The Department for Culture, Media and Sport has opened a competition to appoint a civil society organisation to deliver the Local Covenant Partnerships (LCP) Fund, a £11.59 million programme running from 2026 to 2029. The fund is intended to strengthen collaboration between local authorities and the voluntary, community and social enterprise sector in England, with an emphasis on preventative and self-directed support across mental health, adult social care, women’s refuges and child poverty.
DCMS positions the LCP Fund as an operational vehicle for the government’s Civil Society Covenant, launched by the Prime Minister in July 2025 to reset working arrangements between government and civil society. Under the programme, 15 areas will establish ‘local covenant partnership’ agreements to formalise joint planning and make access to support more consistent and closer to home.
The department will award a single revenue grant, inclusive of an administration fee, to a lead organisation or a consortium capable of delivering the fund across all 15 places. Applicants are expected to evidence experience convening multiple local stakeholders, a track record in managing onward grants, and the ability to foster shared learning and peer support across varied local partners.
Applications are being taken through the Find a Grant service, with a deadline of 23:59 on Monday 23 February 2026. The successful grant manager will run the programme and support each area to develop and implement its local covenant agreement, working to milestones and reporting requirements set out by DCMS in the competition guidance.
Target areas will be selected later in 2026 in partnership with the appointed grant manager. DCMS states that selection will prioritise places facing ‘double disadvantage’-high deprivation alongside poor social capital-using the Community Needs Index and the Index of Multiple Deprivation, supplemented by further evidence to confirm need.
Funding will be directed to local VCSE networks and their work alongside councils, primary care and other statutory services. The intent is earlier help and better coordinated support in communities most affected by cost-of-living pressures, reducing reliance on crisis responses and giving residents more control over the support they receive.
DCMS cites existing partnership models to illustrate the approach. In Sheffield, the Synergy VCSE Alliance for Mental Health has embedded peer support workers across all 15 primary care networks, with services co-designed by people with lived experience and more than 110 organisations. In Greater Manchester, the Violence Reduction Unit brings together public services and civil society to mentor eight-to-eleven-year-olds as they move to secondary school, alongside support for parents and carers.
Civil Society Minister Stephanie Peacock said the programme is intended to build practical bridges between councils and frontline charities so that survivors of domestic abuse, young people with mental health needs and families facing poverty encounter more seamless routes to help. The department frames the fund as strengthening existing local systems rather than creating a parallel structure.
Policy Wire analysis: prospective bidders should demonstrate place-based convening capacity, robust onward-grant compliance and clear mechanisms for co-production with residents. On a simple illustration, £11.59 million across fifteen areas over three years equates to roughly £772,667 per area across the programme, or around £257,556 per area per year. Actual allocations will be determined by DCMS and may vary, and the total includes administration costs.
Adjacent governance is also progressing. Government has sought members for a new Civil Society Council to meet quarterly at 10 Downing Street from early 2026; expressions of interest closed on 7 January 2026. DCMS will confirm target areas later this year once the grant manager is appointed. Applicants should consult the guidance on GOV.UK and the listing on Find a Grant for full requirements and assessment criteria.