Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme and grants from public funding

Wednesday 15 April 2020

Organisations funded by the Co-op Foundation through the #iwill Fund, Building Connections Fund and Space to Connect programmes receive public funding to deliver policy outcomes, which are set out by each grant holder in their application.  The government has confirmed that grant holders funded through these programmes are eligible for the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) so long as:

• the combined total of their grants and Job Retention Scheme payments should not represent more than 100% of the level of total income they would have expected to receive for salaries and associated salary costs during this period in a non-COVID scenario (for the avoidance of doubt, this includes earned and contributed income)              

The Co-op Foundation will allow grant holders to vary their grants which had been allocated to paying for staff who are eligible for the CJRS, in order to enable them to allocate funding to other activities that contribute to the overall aims of the programme they are funded through.

We will ask all organisations who have applied to the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme and who are existing grant holders, to confirm that:

• they are not using this and government funds to double fund the salaries of furloughed employees, and
• that the payments they receive as a result of the CJRS do not combine with their existing and anticipated public funding to mean that they are now receiving total public funding that exceeds their anticipated level of income to cover salaries and associated salary costs for this period
• written confirmation will be added as a condition for their next grant payment

The Co-op Foundation encourages all charities, community organisations and social enterprises, whether or not they are grant holders, to consider whether an application to the CJRS would be a way to mitigate some of the challenges posed by the current situation. Organisations should refer to the government’s published guidance.

We cannot advise organisations on eligibility for the government’s scheme.

We provide project funding for organisations to deliver work that contributes towards our overall programme aims, which would normally include a proportion of salary costs. The overall aims of those Co-op Foundation programmes which include a contribution from public funds are as follows:

• #iwill Fund – to make youth social action part of life for as many 10 to 20-year-olds as possible
• Building Connections Fund youth strand – to prevent or reduce loneliness in young people
• Space to Connect (Enhance) – to expand current activities and embed sustainable ways of working so that your organisation has a secure future
• Space to Connect (Explore) –  to identify and develop responses to local challenges, such as loneliness, health, community cohesion and access to services