Grant Funding is now available to support working age adults (18 - 49) with long term disabilities

This page details the 18-49s Younger Adults with Long Term Disabilities Fund April 2026 – March 2027

Fund Expiry Date: 31 March 2027

This fund programme is aimed at providing citizens, as working age adults (aged 18 – 49) with long term disabilities, enhancement and benefits to their life courses through projects delivered by community groups.

This fund programme is about extending the existing NNS model to benefit a wider range of citizens (including those with a learning disability/disabilities, a physical disability, autism, mental health difficulties, sensory loss or impairment) whilst also sustaining the current support for over 50’s. We want the benefits of the Hodge Hill NNS provision to extend to:

1. Adults aged 18 to 49 years who have a long-term disability; who are likely to have a care or support need in the future. This also includes people with an existing care or support need that are living in a community setting who can access and participate in activities independently or with the support of a carer or personal assistant.
2. Whilst also retaining and building on the work for the benefit of over 50’s
3. Under the Equality Act 2010 a disability is defined as having a physical or mental impairment that has a ‘substantial’ and ‘long-term’ negative effect on your ability to do normal daily activities.

Exclusions

Currently, there are some groups that will not benefit directly. This is because the NNS is funded to prevent, reduce and delay the need for long-term adult social care; alongside supporting older and citizens who are disabled to lead happy, healthy, independent lives. We would not want the primary beneficiaries of NNS capacity building / asset development to be:

• People in long-term registered care home placements
• People with complex needs
• People whose primary concern relates to one of the following:
• Substance misuse
• Homelessness
• Domestic abuse
• Neurodiverse conditions other than Autism although awareness raising and supporting assets to be accessible to citizens with these conditions are planned to form part of this pilot

One all-encompassing Hodge Hill NNS Scheme

Extending the existing NNS model to a broader range of beneficiaries is not about developing a parallel and separate NNS for younger disabled adults but ensuring that all the building blocks of the existing NNS model are reviewed/developed to include younger disabled adults.

Enhancing existing services for young people with long term disabilities

There are existing services that have proven to be very effective across the locality:

1. Early Help provision services for families and young people from early years up to the age of 25, or
2. Preparing for Adulthood services for vulnerable young people aged 14-30

Hodge Hill NNS Younger Adults with long term disabilities is not to be seen as a replacement for, or work against the existing service provision, but should be seen as part of the holistic service offer to young people.

News Update for Grant Year 2026 – 2027

Birmingham City Council (BCC) are implementing specific impact measures in 2026 due to a new funding agreement between BCC’s Adult Social Care and Public Health (PH) Birmingham. The funding contributed by PH goes towards NNS grants. 

What are the Public Health Impact Measures?  

Public Health has put together a toolbox of validated Impact Measures  for activities that aim to improve health and wellbeing across Birmingham. The aim is to standardise measures used, to provide clarity and transparency, and enable accurate and meaningful assessment against KPIs. You can find the toolbox here: Birmingham Public Health Measurements Toolbox.

Using the Impact Measures below will demonstrate the positive contribution that your organisation’s project (and the NNS) is making to the health and wellbeing of Birmingham’s older citizens, and younger disabled adults and how they align to 5 Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s) from BCC’s agreement with Public Health. 

The table below shows the measures and how they align to 5 Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s) from our agreement with Public Health.

Validated Impact Measure	Key Performance Indicator (KPI)
30-Second Chair Stand Test OR Active Lives Questionnaire	% Fairly Physically Active or Better
Mental Health Wellbeing Questionnaire (WEMWBS)	% increase in Wellbeing by 3 or more points on WEMWBS 14-point scale
Social Isolation Tool (The three-item UCLA loneliness scale)	% not self-reporting loneliness
Nutrition Toolkit	% self-reporting an increase in nutritional understanding
All Aspects of Health Literacy Questionnaire (AAHLS)	% self-reporting an increase in health literacy

Which NNS funded Projects need to use a Public Health Impact Measure? 

Projects awarded an NNS grant of £5000 or more.*   

1. Types of project activities in scope: 
   a.    social participation, 
   b.    healthier lifestyles (physical, mental, and social)
   c.    carers support
2. Types of project activity excluded:
   a.    General information advice and guidance / income maximisation services
   b.    Independence at home, such as minor repairs and garden clearance

*Optional for projects awarded under £5000.

The full Impact Measures Guidance document can be found further down this page, along with all other PH Impact Measures documents as downloadable documents

Submission dates for final version grant applications

Once applicants are ready to submit their final version of their grant application, the following submission dates apply.

Please view the table below for submission dates for all grant values:

Grant Value	Submission Dates  – April 2026 through to February 2027	Submission Dates for March 2027
£1 - £500	Any date during any month	By February 28th
£501 - £2,000	15th day of each calendar month	By February 28th
£2,001 - £10,000	15th day of each calendar month	By February 28th
Grant applications submitted after the end of February (28th) will not be presented to the Grants Panel until 15th April the following business year. All final version grant applications must be returned to: [email protected]

Applications by post are not being processed during this time. If you are submitting an application, your application will need to be submitted electronically, by email only.

We aim to have a funding decision made within 2-3 working days for all applications up to £500 and 2-3 weeks for all applications of £501 and above.

Grant Application Guidance

Download the Grant Application Guidance for all grants £1 - £10,000 (pdf)

Public Health Impact Measures documentation

• Download the Impact Measures Guidance (PDF)
  
• Download the Impact Measures Flowchart (PDF)
  
• Download the [Printable] Learning Log Impact Measures (PDF)
  
• Download the Citizen Info-Why Complete Questionnaires (PDF)
  
• Download the Chair Stand Test (PDF)
  
• Download the Active Lives Questionnaire (PDF)
• Download the Health Literacy Questionnaire (PDF)
  
• Download the Mental Health Wellbeing (WEMWBS) Questionnaire (PDF)
  
• Download the Nutrition Questionnaire (PDF)
  
• Download the Social Isolation Questionnaire (PDF)

The fund streams are broken down into three ways to apply for a grant

We have uploaded the application packs for your information and reference. You are welcome to view and download your preferred grant application fund value. This way you may have chance to prepare your application prior to the NNS Small Grants Application. 

• Up to £500

Download the application form (MS Word)

• £501 up to £2,000

Download the application form (MS Word)

• £2,001 up to £10,000

Download the application form (MS Word) 

• £10,001 up to £20,000

Download the application form (MS Word) 

**Previous versions of the £2,001 to £10,000 18-49 Younger Adults with Long Term Disabilities grant application form, will no longer be valid and will be rejected if used and submitted.**

Leaflets and Poster