Scaling Impact in Health and Care Fund

The programme is open to registered and exempt charities in the UK and to NHS organisations. The applicant’s primary activities must focus on the delivery of health and care.

Applicant organisations must have an annual income of at least £10 million (as recorded in their most recent audited financial statements). Applicants submitting in partnership must have a collective income of at least £10 million (as recorded in each of their most recent audited financial statements). Please see the section below on Partnerships for more information.

The Trust recognises that many excellent services in health and care are delivered by smaller organisations. However, larger organisations are more likely to deliver the scale and type of impact the Trust seeks to fund (Please see the section below on Capacity Building for more information).

If the applicant (or lead applicant of a partnership) is a charity, it must have been registered with the Charity Commission (or equivalent in other parts of the UK) for a minimum of five years. An exempt charity must have existed for at least five years with that status.

Organisations cannot apply if they have an active capital award with the Trust. Please contact the Trust if you are unsure whether your organisation has an active award.

Organisations may apply to both of the Trust’s capital programmes (Scaling Impact in Health and Care Fund and the Research Infrastructure Fund) in each funding round, but only one application may be received for each organisation in each fund.

Where NHS Trusts or universities have separate, dedicated charities, only one application may be submitted. Similarly, where a university and an affiliated NHS organisation both have proposals, they must coordinate to select one.

The Trust cannot consider applications from:

• Organisations whose primary charitable activities do not focus on the delivery of health and care
• Organisations (or partnerships of organisations) with an annual income under £10 million (as recorded in their most recent audited financial statements)
• Organisations that have an active capital award from the Trust
• Organisations that do not have registered charity or exempt charity status, including community interest companies and social enterprises
• Charities which have been registered with the Charity Commission (or equivalent in other parts of the UK) for less than five years
• Overseas organisations or organisations based in the UK seeking support for a project overseas
• Religious, faith-based, or belief organisations
• The Trust will not fund projects that are seeking replacement funding (e.g., a contract or grant has run out and funding is needed for a project to continue on as it has been).

The Fund typically makes awards with a value between £150,000 and £500,000. Successful applicants are required to draw down the funding within two years of the award date.

The Trust supports projects that:

• Scale up proven interventions that are currently limited to certain settings but could be of wider benefit
• Introduce innovative approaches that improve health and care, including non-technological innovation
• Strengthen collaboration and integration across one or more care settings, including primary, secondary, or community care
• Demonstrate clear evidence of effectiveness and the potential to deliver meaningful outcomes within two years of an award
• Address systemic challenges and have potential for adoption beyond the applicant organisation
• Support practical, innovative approaches that advance care and system outcomes
• The Trust will fund projects that have already started, including those initially underwritten by the applicant, provided the Trust’s contribution can make a significant and well-defined impact. The Trust will not reimburse costs that have been incurred on the project prior to any award being made.

Projects must be scalable and sustainable beyond the award period. Applicants will need to:

• explain how future funding, commissioning, or partnerships will secure ongoing delivery
• demonstrate that the organisation has the skills, capability and infrastructure to deliver at the proposed scale.

Projects can involve multiple organisations, but this is not a requirement in order to apply. The application must identify a lead organisation, which will be responsible for delivering the project and will receive any awarded funding. The lead organisation must be primarily health-focused. Its core purpose and main area of work should be in health or care, rather than health forming only a part of its wider activities. It must also demonstrate the capability and track record required to deliver a project of the scale and impact sought by the Trust.

Non-lead partner organisations may work in areas other than health or care, provided their involvement clearly contributes to the project’s aims and enhances its delivery. All partners must demonstrate active support for the successful delivery and sustainability of the project. At the preliminary application stage, applicants should confirm that senior management from all partner organisations supports the project.

The collective income of the partner organisations must meet or exceed £10 million annually to qualify for funding. Where NHS Trusts and universities have separate, dedicated charities, only one application may be submitted. Similarly, where a university and an affiliated NHS organisation both have proposals, they must coordinate to select one.

The Fund has a two-stage process:

Preliminary Application

• Applications must be submitted using the Trust’s online form and budget template.
  • Deadline: Monday, 16 March 2026 at noon.
  • Applications will be considered by Trustees in late May. Shortlisted applicants will be invited to submit a full application, and all applicants will be informed of the outcome of this initial stage in early June.

Full Application

• Full applications should provide a comprehensive proposal, updated costings, and responses to feedback on the preliminary application.
  • Deadline: Monday, 24 August 2026 at noon.
  • Trustees will consider applications in October/November, with site visits and external review where appropriate. All applicants, whether successful or not, will be informed of the outcome shortly after the Trustee meeting.

Late submissions cannot be accepted at any stage.

The Trust recognises that scaling and innovation often require capacity in areas such as project management, market analysis, user research, and economic analysis. Funding for these activities may be included in the requested budget, where they relate directly to the project. Stand-alone requests to build organisations’ capacity in project management or other areas will not be considered.

Applicants must provide robust evidence demonstrating that their model has been tested in real-world settings and is effective, with a clear readiness to be scaled or adopted more widely.

The evidence provided should be proportionate to the size of funding requested and may include clinical, health, or social care data collected during practical implementation.

The following, on their own, are not sufficient:

• Small pilots with limited participants or models of care without practical implementation
• Clinical or demographic data showing the need without evidence that the proposed intervention works in practice
• Beneficiary feedback without supporting outcomes data from real-world use
• Citation of academic studies or theoretical models without demonstration of effectiveness in a practical setting

Applicants must also outline how additional evidence will be generated during the award period to support sustainability, wider adoption, and measurable impact in real-world contexts.

The Trust is seeking to fund models that are replicable by other organisations and sustained beyond the two-year award period.

Beyond the existing evidence of effectiveness included in their application, organisations will also be expected to explain:

• How they plan to secure future funding from commissioners, partnerships or other sources to secure ongoing delivery
• How the organisation plans to demonstrate the economic and business case to secure long-term support from commissioners or other funders, including any further data that will be generated during the funding period to support the further extension of the model.

Sharing findings through conferences or professional networks can be valuable, but it does not in itself demonstrate a plan for sustainability or wider impact.

The Fund does not prescribe a fixed or suggested percentage for overheads. Applicants should include overhead costs that accurately reflect the real expenses of delivering the proposed work, rather than aiming for a maximum or standard allowance. Overheads should be reasonable, clearly explained, and proportionate to the project.

Applicants who have received funding from the Trust’s Innovation and Improvement in Health and Care Fund must wait until their existing award is fully spent.

Unsuccessful applicants may reapply in any future funding round without restriction.

The Trust is committed to increasing transparency about its funding. Each year, we will publish:
• The number of applications received
• The number of applications short-listed and funded
• High-level reasons why applications are not successful

Applicants reaching the full application stage receive individual feedback. Due to volume, we cannot provide feedback on preliminary applications.

Data for the 2025 funding round

The number of applications received: 45

The number of applications short-listed: 5

The number of applications funded: 2

Looking across all applications received in 2025 and in previous years, the most common reasons that applications were not successful were:

At the preliminary stage:

• insufficient evidence of effectiveness

• applying too early (pilot or proof-of-concept stage)

• unclear leadership, delivery plan, or sustainability

• limited partner engagement or unclear roles

• proposals to maintain or expand existing core services

• replication of a service already widely available

• unclear or unrealistic budgets

• requests where Trust funding would have limited impact (e.g. unspecified contribution to a large capital project)

At the full application stage, common issues include:

• no clear progression since the preliminary stage

• questions about organisational or partner commitment

• unclear plans for wider adoption or financial sustainability

• unclear evaluation or governance arrangements

• for technology projects, questions about integration with existing systems and support for ongoing development of new software or devices 

• questions about leadership or project management

• lack of user or beneficiary engagement

• major shifts in timetable or funding that reduce the potential impact of the Trust’s funding or raise questions about deliverability

The Fund typically receives around 40–50 preliminary applications each year. Around 5 to 6 are usually shortlisted, which is about 1 in 8 or 9 preliminary applications.

Since 2022, awards have ranged up to £450,000, with an average of about £300,000. The Board typically awards 1 or 2 projects per funding round.

In previous rounds, applications have often been led by larger charities or NHS bodies with the capacity to deliver change at scale. Demand for this type of funding is high, and the Fund receives many more applications than it can support.

The Fund supports projects that scale proven models of care across physical and mental health, learning and physical disability, and palliative or end-of-life care.

Each application is considered on its merits against the criteria published on our website, and the number of shortlisted applications each year will vary based on the overall quality and volume of proposals.

A summary of funded projects is available here. Other recently shortlisted projects have included:

• expansion of a workforce development programme across an Integrated Care Partnership to improve outcomes for older people.

• the scaling-up of a new community-based mental health service for children and young people

• the roll-out and evaluation of a hospice virtual ward model for palliative care patients

• the development of a common referral pathway from specialist NHS clinics to a group of health charities

• the roll-out of a digital platform to enable children and young people with a chronic condition to track their health, manage their wellbeing and collate and share data with health and social care professionals

Substantial demand for the Trust’s limited resources means that applications are competitive. Submitting a preliminary application and/or full application does not guarantee progress to the next stage of the programme or the award of funding.

Any award will be subject to the Trust’s terms and conditions of funding, and the Trust reserves the right to amend the terms and conditions from time to time.

If you have questions about your application for the Scaling Impact in Health and Care Fund, please use our dedicated Ask Us About Your Application portal. This is the quickest way to get guidance, and our team will respond within 48 working hours. Multiple submissions are welcome if you have more than one question.

If you need to get in touch, you can email us at [email protected], but we strongly encourage you to use the Ask Us About Your Application portal. Using the portal ensures your question is logged, tracked, and answered promptly within 48 working hours.