Child Poverty Practice Accelerator Fund: round 3 form and guidance
Round 3 of the fund to test approaches to accelerate action to tackle child poverty.
Overview
Purpose of the fund
The Child Poverty Practice Accelerator Fund (CPAF) was launched in July 2023 and awarded grants to 21 projects across Scotland in its first two rounds. Now entering its third round, the fund’s continued aim is to provide support to enhance an area’s approach to tackling child poverty. It will support small scale projects to generate evidence on a known problem, adapt a promising approach from elsewhere to work in your area, or re-design a service or services to deliver greater impact on child poverty.
As with previous rounds, proposed activity could cover testing a new approach, evaluating a promising approach, adapting an effective pilot to be delivered at scale, or testing an effective approach in another setting. Examples of this are outlined under ‘What funding can be used for’.
Amount of funding available
CPAF Round 3 projects are likely to vary widely in design, and the level of funding for each project will depend on the nature and scale of activities proposed. All budget proposals will be scrutinised by a panel to ensure value for money and to identify savings and efficiencies where possible.
The budget for CPAF Round 3 activities is expected to be up to a total of £100,000 per grant over the financial years 2026-28. This is an indicative budget range to help guide applicants as to the scale of funding available and likely scope of activities. Budgets moderately above this range will be considered on their merits if a strong case is presented.
Projects may also request some development funding for the final months of financial year 2025/26 to help with procurement, recruitment or other costs associated with setting up the project. This can be discussed with Scottish Government once successful projects are notified.
This is a competitive fund and there is not an allocation per local authority or health board. As such, each application should include a budget specifically linked to the proposed activities.
Closing date for applications
The closing date for applications is Friday 21 November 2025. No extension to this deadline will be granted.
We will hold two information sessions for potential applicants to answer questions and clarify doubts on the fund. These will take place via Microsoft Teams on:
- Wednesday 8 October – 11:00-11:45
- Thursday 30 October – 11:00-11:45
Please email TCPU@gov.scot to book your place, noting which session you would like to attend.