5 June 2026

Introduction

The Liverpool City Region is one of eight Youth Guarantee Trailblazer (YGT) areas across the country. Established as part of the UK Government’s Get Britain Working White Paper (published November 2024), the Trailblazers aim to test new and effective ways of supporting young people into employment, education, or training.

As part of our local Trailblazer, VOLA has been appointed by the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority to manage a Community Grants programme, targeted at voluntary, community, faith and social enterprise (VCFSE) organisations across the city region.

Projects funded through this grants programme support young people aged 18-21 who are not in employment, education or training (NEET) to help them to overcome personal challenges and barriers, and support their onward progression to employment, education, or training.

June 2026 Update

Following a successful first grants round, which supported over 500 local young people through 35 varied projects between December 2025 and March 2026, VOLA will be launching a new VCFSE sector Community Grants programme in the coming weeks. 

The application window for the 2026/27 programme will open w/c 15th June (precise date TBC) with a 4-week response window, with a view to allocating grants ready for a September start.

We will host some online briefing sessions in tandem with the launch of the application window.  Further details will be posted on this page in the coming week or so, along with the application documents.

Who is eligible to apply?

Applications are invited from constituted, VCFSE sector organisations, run on a not-for-profit basis, with an operational base in the Liverpool City Region. 

Organisations must have a bank account in its own name with at least two unrelated authorised signatories. 

In addition, applicant organisations must have been in existence for at least 12 months and be a going concern.

Financial standing, governance arrangements, capacity and capability will be checked through our robust due diligence process.

Racial equality and support available

We actively welcome and support the submission of applications from organisations supporting Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic communities.

We try and use plain English in all documentation, as much as we possibly can, though some jargon can’t be avoided. 

Will try our absolute best to support any language barriers people may have that makes it difficult for them to apply.  Try and use Google Translate and if this doesn’t work well for you, please get in touch and we will try and help.

Applications will not be accepted from:

  • Individuals, or organisations that consist of one family (i.e. organisations whose Board of Directors/ Trustees are made up entirely of related family members)
  • Statutory bodies, including Parish and Town Councils
  • Schools, colleges or universities
  • Health authorities, or for activities that should be funded by the health service
  • Housing Associations
  • Private Companies Ltd by Shares
  • Organisations that distribute profits to members or shareholders, or whose constitution permits this, whether or not they do so in practice
  • Applications to fund religious or political activities (however, faith-based organisations are eligible to apply
  • Grant-making bodies applying for funding to redistribute to individuals or groups
  • Organisations/ groups whose sole purpose is to campaign, or organisations seeking funding for any campaigning activity

Further detail on eligible and ineligible organisations/ applications will be provided in the FAQs document, when published.

Key themes of Community Grant investment

Specific target groups and areas of focus are currently being agreed with the Combined Authority, though are not anticipated to change significantly from last year.

Grant awards cannot duplicate or displace existing activities and applications/ projects must be for the benefit of Liverpool City Region residents.

Briefing Workshops

Dates and booking details will be confirmed shortly.

Application documents

These will be published on this page shortly, once application timescales have been agreed.

Enquiries

Any enquiries should be emailed to YGT@volamerseyside.org.uk.  We will aim to respond within 5 working days.

Privacy and Data Protection

People who sign-up for support from any of the YGT-funded projects will be required to share certain personal data (information about themselves) as part of the enrolment process and on completion of the support programme.

The organisation delivering the YGT funded project they sign-up to is contractually obliged to share certain personal data they collect about participants with us at VOLA, as grant programme manager. VOLA is contractually obliged to share with this data with the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority, who, in turn, are contractually obliged to share it with the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), who fund the Trailblazer programme.

Our commitment to you

We are committed to earning and maintaining the trust of everyone who uses our services. VOLA does not sell or share your personal information with other organisations for marketing or any other unrelated purposes. We use your information only where necessary to deliver our services to you.

All personal data/ information held by VOLA is kept safe and secure and handled appropriately in line with the law. Everyone looking at your record, whether on paper or computer, is obliged to keep the information confidential. This is true for everyone involved, from the organisations delivering the support through to the LCR Combined Authority and the DWP – and obviously, by us at VOLA.

You can see the LCR Combined Authority’s YGT Privacy Notice here.

You can see VOLA’s Privacy Notice here.