Peer Support Grants
Programme
Guidance Notes
April 2015
At a glance…
What is it?
What is the minimum
funding available?
What is the maximum
funding available?
Where is funding
available?
How many grants will be
awarded?
How long can my funded
activity run?
When are applications
due?
Where do I send my
application?
As part of our wider Peer Support programme, we plan to make grants to
projects that want to offer peer support to more adults in our pilot areas,
and work with us to build an evidence base for the effectiveness of peer
support.
£5,000
£15,000
Suffolk (postcodes IP1-IP33)
Coventry and Warwickshire (postcodes CV1-CV13, CV21-CV23, CV31-CV37
and CV47)
Northamptonshire (postcodes NN1-NN18, NN29)
Leeds (postcodes LS1–LS29)
Lancashire (postcodes BB1–BB12, BD23, BL6-BL7, FY1– FY8, L37, L39, L40,
LA1–LA6, OL12–OL13, PR1-PR9, WN6, WN8)
Southampton and New Forest (postcodes SO14-SO19, SO30-SO31, SO41,
SO45, BH23-BH25)
Devon (postcodes DT7, EX1-EX23, EX31-EX39, PL1-PL35, TA21, TQ1-TQ14)
Teesside (postcodes TS1-TS29)
London borough of Kensington and Chelsea and London Borough of
Westminster (postcodes NW10, SW1W, SW1X, SW3, SW5-SW7, SW10,
W2, W6, W8-W12, W14)
We expect to fund 5 grants in each area (a total of 45 grants)
All funded activity must start in October 2015, and can last for up to twelve
months
Applications must be submitted by 2pm on Wednesday 10 June 2015.
Completed applications, and all attachments, can be sent to
MindGrants@mind.org.uk
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When will I hear if I have
been successful?
Decisions will be communicated with applicants by mid-August 2015
INTRODUCTION
About this application and guidance notes
These notes are to help applicants to the Mind Peer Support Grants Programme

There are two sections in these guidance notes:
o Section One – About Mind’s Peer Support Grants gives more detail
about what the grants programme seeks to achieve and what activity grants
will be awarded for.
o Section Two – Successful Applications outlines our expectations of
projects that are successful through this fund, and includes information about
monitoring and evaluation.

It is important you read this document in its entirety before starting an application
and follow the guidance carefully. When assessors read applications they consider
responses to questions against the information given in these guidance notes.

Applicants are responsible for ensuring that the information they provide is correct
and complete. The Grants Team will not be able to contact applicants to check
information.
Accessibility
If you have any particular communication needs, please email us at
MindGrants@mind.org.uk or write to us at Grants Team, Mind, 15-19 Broadway, London E15
4BQ, providing contact details. We will aim to respond to all queries within 5 days of receipt
(but please note that this may be longer in the weeks just prior to the application deadline).
Terminology
In this document ‘mental health problems’ refers to all conditions which can affect mental
wellbeing such as anxiety, depression, phobias and diagnoses of bipolar disorder and
schizophrenia. This does not refer to dementia, learning disabilities or autism.
‘Personal experience of mental health problems’ refers to a person’s own mental health
problems, either diagnosed or undiagnosed, but which have had a significant impact on the
person’s life.
Mind’s publication ‘Mental health peer support in England: Piecing together the jigsaw’ states
that ‘in its most natural form, ‘peer support’ is simply support exchanged between people
who share something in common: they are entering into something on a more or less
shared, or equal, basis. In a mental health context, peer support refers to a situation where
people with experience of mental health problems are offering each other support based on
their personal experience. Usually, the support that is exchanged between people might go
in either direction or in different directions at different times, depending on their needs:
there is no pre-determined ‘giver’ or ‘receiver’ of support’.
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‘Peer-led peer support’ is activity that originated from, and is led – run, managed and
controlled by people with personal experience of mental health problems who also access
the support. In peer-led peer support, mutuality is key – support is both given and received
(as opposed to staff-led peer support where workers may have personal experience but it is
not expected that they will necessarily benefit from the peer support).
‘Marginalised communities’ refers to communities that experience elevated levels of
discrimination. This includes Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) communities; lesbians, gay
men, bisexuals and people who identify as transgender (LGBT); people who live in rural
areas; refugees and asylum seekers; disabled people and/or people with long term
conditions; older people.
When discussing ‘Rural Communities’ we are using the Government Statistical Service
classification of rural and urban areas. In this, rural areas are settlements of below 10,000
people, or open countryside.
‘Social Capital’ refers to a person feeling a part of and able to contribute in some way to
their local community. This can be through volunteering, feeling connected to people in their
locality and feeling able to use local resources and facilities.
‘Empowerment’ involves a person developing the confidence and strength to set realistic
goals and fulfil their potential.
More information
If you have outstanding questions after reading these guidance notes please refer to the list
of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) on our website. These questions will be updated
throughout the application process.
We will also be running information sessions within each funding area. Please register your
interest through our website to receive more information.
For general enquiries not addressed by our FAQs please e-mail us at the below address. We
will aim to respond to your query within 5 days (please note this may be longer in the weeks
just prior to the application deadline). Although we can answer questions about the process
and criteria, we can’t offer support to you to develop your application.
E-mail: MindGrants@mind.org.uk
Website: www.mind.org.uk/peerprog
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Section One
About Mind’s Peer Support grants
The Peer Support Grant Fund is an open grants scheme run by Mind with funding from the
Big Lottery Fund. The grants fund aims to distribute £540,000 to approximately 45 peer
support projects working with adults (18 years and over) across England, with funded
activity taking place in the twelve months October 2015 – October 2016.
Mind is committed to supporting work within Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) and rural
communities and has therefore dedicated a minimum of 40% of the total funds for grants to
projects run by and working with people from these communities.
In addition to these priority areas, our Grants Panels will consider the grants portfolio as a
whole and aim to ensure a good representation with regard to geographical spread within
each designated area, different methods of peer support, partnership working, value for
money, members of the public reached through the project, and other diversity strands
(such as LGBT people, older people, people with disabilities or long term conditions).
Why is Mind giving peer support grants?
In September 2014, the Big Lottery Fund awarded Mind funding for the Peer Support
Programme.
By setting up the Peer Support Programme, we’re responding to the calls from those of us
living with mental health problems who would benefit from access to peer support across
England. The programme aims to gather evidence about the effectiveness of peer support
and to support its future sustainability.
This bid has been developed in response to work undertaken by Mind in collaboration with a
wide range of partners skilled in delivering and passionate about peer support. In particular
this bid is a response to the recommendations in our earlier scoping report, what we have
learned at our yearly Peerfest events, the popularity of our Elefriends online community and
previous work with marginalised communities.
The key aims of the programme are to:


focus on building an evidence base for the effectiveness of one to one, group and online
peer support
promote the value of peer support to those with experience of mental health problems,
mental health service providers and commissioners.
We’ll be delivering the Peer Support Programme alongside a number of partners
including Depression Alliance, Bipolar UK, nine local Minds, our evaluation partners and the
organisations funded through the grant fund.
Our target outcomes for the programme are:
1. People who access peer support have improved mental health, greater social capital,
and greater levels of empowerment
2. Grass roots peer-led groups and organisations have increased sustainability, leading
to more high quality peer support
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3. Commissioners have increased awareness of the value and benefit of peer support
and its contribution to commissioning outcomes
4. People with mental health problems, their families and carers have more information
about the benefits of peer support, leading to greater choice in how they live and
recover
Where is funding available?
Mind’s Peer Support programme is a pilot running in nine areas across England with the aim
of building a robust evidence base for the added social and economic value of peer support,
as well as its service satisfaction, and impact and contribution to health outcomes. As such,
the grants programme is focussed on funding activity within the following areas:
-
Suffolk (postcodes IP1-IP33)
Coventry and Warwickshire (postcodes CV1-CV13, CV21-CV23, CV31-CV37 and
CV47)
Northamptonshire (postcodes NN1-NN18, NN29)
Leeds (postcodes LS1–LS29)
Lancashire (postcodes BB1–BB12, BD23, BL6-BL7, FY1– FY8, L37, L39, L40, LA1–
LA6, OL12–OL13, PR1-PR9, WN6, WN8)
Southampton and New Forest (postcodes SO14-SO19, SO30-SO31, SO41, SO45,
BH23-BH25)
Devon (postcodes DT7, EX1-EX23, EX31-EX39, PL1-PL35, TA21, TQ1-TQ14)
Teesside (postcodes TS1-TS29)
London borough of Kensington and Chelsea and London Borough of Westminster
(postcodes NW10, SW1W, SW1X, SW3, SW5-SW7, SW10, W2, W6, W8-W12, W14)
What funding is available?
We will be awarding £60,000 in total in each of the above areas. The minimum grant
available will be £5,000, and the maximum is £15,000. We expect that we will support
around 5 projects in each area.
What additional support is available?
Successful applicants are expected to have sufficient resource and experience to deliver
their project, as set out in their application form. However, grantees will be able to request
up to 4 days of support from an experienced peer to find solutions to issues that may arise.
A communications toolkit will be distributed to funded projects to help them promote their
activity and create meaningful case studies that demonstrate the impact of their work.
In addition, regional meetings will be held where grant-funded projects can come together,
share learning and best practice.
Outcomes and outputs
We expect applicants to demonstrate how the activities they deliver bring about the changes
described in outcome 1 of the Peer Support Programme:
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People who access peer support have improved mental health, greater social capital,
and greater levels of empowerment
As an indication, we expect a grant of £12,000 to achieve the following:
-
25 new people will access peer support
At least 72% of these people will feel better able to manage their mental health
We recognise that work within some marginalised communities may be more complex and,
consequently, projects working within these communities may reach a lower number of
people. This will be taken into consideration during assessment.
To date, Mind’s literature review has identified the following principles as the key principles
needed for successful peer support. We will be exploring these principles further throughout
the programme. When assessing applications to this fund we will be considering how
proposed projects demonstrate their commitment to these principles.
Principles for
good quality
peer support:
Safeguarding
Peer Led
Example of how it
operates within one
to one peer support
Examples of how it
operates within peer
support groups
There is a safe
environment where
people understand
their role and
accountability.
o Rigorous and robust
recruitment
o Routine monitoring
systems
o Ongoing supervision
and support
o Group safeguarding
policy
o Code of conduct for
participants and clear
complaints/conflict
resolution procedure
o Access to independent
help and support beyond
group where needed
The setting is peer
led and people with
lived experience
input into design,
development and
delivery. Their lived
experienced is
viewed as an asset.
Structures for influencing
for people with lived
experience. Recruitment
of staff members and
volunteers with lived
experience. Evaluation
tools are developed in
collaboration with people
who have direct
experience of mental
health problems.
Structures for influencing
for people with lived
experience. Recruitment
of staff members and
volunteers with lived
experience. Evaluation
tools are developed in
collaboration with people
who have direct
experience of mental
health problems.
Description of
principles
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Valuing skills
needed
Mutuality
Hope
Empowerment/
autonomy
The skills and
qualities to facilitate
and coordinate
effective peer
support are valued
and developed. Eg.
There’s training and
supervision.
One to one relationship
skills. Training and
supervision for those
staff and volunteers who
are leaders/ mentors/
coordinators.
Having group facilitation
skills. Training and
supervision for those
staff and volunteers who
are leaders and
coordinators.
There is a mutual
sharing of
experience and of
goals. Everyone,
including the
coordinator is able
to benefit from both
giving and receiving
support based on
contribution of own
experience
Training in active
listening. Leaders and
coordinators have
awareness of their own
journey.
Training in active
listening. Identification of
different
roles/contributions
people can make to
group based on different
skills, strengths etc.
Recognition that
everyone has a role to
play and clear structures
to facilitate effective
exchange of experiences
and interaction. There is
progression and rotation
between roles.
There is a focus on
moving towards a
future and positive
experiences are
shared
Individual goal setting
and planning
Focus on setting
objectives beyond
initial/immediate
wants/needs and
identifying individual
strengths to draw
on/develop
Strengths asset based
approach focused on
identifying collective
strengths/assets to draw
on in effecting
change/positive
progression
for all wherever at with
their individual recovery.
Users briefed on and
understand relationship
from the outset.
Parameters set so that
relationship is not about
doing things for people
but about supporting and
encouraging people to
navigate the system and
challenge it for
themselves.
Recruiting leaders and
coordinators with the
potential to coach others
to navigate the mental
health system for
themselves and to speak
out about their needs in
other aspects of their
lives. Ongoing training
and development for
leaders/coordinators.
Strong facilitation skills
to ensure all have a
voice.
People are
supported to have a
voice and to make
decisions for own
future.
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Relationships/
connectedness
People respect one
another and strong
relationships based
on trust are built
that allow people to
be honest to
themselves.
Social skills
People have the
opportunity to build
these and to
experience
friendship (and
therefore have
increased social
capital)
Solidarity/
reduction of
stigma
Recognition of the
value of working
together and of the
shared challenges of
having a mental
health problem,
building on the value
of social
Recruitment of leaders
and coordinators with
Recruitment of leaders
the ability to support
and coordinators with
active listening, to
the ability to support
develop trust, with
active listening, to
strong interpersonal skills
develop trust, with
and who are friendly and
strong interpersonal skills open. Leaders and
and who are friendly and coordinators with clear
open.
understanding of role
Leaders/coordinators
and boundaries. Clear
with clear understanding understanding of
of role and boundaries.
confidentiality and the
Clear understanding of
limits to this. Training
confidentiality and the
and supervision to
limits to this. Training
develop all of these.
and supervision to
Activities to take place
develop all of these.
which support
connectedness to take
place.
Providing relevant
opportunities for people
to connect with their
community and to
Identify relevant
undertake social
opportunities for people
activities together,
to connect with their
provide route to
community providing
participation in activities
support to build selfbeyond immediate
esteem and confidence
confines of group to
to partake in group
expand networks and
activities
ongoing opportunities for
peer support beyond
immediate wants and
needs.
Recruitment of leaders /
coordinators with an
Recruitment of leaders /
understanding of
coordinators with an
discrimination that
understanding of
people experience within
discrimination that
the mental health system
people experience within and within society. Also
the mental health system with the skills to support
and within society. Also
people to ask for what
with the skills to support they need, to be more
people to ask for what
open about their
they need, to be more
experience and to
open
challenge prejudice.
Training and supervision
to develop these.
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Examples of types of activity we are seeking to fund
Mind piloted a small grants programme in 2014 to support Peer Support activity throughout
England. Some of the projects funded:
-
-
After seeing an interest from different BME communities in their area, Leeds Mind
were funded to co-produce culturally relevant peer services in different community
languages. This allowed them to provide training and support to develop community
leaders, and establish new peer support groups for different communities, reaching
people that were not previously participating in peer support activities.
Refugee Radio was funded to train existing members of its peer support group in
order to provide new skills. This skills enabled them to devise and deliver workshops
to support other people and help overcome stigma whilst raising awareness of
mental health issues in their community, especially around the prevalence of PTSD
amongst survivors of war and torture. This then led to more people accessing their
peer support activities.
Who can apply for a peer support grant?
You can apply to the Peer Support grants fund if:

You are a not-for-profit constituted group or organisation that is one of the following:
 Formally constituted voluntary or community group
 Charity
 Co-operative
 Industrial and Provident Society
 Community interest company

You are a partnership with one member who is a not-for-profit constituted group or
organisation (as above) which will act as the lead organisation to administer and
manage the finances. We are keen that partnerships include those from outside the
mental health arena to encourage engagement with wider networks and groups of
people.
Partnerships
Partnerships must include one member that is a not-for-profit constituted group or
organisation acting as the lead organisation. It should also include organisations and groups
that can bring real benefit and will strengthen the project, for example through networks,
expertise and/or support. All partners should ideally be involved in the development of the
project and their involvement should be clearly mapped from the beginning and throughout
delivery.
Statutory bodies, schools, colleges and universities
These statutory bodies can be involved in a project as part of a partnership where they will
support projects through their expertise, networks etc. However, statutory bodies must not
gain financially from this funding and therefore cannot receive any funding for their
involvement.
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Profit-making organisations and companies
Profit-making organisations and companies cannot receive funding as partners in an
application.
Partnerships and memberships
The lead organisation in an application must be formally constituted and have an
accountable management structure with at least three people on the management
committee. The lead organisation applying must be the same organisation that will receive
and administer the funds.
If your organisation has a membership it must be open to all, unless you can provide good
reasons why this is not the case. Membership rules must not contravene equalities
legislation and subscription fees must not be prohibitive.
For this grants programme, Mind will not accept applications from:
 Individuals
 Statutory bodies such as local authorities, mental health trusts, clinical
commissioning groups, schools, colleges, universities or organisations seeking
funding to replace cuts by statutory bodies (although they can participate in a
partnership with a not-for-profit constituted group or organisation on the
understanding that they will not gain financially from the project in any way).
 Hospitals or medical research bodies.
 Profit-making organisations, including companies.
 Applicants and projects based outside of the areas of England specified.
 Projects where the activities promote political beliefs, religions or faiths either in
intention, use or presentation.
 Projects aligned with, or co-funded by, pharmaceutical companies
Applying more than once
In each specified geographical area, only one application can be submitted to the Peer
Support Grant Fund from a single, lead organisation or partnership. Organisations and
groups that are part of a partnership application, but not the lead organisation, can be
involved in more than one application.
If you represent a national organisation that has region-specific work in more than one area,
you are eligible to apply to deliver activities in 3 areas only.
What the peer support grants fund will and won’t fund
Eligible and ineligible costs
The following costs are considered eligible to include in an application (although whether
each is appropriate and of a suitable size for the specific application will be determined
during the assessment):

Staffing costs, including salaries of project workers employed solely for the project,
pension and National Insurance contributions; staff and volunteer recruitment costs;
fees for sessional workers; expenses for volunteers. Costs of staff who are already
employed who will manage the project for some of their time should be included in
core costs (see below). Any new posts created as a result of funding must be
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



recruited using an open, fair and transparent recruitment process.
Direct project costs, including travel expenses for staff and volunteers; staff and
volunteer training; venue hire and meeting costs; other expenses relating to your
activity (i.e. materials, refreshments).
Communication costs, including market research, advertising, print costs for
promotion/marketing; specific communications staffing expenses.
Core costs, including a proportion of costs related to running the project such as
management costs, building costs and office costs. We expect groups and
organisations to include the full additional charge to their core (‘full cost recovery’)
but this should be within the range of 10-15% of the total project cost. For more
information on ‘full cost recovery’ see Big Lottery Fund’s online guidance.
Capital costs, including office equipment necessary for project delivery. If these costs
exceed 10% of total project cost we expect detailed information outlining why these
are vital to the successful delivery of your project.
The following costs will be considered ineligible and should not be included in an
application:
 Retrospective costs (costs incurred before a grant is confirmed).
 Costs not linked directly to the project. For example, contributions to the
organisation's reserves, contributions to general appeals, funding shortfalls on
existing projects, loan repayments, endowments.
 Staff time to develop and write applications and general fundraising work.
 Redundancy costs.
 Minibuses.
 Routine repairs and maintenance.
 General improvements to public areas, unless essential to the project.
 Personal equipment not essential to project delivery.
 Maintenance and office equipment not essential to project delivery.
 Activities for which there is a statutory responsibility to provide funding.
Your application must include a budget setting out what funding you need and explaining
how you will spend it. The budget will be considered at each stage of the assessment.
Successful applicants will be asked when accepting the grant to set out clearly the proposed
expenditure over the lifetime of the grant. Grants will be paid in three instalments - (1) any
set up costs and first 6 months of delivery (2) final 6 months of delivery (3) 10% of total
grant award on completion of all reporting and evaluation.
Essential and desirable criteria
To help you decide if the peer support grants fund is the right scheme for you, read the
essential and desirable criteria below.
To be eligible to apply, you must answer ‘yes’ to all of the essential criteria
questions. Your application will be strengthened if you can also answer ‘yes’ to the
desirable criteria questions.
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Essential criteria
 Are you one of the following:
o An England based not-for-profit constituted group or organisation
o An England based partnership with a lead not-for-profit constituted group or organisation
that can hold and administer the funds
Yes/No

Will your project engage people with experience of mental health problems who are not
currently accessing peer support?
Yes/No

Can you show that your not-for-profit constituted group or organisation has and will provide
the skills and resources to plan, develop and manage the project, develop a realistic
timeframe, and deliver activity against the outcomes within that timeframe?
Yes/No

Will your proposed activity be in one of our pilot areas? See page 5 for more info.

Will your proposed project work with adults (18 years plus)?
Yes/No
Yes/No

Can you develop a detailed financial plan and budget for the project, maintain accurate
financial records and produce bank statements that will bear scrutiny under audit?
Yes/No

Are you willing to support our in-depth evaluation process to measure how effective peer
support is, in particular encouraging peer support participants to complete monthly diaries?
Yes/No
Please note that we will only consider applications that meet all of the above
essential criteria.
Proposals that also meet the following desirable criteria will be given favourable
consideration:
Desirable criteria

Will your project work with people from marginalised communities (e.g. LGBT, Black and
Minority Ethnic communities)? Please note that the priority groups for this programme are
people from BME communities and rural communities (minimum 40% allocated funds)
Yes/No

Will people with personal experience of mental health problems be involved in the design,
delivery and management of the project?
Yes/No
Funds are limited and we will not be able to fund all applications. Only those
scoring highest at assessment will be considered by the Grants Panel.
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Section two
Successful Applications
If Mind offers you a grant you must sign and accept the grant terms and conditions that will
accompany the grant offer letter. This will include guidance on monitoring and evaluation,
reporting requirements, communications and branding. All projects should complete activity
by October 2016 with final reports submitted by December 2016. We will work with you
before your project starts to ensure you understand all procedures.
Monitoring and evaluation
It is vital for Mind’s work that the projects we fund are monitored and evaluated thoroughly
so that we can see who the project is reaching, and in what way. If Mind offers you a
grant you must agree to work with us to monitor and evaluate your project
against the peer support grants fund outcomes. Projects do not have to budget
for evaluation as this is managed centrally. However, projects should be aware that
they will be required to work with the Grants Team and the Evaluation Partners on
monitoring and evaluating their work and therefore should plan this into the time of the
project leads. Monitoring and evaluation will be two key elements that will run throughout
your project.
Grantees will complete two monitoring reports over the life of their project. The first, after
six months of delivery, will report activity and progress against your agreed project plan and
will tell us how you are spending the grants funds. Your Grants Officer will contact you to
raise any queries that have arisen and, upon satisfactorily addressing these queries, a
second payment will be released. A final return will need to be submitted at the end of your
project. Grants Officers will also conduct informal monitoring in the form of email/phone
contact and face-to-face monitoring visits.
The lead organisation for a project will also be required to monitor finances closely and to
keep detailed records, including quotations, receipts, and invoices, to account for all grant
expenditure. Projects will be given a payment at the start of their project to help set it up
and cover the first six months of delivery. A second payment will then be made after sixmonths, upon satisfactory receipt of monitoring and financial reports, with the final 10% of
grant award paid upon satisfactory receipt of a final monitoring return. Payments may be
withheld if grantees fail to provide feedback on any issues that arise from these reports.
 Evaluation
It is vital that we measure the impact of the Peer Support Programme and it is a standard
grant condition that all grantees work with our Evaluation Partners. The programme’s
Evaluation Partners will be creating diaries for project participants to complete and will be
undertaking interviews with some project beneficiaries and leads. We will particularly require
your assistance in encouraging project beneficiaries to complete the diaries. Evaluation is a
vital part of this programme as we are aiming to build an evidence base to secure funding
for peer support projects and programmes in the future.
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