# DfES bows to sector pressure to extend grants deadline

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2007/01/12/dfes-bows-sector-pressure-extend-grants-deadline/
- Published: 2007-01-12T00:00:00+00:00
- Author: Howard Lake

The Department for Education and Skills has extended its deadline for applications
for the Children, Young People and Families grants after organisations complained
they were not given enough time to complete their applications.
The original deadline
of 3 January has now been moved to 19 January to allow organisations to file their
applications properly. Some organisations were not notified of the 3 January date
until as late as 19 December.

Saskia Daggett, manager of the Compact Advocacy Programme (CAP) said that the DfES
should have realised that some organisations would be working in partnership with
schools to complete their applications, which would have made meeting the orginal
deadline impossible.

However, she said the DfES had behaved responsibly in this case. They did listen
to us and spoke to individual organisations directly, which was exactly the right
thing to do, she said.

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The Children, Young People and Families grant provides a very important source of
funding for many voluntary and community groups. It is therefore crucial that the
DfES adheres to the Compact’s funding code, which explicity states organisations
should have enough time to respond and that notification of funding decisions needs
to be timely.

The Compact Advocacy Programme is now looking at future Compact compliance. Daggett
said: We will be looking at the DfES as a whole and how it works with the voluntary
sector. Other departments are much more in tune with the Compact and the voluntary
sector.

She said that CAP would be looking for more leadership from the Learning and Skills
Councils, for example and hoped that the Department will start working together 
properly with the voluntary sector to implement the Compact.

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