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ACLF Now Closed

The Adult and Community Learning Fund has now closed but project information remains on the website. We encourage interested people to make contact with any projects relevant to their work. If you would like copies of the following ACLF publications please contact Sarah Wright on 0116 2044218:

All the above publications are free.  The reports can be downloaded here

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Accreditation Report Published

A new report has been posted on the website: “It should always be available”: Recognising Achievement and Accreditation in the Adult and Community Learning Fund.

Commissioned by NIACE and written by the NOCN, the report can be downloaded in the Reports section of this site.

The Adult and Community Learning Fund (ACLF) will definitely be closing on 31st March 2004. The Department for Education and Skills has now passed the funds over to the National Learning and Skills Council to support the Widening Participation Strategy. The Widening Adult Participation Action Fund (WAPAF) will be a regional demonstration fund delivered through Local Learning and Skills Councils. There will be NO bidding rounds as there were with ACLF. Further information will be posted on here as the fund develops.

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Family Conference Report

Posted 18 November 2002

On 26 September 2002, approximately 110 delegates gathered at the London Art House for a conference which brought together policy makers, funders, providers and practitioners in family learning. All of the projects which were used to inform and inspire debate and discussion had been supported by the DfES sponsored Adult and Community Learning Fund.

Download the full report now from the Reports section of this site.

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Round 6 Projects added to website directory

Posted 9 July 2002

A number of projects from round 6 of the ACLF have been added to the projects directory.  The projects are indexed by name, region, subject and target group.  To find out which ones have been added take a look at the "Round 6: Successful bidders announced" item further down this page.

By now, all of the projects should have received a form to complete so that their details can be enter onto this site. If you are involved with one of the projects and your details do not yet appear on this site, please contact the ACLF team here at NIACE and we will send you another form.

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Impact of ACLF - Final Report

Posted 28 May 2002

NIACE commissioned The Institute for Employment Studies to write a report on the impact of the Adult and Community Learning Fund.  Their findings have now been published in a report entitled: "

 "Impact of the Adult and Community Learning Fund"

This report can be downloaded as a PDF file from the ACLF Reports page of this website. 

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Round 6: Successful bidders announced.

Posted 17 April 2002

Here is an alphabetical list of the projects who have been successful in Round 6 of the Adult and Community Learning Fund:

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Feedback report from Stage 1, Round 6 

Posted 22 Feb 2002

NIACE received 906 applications in stage 1 of Round 6. Of these 176 were for small grants and 730 for major grants. Of the total, approximately 61% came from voluntary and community organisations. Such an overwhelming response meant that the chances of proposals being successful reduced to approximately one application in fifteen. 

This means that those projects which were invited to bid to stage 2 of the process had to be good ideas, well thought through and clearly described

This report goes on to highlight the differences between a 'good bid' and a 'bad bid' and offers advice to organisations seeking external funding. Any future applicants should seek to learn from some of the lessons learned about the application process outlined in this report.

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Event: Self Assessment for Small Providers

Posted 24 Jan 2002

ACLF providers may be interested in the following events which are  being jointly organised by NIACE and the Learning and Skills Development Agency (LSDA).

The events are called "Fit for Purpose: Self Assessment for Small Providers" and take place on 19 February 2002 in London and 1 March 2002 in Sheffield. 

Further details and a booking form are available by following the links below.  Please note that the booking forms should be returned to the LDSA and not NIACE.

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Round 6 now closed

Thank you to everyone who sent ACLF Round 6 applications to us. We have been overwhelmed by the responses. Over 800 bids have been received and are currently being read and assessed. We will inform both successful and unsuccessful bids of the outcome by mid-January 2002.

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Good News

Posted 23 Oct 2001

The Government has agreed to fund Round 6 of the Adult and Community Learning fund.

The prospectus and application form should be available by early November. Contact the ACLF team on 0116 2044 218/256/266/299 or email sarah.wright@niace.org.uk, requesting the prospectus, we will then forward your request to the DfES who will send it to you.

New priorities and target groups have been outlined and no funds are available to sustain existing projects or work. New projects and new ideas are to be supported. Projects can be small (up to £10k) or major (up to £30k per annum for up to 2 years).

We look forward to hearing from you!

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Report on Round 5

NIACE received 432 applications altogether in Round 5. 22 were for planning grants, 78 for small grants and 332 for major grants. This shows an increase in small grant applications.

There was clear movement towards bids from voluntary and community organisations with 305 bids coming from these sources. The overall quality of applications has increased with each round. Just under 20% of the applications were assessed as scoring above 80%. Fewer than 6% either scored under 50% or were not graded at all, as they did not match the criteria for the Fund or address the requirements of the application process sufficiently.

Applications were received from all regions within England.

The Full report can be downloaded as a PDF(*) file by following the link below:

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