GovWire

The Turing Scheme provides grant funding to education providers to support their students to pursue study and work placements around the world.

Funding is open to UK and British overseas territories organisations from across the education and training sector, including schools and further and higher education providers.

This funding allows education providers to give their students the chance to develop new skills, gain international experience and boost their employability. Providers can apply for funding for students going to multiple destinations, as part of a single application.

Applying for funding

Providers will be able to apply for funding for the 2024 to 2025 academic year through the Turing Schemes digital service when the application window opens in February 2024.

Once you submit your application, it will undergo:

• an eligibility and financial capability check to verify that you are compliant with the Turing Scheme eligibility criteria
• an assessment to evaluate the extent to which the application meets the Turing Scheme assessment criteria, including supporting students from disadvantaged backgrounds and project deliverability

Independent assessors will review and score all applications. We will communicate results to applicants in June 2024. There will be an appeals process for applicants if necessary.

If your application is successful, you will need to provide the Department for Education (DfE) with data and information on Turing Scheme placements, including evidence, where requested, of what Turing Scheme funds have been spent on.

You must ensure that your projects follow the child safeguarding requirements set out in:

• keeping children safe in education in England
• keeping learners safe in Wales
• safeguarding and child protection in schools or their own safeguarding policies in FE and training colleges in Northern Ireland
• child protection and safeguarding policy in Scotland
• the relevant regulations and guidance in your overseas territory

You must also consider the needs of vulnerable adults within your projects.

Schools and further education providers can apply as part of a consortium partnership.

DfE is under no obligation to accept any application or make an award of funding. Any costs incurred in developing or submitting an applicationare not eligible for funding.

Assessment criteria

Applications will be reviewed against the Turing Scheme assessment criteria. The assessment criteria for the 2024 to 2025 academic year reflect the latest Turing Scheme purpose and aims.

In your application, you will need to demonstrate how your proposal meets the criteria set out in the assessment questions. Applications will be scored against these criteria. You will have up to 4,000 words to complete your application.

We will use your assessment score to prioritise funding. This means that applicants who score highly are more likely to be allocated the funding they have requested. This is subject to the overall quality of the applications received, and the level of demand for funding.

Assessment questions

In your application, you will be asked questions that relate to the following assessment criteria.

Project vision (weighting: 10%)

Summarise your proposed Turing Scheme project, specifically setting out how it will meet the Turing Scheme aims.

Enhancing skills (weighting: 30%)

Explain who your Turing Scheme students are, what education or employment outcomes they will gain and how these link to the destination students will visit.

Tell us how you will measure the impact of your Turing Scheme student placements.

Advancing social justice (weighting: 30%)

Outline, using data where possible:

• your organisations overall demographics including students who are disadvantaged, from underrepresented groups and those with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), including those with additional learning needs (ALN) in Wales and people with additional support needs (ASN) in Scotland
• how you will recruit and support students from disadvantaged backgrounds
• how you will recruit and support students with SEND
• how you will recruit and support students from underrepresented groups

Delivery plan (weighting: 30%)

Set out a delivery plan that includes:

• timings a summary of the main activities to deliver your placements and their timings
• risks and issues project risks, mitigations and how you will manage any issues that arise
• roles, responsibilities and governance who will work on the project, and your project governance arrangements, including any consortium arrangements
• assurance arrangements your processes to ensure value for money and prevent fraud and error

You will also need to provide a breakdown of costs, including setting out how you will use organisational support funding.

Supplementary questions

There will also be 2 optional questions worth 1% each, which will be added to your total score from other questions.

Environmental impact

Outline any placements with a focus on mitigating the effects of climate change, specifically in relation to rewilding, conservation and green skills.

Apprentices

Outline how you will support apprentices, where applicable, to participate in the Turing Scheme.

Financial capability and due diligence checks

When you apply, we will ask you to summarise your processes to ensure value for money and prevent fraud and error.

In compliance with the guidance on managing public money and the Government Functional Standard for grants, DfE will verify whether your organisation has the necessary financial and delivery capability to fulfil the conditions of the grant by conducting mandatory due diligence checks, proportionate to the size of the grant and risk.

For education providers, these include confirming:

• eligibility, through checks with regulators and government-funding bodies
• financial viability, through checks for recent satisfactory or equivalent financial health assessment or inspection by regulator or government-funding bodies we may request further documentation to verify financial stability

For other types of organisations acting as consortium leads, these checks include:

• eligibility checks to confirm status for non-profit, membership organisations which represent eligible education providers
• financial viability checks of accountsor bank statements, credit agencies, financial procedures, and controls to verify financial stability

For all organisations, we may check:

• legal status via Companies House, Charity Commission or equivalent, as relevant
• grant to revenue ratio, considering extent of reliance on grant and other government funding, and whether the value is appropriate for the outcome delivered and size of the applicant organisation
• governance, including checks of ultimate beneficial owners, linked companies and directors or trustees, where relevant
• operational checks for adequate internal, fiscal, and administrative controls, and confirmation that your organisation has capacity to deliver, including previous performance managing public money
• security checks for risks to national security for example, overseas ownership, financing or linked entities overseas
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