Applying for Taith funding

All applying organisations must possess the necessary professional competencies and be able to allocate appropriate resources and staffing, proportionate to the scale of their Taith project.

Organisations must have appropriate governance arrangements for managing grant funded projects and appropriate policies and procedures in place to carry out the proposed activity including but not limited to:

• Safeguarding and Child Protection
• Data protection
• Confidentiality
• Insurance

All applying organisations must demonstrate they have a stable and sufficient source of income to maintain eligible activities throughout the period during which the Taith project is being carried out.

Taith may carry out financial capacity checks, including but not limited to:

• A review of latest accounts on Companies House or the Charity Commission, where relevant.
• A review of the organisation’s most recent management accounts.
• A review of the organisation’s governing documents to confirm that the organisation can receive the funding, the name on bank account matches and other checks, where relevant.
• A check of credit reference agency records where appropriate.
• A review of the organisation’s current bank statements showing the closing balance.

Taith has a zero tolerance approach to fraud. Applying organisations must have appropriate financial procedures in place which protect the organisation and Taith from bribery, fraud, and other financial criminal acts.

The following areas must be considered as part of an applying organisation’s safeguarding procedures:

Planning

• Completion of risk assessments and, where appropriate, the local authority notified of the visit.
• Discussion with partner organisations to understand their safeguarding policies and procedures, and to put measures in place to ensure participants’ safety during the activity, at all times.
• Where participants are staying with host families, the safeguarding procedures supporting the process of identifying and engaging these families must be shared in writing and deemed satisfactory by the applying organisation’s safeguarding lead.
• Accompanying adults must be fully briefed on the safeguarding measures prior to the activity starting, including the procedures and referral pathway in the event of an incident.
• Where feasible and appropriate a preparatory visit should be arranged.
• Where applying organisations are planning activities which involve over 18-year-olds, from Wales, interacting with under 18-year-olds or at-risk adults from partner organisations abroad, an agreement must be reached with the partner organisation as to appropriate safeguarding measures. These measures must be shared with participants to ensure their understanding and adherence, and any requirements implemented.

Accompanying adults

• All accompanying adults (staff and otherwise) engaged in regulated activity with under 18-year-olds and at-risk adults as part of any planned activities (including virtual exchanges) must undergo an enhanced disclosure and barring service (DBS) check.
• The ratio of accompanying adults to learners must be agreed with consideration given to the age of the learners, if any learners have additional needs or require specific support, the nature of the activities, the experience of the accompanying adults, the duration of the activity and any overnight stays.
• All accompanying adults must be made aware of their roles and responsibilities prior to the commencement of activities.
• Safe recruitment procedures are in place to carefully screen applicants (staff and volunteers).
• There is appropriate support for all accompanying adults, including undertaking mandatory induction and safeguarding training.
• Accompanying adults are aware of any known health conditions the participants may have, including any medication.
• All accompanying adults have detailed information about the emergency contact details for all participants who are under 18 years old or at-risk adults.

Disabled people and people with additional learning needs

• Safeguarding measures must take into account any participants under 18 years old and at-risk adults who are disabled or have additional learning needs and, where appropriate, additional measures implemented to ensure the safety and wellbeing of participants.

Information for parents/ carers/ guardians

• Information including the mobility itinerary, details of the activities that learners will be undertaking, and emergency contact numbers should be shared with parents/carers/guardians prior to the commencement of any activities.
• Information detailing how welfare concerns or instances of abuse can be reported and how these will be managed should be shared with parents/carers/guardians prior to the commencement of any activities.
• Expectations regarding behaviour of learners (code of conduct) have been communicated to parents/carers/guardians and participants, prior to the commencement of any activities.

Host families (where applicable)

Every reasonable step must be taken to ensure the safety and well-being of participants when they stay with host families. Selection and management of host families is crucial to ensuring the safety and protection of those under 18 years old and at-risk adults.

Procedures for selecting host families:

• The applying organisation must ensure that the partner organisation has a procedure in place to assess the suitability of homestays and obtain confirmation in writing. The safeguarding lead within the applying organisation must sign this procedure off as satisfactory.
• The selection of host families must include police checks (where possible), self-declaration forms (where applicable), code of conduct, house rules, home visit checks, verification of family structure and suitability of sleeping arrangements.
• Selection procedures must be communicated to parents/carers/guardians and their written agreement obtained to confirm that they are happy with the plans in place
• Families and learners should be carefully matched with consideration given to gender, diet, religious belief, and additional needs.

Accommodation during visit:

• All participants must have their own bed in a room of someone of their own gender, or a separate bedroom.
• All participants must have privacy whilst dressing, washing, and using toilet facilities.
• There must be contingency measures in place should a learner need to change accommodation away from the planned host family, for any reason.

Guidance for participants/host families:

• All participants must be provided with specific guidance on how to report risks or situations which make them feel uncomfortable, if they are worried about something that happens to them when staying with a host family, or if another participant raises concerns with them. This should include name and contact details for the Designated Safeguarding Lead, or equivalent.
• Participants and host families must be provided with the emergency contact number and have been fully briefed of the procedures should problems arise. Any report that is made must be dealt with immediately and in line with agreed procedures.

Immigration and visas to and from Wales are subject to the rules issued by the UK government. It is the responsibility of the Grant Recipient to manage and implement any visa/immigration-related support processes for their participants.

If you are currently or have previously been in receipt of Taith funding, we will consider your grant performance and management to date. This will include but is not limited to:

• whether you have met your targets
• if your project is underspent, (without valid justification)
• if you project is on track to deliver
• any concerns or outstanding queries
• any funding to be returned to Taith
• if you have previously withdrawn from a previous project
• your current risk category
• if your project duration has been extended

It is important for Taith have assurance that you have the capacity and ability to effectively manage both existing funding that you have been awarded and future funding that you may be awarded (in some instances you may be managing multiple projects).

In instances where an organisation is not satisfactorily managing current projects and is unlikely to meet its targets, the ILEP Ltd Board may consider not awarding in this Pathway funding call and advising the applicant to satisfactorily complete current projects before applying for further funding.

Once the funding call closes organisations eligibility will be reviewed and if eligible, these applications will move to the assessment stage. All applications are assessed by two assessors and passed to a committee for quality assurance and recommendations.

Inclusivity and accessibility are a strategic focus for Taith and as such, we will be looking to fund as many and as wide a range of organisations as possible. Our aim will be, where possible, to fund all organisations who pass the assessment process and are thus considered to be fundable.

Taith funding is finite, and it is likely that there will be funding calls where the value of successful, ‘fundable’ applications exceeds the available allocated budget. Where there is not sufficient budget to fully fund all applications, Taith may adopt an approach to reduce the funding across successful organisations on an equitable basis. If requests for funding significantly exceed the available budget, then Taith may adopt an alternative funding model such as a ranking list or similar.

Whilst Taith aims to be as accessible and inclusive as possible, there will always be a requirement for applying organisations to pass the specific Pathway quality thresholds, and not all applications will be successful. Taith is committed to providing feedback and support to organisations who are unsuccessful to enable and encourage them to submit future applications.

Please refer to the relevant Pathway Guide for further information on the funding available, including maximum application values.

All applicants will be informed of their application outcome via an email from Taith within four months of the application deadline. For successful applicants, this email will be followed with further information and resources, including the project’s Grant Agreement letter.

Successful applying organisations will receive a Grant Agreement letter from Taith, which will provide the detail of the terms and conditions of the funding award. Grant Agreement letters and accompanying schedules will be issued and signed by the applying organisation’s Legal Representative as well as the Chief Financial Officer (or equivalent)

As soon as the Grant Agreement letter is signed by both parties, the applying organisation becomes a ‘Grant Recipient ’ and project activities and spend against the grant award can commence.

The award of a grant in a given funding call does not establish an entitlement for future rounds.

Depending on the Taith Pathway and the project duration, awarded projects may have different payment schedules. Apart from the initial pre-financing payment, further payments or recoveries will be made subject to Taith’s approval of requested interim reports and final reports as specified in the Grant Agreement.

An initial pre-financing payment will be transferred to the Grant Recipient within 30 business days of the date of the grant agreement letter being countersigned (subject to satisfactory financial capacity checks). Initial financing is intended to provide the Grant Recipient with the cashflow to commence activities.

Taith funding must not have the purpose or effect of producing a profit for the Grant Recipient and must only be used for the purposes of delivering eligible activities, specific to the project, as defined in the project Grant Agreement letter. A grant from Taith must therefore not be used to fund the core running costs of an organisation, where these are not directly related to the delivery of international learning exchanges.

Grant Recipients are accountable for the implementation of the project and for the use of funds received from Taith. Grant Recipients should therefore ensure that project management procedures are in place which enable them to manage the project and the funding appropriately. To support Grant Recipients in this, Taith will provide resources and support to enable beneficiaries to track, manage and report on their project and funding.

• Grant Recipient reports

All Grant Recipients will need to report on their project activities and funding. All projects will be required to update participant information monthly, to enable Taith to track progress. There will be additional requirements for interim and end of project reports. All beneficiaries will be provided with full details of reporting expectations in advance of any report requests.

• Participant/Grant Recipient reports

Participants/Grant Recipients who undertake an individual/group mobility activity under Pathway 1 may be required to complete a pre-departure survey and complete and submit a final survey at the end of their mobility.

All Grant Recipients have a responsibility to safeguard the welfare of participants who are under the age of 18 and at-risk adults, in accordance with the Social Services and Wellbeing (Wales) Act 2014 (and accompanying safeguarding guidance Working Together to Safeguard People), and Keeping Learners Safe (Guidance for local authorities and governing bodies on arrangements for safeguarding children). The Wales Safeguarding Procedures can help organisations to understand and apply the duties set out in the legislation and guidance. All education settings in Wales have a legal duty to ensure that children have access to a safe learning environment. It is important that education settings are clear about how they continue to meet their statutory duties for safeguarding children and young people when making arrangements for foreign exchange visits.

Applying organisations also need to consider the relevant safeguarding legislation in the country/territory to which they send any participants, and where appropriate, incorporate this into their processes/procedures.

It is a requirement for all organisations participating in the Taith programme to have the following in place:

• An up-to-date safeguarding policy that demonstrates a commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion and that all vulnerable/at risk adults and children are entitled to equal protection from harm, written or reviewed in the last 12 months, and agreed and approved by the relevant responsible authority.
• A code of conduct.
• A clear mechanism for reporting any safeguarding concerns.
• A named senior lead and individual with responsibility for safeguarding.

Successful applying organisations who plan to run activities (including virtual exchanges) involving under 18-year-olds or at-risk adults will be required to complete a safeguarding checklist and must have plans and procedures covering these activities. The safeguarding checklist will be provided as part of the grant award process.

Reporting of safeguarding concerns

If a safeguarding incident takes place, as per the grant agreement, it is your responsibility to ensure the incident is managed within your Safeguarding policy and procedures and in accordance with any relevant legislation. You are not required to report any incidents to Taith, however in certain circumstances such as where the incident may affect the project delivery or outcomes, or where an incident may become public, you may wish to contact Taith and keep us informed.

Further information on the safeguarding process, including forms for completion, can be found in the members area of the Taith website.

Taith Grant Recipients may be selected for assurance check audits undertaken by the Taith Programme Executive. The assurance check audits will vary in scope and scale, according to the type of check performed and will be undertaken to ensure that the management of the awarded grant funding is compliant with the terms and conditions of the Grant Agreement and the programme rules.