Big Lottery Fund

This consultation is now closed. You can read about new policy directions for the Big Lottery Fund in the attached documents on this page.

Why are we consulting?

Welcoming the consultation, The Minister for the Cabinet Office, Francis Maude said:

The voluntary, community and social enterprise sector is at the heart of this government’s mission to build a Big Society. The Big Society is about helping people to come together to improve their own lives. It’s about putting more power in people’s hands, opening up public services and encouraging social action.

The Big Lottery Fund (BIG) plays an important role in supporting our civil society and it is entirely fitting therefore, that policy responsibility for the Big Lottery Fund transferred from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport to the Cabinet Office. About 28 pence of every pound spent on a lottery ticket goes to good causes and BIG is responsible for distributing 13 pence of this. BIG is committed to bringing real improvements to communities and the lives of people most in need and has been rolling out grants to health, education, environmental and charitable causes across the UK since June 2004. This funding helps communities and people most in need throughout the United Kingdom to improve the quality of their lives by making a difference to the things which matter most to them.

Too many long and unwieldy restrictions govern how the Big Lottery Fund (BIG) hands out money, inhibiting their ability to do their job properly. Therefore, in line with the transfer of responsibilities for BIG, the Cabinet Office will open a 12-week consultation on proposed new policy directions for BIG to try to address this. Please do let us know what you think at biglotteryfundconsultation@cabinet-office.gsi.gov.uk. This is incredibly important work and we need to make sure it is done in the best way possible.

Who are we consulting?

The consultation invites views from a wide range of stakeholders which include the voluntary, community and social enterprise sector and other government departments. The Office for Civil Society in the Cabinet Office will work closely with the devolved administrations particularly where policy directions are UK wide.

About contributions

Contributions to the consultation will be anonymised if they are quoted.

Individual contributions will not be acknowledged unless specifically requested.

Following the consultation, the government will consider feedback. A summary will be published in January 2012 with the overall government response to the consultation.