prospective applicants about the requirements of the fund, including what it aims to achieve, when funding must be spent and the steps which need to be taken in order to secure funding.
This will often include publishing information online in the form of fund guidance. It will also include an application for interested parties to complete. It may also comprise of events and marketing.
The aim of the guidance is to assist applicants to understand whether they want to apply and if so, what steps they need to take to ensure that their project meets the relevant requirements.
The aim of the application is to enable the funder to make an informed decision about whether to invest time considering the project in detail. Therefore it should give a clear picture of the organisation applying for funding, the proposed project and considerations which are likely to affect delivery.
For example, if a development company applies for funding to cover a viability gap in the delivery of a new cinema it is pertinent to know that the site is not in their ownership at this time or suffers from significant pollution because addressing this is likely to impact delivery timescales and affects the prospects of successful delivery. It is not necessarily a reason not to proceed, but it is a consideration that ought to be flushed out within the application form.
2) Appraisal
The appraisal stage is the opportunity for public authorities to review the information provided and to assess whether to continue with an application.
We recommend that the application form is designed to be as simple and clear as possible. This makes the process quicker for both the applicant and the public sector body reviewing applications.
Information should be sought about the applicant and how the funded project will be delivered, including expected milestones and outputs.
Fundamentally the application sets out representations that the recipient of funding will be expected to deliver upon – therefore it should be clear and unambiguous.
The appraisal process will normally be run within the public authority, assessing whether the proposed project is a good fit for the funding but also whether “deal breakers” such as subsidy control compliance have been satisfied.
Detailed records should be kept during the appraisal process, leading up to the production of a recommendation to the public sector decision maker as to whether to proceed or decline.
3) Contracting
Once a public authority has decided to support a project through the award of a grant, it will look to enter into a legally binding Grant Funding Agreement with the recipient.
This Agreement will record the offer of grant alongside the terms and conditions which apply to it. The terms set out will include the maximum value of the grant that will be payable, the types of cost against which it will be paid and how the claim process works. The Grant Funding Agreement will also be conditional upon particular delivery milestones being met.
The most serious failings in project delivery will be treated as an event of default, which empowers the public authority to step in to suspend the grant / recover the funding if required. Our advice is that event of default clauses should be concise and specific, covering situations where the grant recipient fails to deliver upon its representations or acts in breach of the law or fund requirements.
Whilst it is tempting to use generic Grant Funding Agreements, this often causes issues later on in project delivery – therefore we recommend tailoring Grant Funding Agreement to meet the specific requirements of the fund.
Finally, no funding should be advanced until the Grant Funding Agreement has been executed.
4) Delivery
The delivery stage involves the grant recipient undertaking the project in line with the terms and conditions it has signed up to within the Grant Funding Agreement. In this phase, the public authority’s role is primarily one of oversight.
It will check that the project is being delivered in line with the representations and the law, if not it can act to try to ensure that the project is delivered.
There’s a range of issues that can arise during delivery. In our view, what is key is that the public authority adopts a consistent approach to all projects. So for example, if claw back is initiated when there has been an unapproved delay of over six weeks in the delivery of a milestone for one recipient of funding, a similar approach should be taken should a similar issue arise with a different grant recipient.
5) Audit
The role of the audit function is to carry out a review to determine whether the public funded project has been delivered in line with the requirements of the fund and the Grant Funding Agreement.
Good processes and detailed records are the key to satisfying an auditor. It is at this stage when the benefits of having identified important compliance issues early on in project development and collected records at the time decisions are made come to the fore.
If all of the above steps have been methodically applied, satisfying the audit stage will normally be comparatively easy.
Conclusion
Public funding is important because it can be used to support improvements within communities and drive economic growth. Administering Grant Funding programmes simply and efficiently, requires there to be a strong focus upon each of the five stages above. The key is to be methodical, looking to create a record as to how each issue has been spotted, considered and dealt with. If you want to deliver grant funding programmes simply and effectively, then Ward Hadaway’s dedicated Public Sector team can help you with this.
Ward Hadaway has a market leading practice providing expert advice for public authorities delivering landmark projects and administering public funding programmes. If you would benefit from legal assistance, please do get in touch with Alexander Rose.
Please note that this briefing is designed to be informative, not advisory and represents our understanding of English law and practice as at the date indicated. We would always recommend that you should seek specific guidance on any particular legal issue.
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