Women's Diversionary Activity Grant
The MoJ and HMPPS intend to award grant funding for voluntary and community organisations to support women aged 18+ in, and at risk of escalating within, the criminal justice system (CJS). This funding is termed the ‘Women’s Diversion Fund’ (WDF). The Fund is made up of investment of C£25.6m between 1 January 2027 to 31 March 2029. Grants will be competed in 12 Lots, based on probation region.
Who can apply
Applicants must be:
A voluntary sector organisation(s) or consortium and shall be a registered charity, an exempt charity (as per the charities Act 2011, Schedule 3) or a social enterprise.
Applicants must also be:
A single entity which will deliver the Funded Activities or
A lead organisation working with other organisations developing elements of the work or
An umbrella consortium formed from a number of organisations with shared objectives and agreed arrangements for leadership and governance.
All grants shall be delivered on a strictly not-for-profit basis.
Eligible Expenditure
The purpose of the Fund is to deliver support to women in the CJS that will help divert them away from further involvement in the CJS, particularly custody.
In doing so, the Fund aims to support several MoJ strategic and operational objectives:
· Supporting the ambition to reduce the number of women in prison by funding services and interventions which are targeted at reducing further contact with the CJS and diverting women from custody.
· Responding to the recommendation of the Independent Sentencing Review[1] which called for sustainable, long-term funding for Women’s Centres, by providing multi-year income for successful Applicants.
· Aligning with the recommendations of the Women’s Justice Board report[2] which highlighted the need for a whole system approach (WSA) centred around gender-specific, trauma-informed support for women in the CJS.
· Supporting wider government priorities including tackling violence against women and girls (VAWG), improving community safety, and the Safer Streets Mission by supporting women with a range of needs.
How to apply
To apply, interested parties must create or log into an account on the MoJ eSourcing Portal (Jaggaer) to start an application.
· The site address is: Ministry of Justice Sourcing Portal
· For assistance with Jaggaer contact: esourcing@justice.gov.uk or 0845 0100 132.
The Application is an online process and divided into the following sections which will all need to be completed:
· Qualification envelope: Applicant shall provide responses to eligibility criteria.
· Technical envelope: Applicant shall provide responses to technical-based criteria and Commercial criteria, illustrating the proposed activities, plans, resources, etc.
In order to submit a compliant Application, Applicants must complete all questions in each of these sections, following the instructions for each respective question. To note, applicants should be careful to apply for the relevant Lots, each Lot has a section which
includes a Lot labelled Technical and Commercial Question and Response
Template and a Cost Breakdown Template. Variant bids or responses shall not be
accepted.
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